CLARK COUNTY WORKING TO BUILD OWN HAZMAT TEAM
Monday, January 10th, 2005 -- 1:50 PM
While Clark County has plenty of hazardous materials, at this point, they don?t have their own HAZMAT team; that could change through a resolution the Local Emergency Planning Committee sent to the County Board last week.The resolution would name the Marathon County Sheriff?s Department?s Level B Hazardous Materials Response Team as Clark County?s official team and would open the door to more training for Clark County volunteers, who would like to start their own level B team.
Jennifer Lord Kourachi, Director of the Clark County Emergency Management Department, says there are level A teams, which respond only to the deadliest of substances; and level B teams, which respond to other spills. The level B teams are called into action frequently, while the last Level A call in Clark County came a few years ago.
"(The resolution) is in order for them to allow the Owen-Withee fire department and Abbotsford fire department to participate in their Level B HAZMAT team, we have to adopt them as our HAZMAT team," Lord-Kourachi explained.
Over 20 Clark County volunteers have already begun training to create their own HAZMAT team.
"We have 22 people up to speed and ready to participate in a Level B HAZMAT team. The problem is: we need to get more people in order to make the team happen," Lord-Kourachi said, "State statute says you need to have eight people ready to respond at anytime. Eight people is not enough."
Right now, only volunteers from the northern end of the county have been trained, and Lord-Kourachi says they would like some volunteers from the southend to get trained as well. The county has 17 facilities with ?extremely hazardous materials?, and Lord Kourachi says we pass potential Level B risks everyday.
The resolution was passed through committee on Thursday and now needs to be passed by the full county board.
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