First responders take haz mat training

By NATE HUBBARD/Staff

When first responders go on a business trip, they wear a suit just like most bankers and engineers.
Well, maybe a suit just like most astronauts.
Five Wythe County emergency workers recently got the opportunity to receive top-level training in dealing with hazardous materials – and the chance to don out-of-this-world safety suits.
Ikey Davidson, Wythe County’s emergency services coordinator, along with Wytheville Fire Department members Kendra Eastwood and Capt. Donnie Widner and Rural Retreat Emergency Services members Vance Gregory and Capt. Jay Hawkins, traveled to Anniston, Ala., in late September to attend a course at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Center for Domestic Preparedness.
“The training is phenomenal down there,” Gregory said. “A lot of people don’t realize this stuff’s out there for you.”
The federal government pays for the entire cost of courses, meals, travel and lodging for all state and local emergency workers who attend the training.
Davidson said he heard of the opportunity from the center’s eastern region coordinator and forwarded on the information to the local departments.
The 40-hour course taken by the Wythe County group was known as “Weapons of Mass Destruction Emergency Responder Hazardous Materials Technician.”
According to a CDP press release, the sessions involved “intensive training in chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear, hazardous materials and explosive weapons.”
While Wythe County may not be high on the list for potential terrorist attacks, the group said the training they received in Alabama is highly applicable back home due to the large amount of chemicals and other dangerous materials that pass through the locality on trucks and trains each day.
“There’s a lot of potential there,” Hawkins said.
Hawkins said many factories in the area also have materials on hand that could become dangerous should they ever get caught in a blaze.
During the group’s recent training, the first responders conducted cleanup exercises while wearing full safety attire but dealt with non-deadly materials.
But that didn’t make the experience any less intense, Widner said.
“At first we were nervous, but that’s kind of why they expose you to this so you get over that,” the Wytheville firefighter said. “It just really was an eye-opener.”
The Wythe County residents struggled to find a way to adequately describe the sensation of being in the fully encapsulated suits, which feature protections like four – four – layers of gloves and an insulated air pack.
“You build your own environment inside your plastic suits,” Widner said. “Your vision is obstructed. You have no peripheral vision.”
“It gives you a new perspective,” Gregory said. “You’ve seen this on TV, with these people walking around like they’re on the moon.”
Although the trainees got to wear cooling vests while cocooned in the gear, Hawkins said it was impossible to ignore the heat.
“It’s a whole nother world,” he said. “Your whole body is confined in this little suit just like a tent and there’s nowhere for your body heat to go.”
Beyond getting (somewhat) comfortable in functioning in the suits, which Davidson said are available on a limited basis locally, the Wythe County group also got to hear various other ideas on dealing with hazardous materials from both their homeland security trainers and their peers from agencies around the nation also taking the course.
Widner said there were even FBI agents training alongside them.
Less exotic exercises also provided valuable insights, Hawkins said.
The Rural Retreat captain described a communication task involving LEGOs.
A group in one room with a finished LEGO structure had to use only verbal commands through a radio to tell the other group in a separate room how to exactly replicate the LEGO formation.
Hawkins said the message from the exercise was simple: “Be clear. Be to the point” – important things to keep in mind when describing an accident scene to a dispatcher.
Davidson and the rest of the group also raved about the overall experience provided by the CDP, from smooth transportation to delicious food.
“We had Belgian waffles one morning, you’re talking about good,” Davidson said.
The group plans to attend another training at the facility early next year – one with actual deadly agents.
Davidson said he’ll also encourage more Wythe County emergency workers to take advantage of the CDP’s numerous course offerings.
“It was just a super class,” he said. “It was a top-quality training.”
Nate Hubbard can be reached at 228-6611 or .