Every year, volunteers and staff of the West Grove Fire Company participate in thousands of hours of training, learning new techniques, practicing emergency operations, and honing skills. Part of that training includes drills on topics that are important to review every year.

Among the annual required training is awareness on how to respond to hazardous materials incidents. As first responders, the WGFC is often first on the scene of incidents involving hazardous materials, and members and staff are trained to recognize these situations and take the first steps in response. While there are specialized teams like the Chester County Haz Mat Team who bring expert capabilities when requested, it is the first responders who must first deal with any emergency.

Awareness is the first step in responding -- knowing how to identify and be ready for any situation -- not only to protect the public, but also to make sure first responders are protected as well. The training session this Monday evening covered how hazardous materials are transported, how to get details on what is involved, and how use available resources to develop and execute plans for response and isolation. Various techniques to isolate and protect responders, like breathing apparatus and specialty suits are reviewed, and various scenarios were also discussed.

While some assume that hazardous materials mean tanker truck or rail car loads of dangerous goods, hazardous materials are all around us every day. Household cleaners under the sink, pool chlorine, propane gas -- these are just a few of the regular day-to-day substances that can become hazardous if spilled, leaked, or mixed incorrectly. And, yes, on local roads, highways, and rail lines, hazardous materials are passing by us in this community every day. This is why hazmat training is important annual to the WGFC.

This year's training was presented by Bill Elder of Elder Technical Rescue Services, a training services firm based in Delaware County, PA. The two-hour session was attended by 66 firefighters, EMTs, fire police and other first responders and held at the West Grove station. Hazmat training continues next week with a second class that will focus more on hands-on operations topics.

For more on Elder Technical Rescue Services see: https://eldertechnicalrescue.com/