County Volunteer Hazmat Team Disbands
July 28, 2016 at 4:25 p.m.
By Tim [email protected]
County Emergency Management Director Ed Rock wrote in a letter to county and Warsaw officials that the team was dissolved because of a lack of volunteer manpower.
"The team has been struggling to keep the number of trained members necessary to conduct a safe and effective response for the past few years," Rock said.
According to Rock, SHOT formed in the early 1990s as a trained, volunteer force to assist with response to emergencies involving hazardous materials or situations where special rescue procedures were required. Before SHOT was formed, Rock said county fire departments and other emergency response agencies handled situations on their own or called in hazmat teams from outside the county.
"Basically, fire departments took care of it as best they could or called hazmat teams from big departments like South Bend," Rock said.
Rock said SHOT provided a slight improvement in response time and expertise in certain kinds of rescues. However, the time commitment needed for volunteers to become technicians is significant.
"The minimum course for training is 80 hours," Rock said. "It is a huge commitment of time to do a technician level course and we need the majority of team members to be at technician level."
Rock said a team of 12 is needed to meet National Fire Protection Association standards for response to even the most basic hazmat situation.
"Of those members that have been active and have technician-level training, only a couple could be expected to put on the level A protective suits," said Rock. "A basic response requires at least four technicians to be suited up."
Rock said SHOT tried to recruit new members to keep the team's numbers in compliance with NFPA, but were not able to recruit enough committed volunteers.
"People have tighter schedules and the state requires more hours to be certified," Rock said. "In an effort to reduce the liability of not providing a safe, trained and effective response, the decision was made to disband the team."
Rock said SHOT may not be gone for good.
"We haven't given up hope that we can get this thing started again," he said.
In the mean time, the county will continue to work in cooperation with other agencies within Indiana Emergency Management District 2. District 2 includes St. Joseph, Elkhart, Marshall, Fulton, Starke, Pulaski and Kosciusko counties. The counties assist each other with emergency situations when needed.[[In-content Ad]]Kosciusko County's Special Hazards Operations Team has disbanded.
County Emergency Management Director Ed Rock wrote in a letter to county and Warsaw officials that the team was dissolved because of a lack of volunteer manpower.
"The team has been struggling to keep the number of trained members necessary to conduct a safe and effective response for the past few years," Rock said.
According to Rock, SHOT formed in the early 1990s as a trained, volunteer force to assist with response to emergencies involving hazardous materials or situations where special rescue procedures were required. Before SHOT was formed, Rock said county fire departments and other emergency response agencies handled situations on their own or called in hazmat teams from outside the county.
"Basically, fire departments took care of it as best they could or called hazmat teams from big departments like South Bend," Rock said.
Rock said SHOT provided a slight improvement in response time and expertise in certain kinds of rescues. However, the time commitment needed for volunteers to become technicians is significant.
"The minimum course for training is 80 hours," Rock said. "It is a huge commitment of time to do a technician level course and we need the majority of team members to be at technician level."
Rock said a team of 12 is needed to meet National Fire Protection Association standards for response to even the most basic hazmat situation.
"Of those members that have been active and have technician-level training, only a couple could be expected to put on the level A protective suits," said Rock. "A basic response requires at least four technicians to be suited up."
Rock said SHOT tried to recruit new members to keep the team's numbers in compliance with NFPA, but were not able to recruit enough committed volunteers.
"People have tighter schedules and the state requires more hours to be certified," Rock said. "In an effort to reduce the liability of not providing a safe, trained and effective response, the decision was made to disband the team."
Rock said SHOT may not be gone for good.
"We haven't given up hope that we can get this thing started again," he said.
In the mean time, the county will continue to work in cooperation with other agencies within Indiana Emergency Management District 2. District 2 includes St. Joseph, Elkhart, Marshall, Fulton, Starke, Pulaski and Kosciusko counties. The counties assist each other with emergency situations when needed.
County Emergency Management Director Ed Rock wrote in a letter to county and Warsaw officials that the team was dissolved because of a lack of volunteer manpower.
"The team has been struggling to keep the number of trained members necessary to conduct a safe and effective response for the past few years," Rock said.
According to Rock, SHOT formed in the early 1990s as a trained, volunteer force to assist with response to emergencies involving hazardous materials or situations where special rescue procedures were required. Before SHOT was formed, Rock said county fire departments and other emergency response agencies handled situations on their own or called in hazmat teams from outside the county.
"Basically, fire departments took care of it as best they could or called hazmat teams from big departments like South Bend," Rock said.
Rock said SHOT provided a slight improvement in response time and expertise in certain kinds of rescues. However, the time commitment needed for volunteers to become technicians is significant.
"The minimum course for training is 80 hours," Rock said. "It is a huge commitment of time to do a technician level course and we need the majority of team members to be at technician level."
Rock said a team of 12 is needed to meet National Fire Protection Association standards for response to even the most basic hazmat situation.
"Of those members that have been active and have technician-level training, only a couple could be expected to put on the level A protective suits," said Rock. "A basic response requires at least four technicians to be suited up."
Rock said SHOT tried to recruit new members to keep the team's numbers in compliance with NFPA, but were not able to recruit enough committed volunteers.
"People have tighter schedules and the state requires more hours to be certified," Rock said. "In an effort to reduce the liability of not providing a safe, trained and effective response, the decision was made to disband the team."
Rock said SHOT may not be gone for good.
"We haven't given up hope that we can get this thing started again," he said.
In the mean time, the county will continue to work in cooperation with other agencies within Indiana Emergency Management District 2. District 2 includes St. Joseph, Elkhart, Marshall, Fulton, Starke, Pulaski and Kosciusko counties. The counties assist each other with emergency situations when needed.[[In-content Ad]]Kosciusko County's Special Hazards Operations Team has disbanded.
County Emergency Management Director Ed Rock wrote in a letter to county and Warsaw officials that the team was dissolved because of a lack of volunteer manpower.
"The team has been struggling to keep the number of trained members necessary to conduct a safe and effective response for the past few years," Rock said.
According to Rock, SHOT formed in the early 1990s as a trained, volunteer force to assist with response to emergencies involving hazardous materials or situations where special rescue procedures were required. Before SHOT was formed, Rock said county fire departments and other emergency response agencies handled situations on their own or called in hazmat teams from outside the county.
"Basically, fire departments took care of it as best they could or called hazmat teams from big departments like South Bend," Rock said.
Rock said SHOT provided a slight improvement in response time and expertise in certain kinds of rescues. However, the time commitment needed for volunteers to become technicians is significant.
"The minimum course for training is 80 hours," Rock said. "It is a huge commitment of time to do a technician level course and we need the majority of team members to be at technician level."
Rock said a team of 12 is needed to meet National Fire Protection Association standards for response to even the most basic hazmat situation.
"Of those members that have been active and have technician-level training, only a couple could be expected to put on the level A protective suits," said Rock. "A basic response requires at least four technicians to be suited up."
Rock said SHOT tried to recruit new members to keep the team's numbers in compliance with NFPA, but were not able to recruit enough committed volunteers.
"People have tighter schedules and the state requires more hours to be certified," Rock said. "In an effort to reduce the liability of not providing a safe, trained and effective response, the decision was made to disband the team."
Rock said SHOT may not be gone for good.
"We haven't given up hope that we can get this thing started again," he said.
In the mean time, the county will continue to work in cooperation with other agencies within Indiana Emergency Management District 2. District 2 includes St. Joseph, Elkhart, Marshall, Fulton, Starke, Pulaski and Kosciusko counties. The counties assist each other with emergency situations when needed.
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