Firefighters respond to hazardous material incident

Published May 28, 2010
By Senior Airman Andrew Caya
914 Airlift Wing

NIAGARA FALLS, N.Y. -- The Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station Fire Department responded to a hazardous material incident in the city May 28 as a part of the base's mutual-aid agreement with local community response teams.

Firefighters from the 914th Airlift Wing trained in dealing with hazard material were called on scene early in the afternoon to help their civilian counterparts detect and remedy a chemical spill inside a building.

Members of the fire department train extensively in scenarios just like this on. Earlier in the month, they participated with local departments in a simulated HAZMAT scenario on the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls.

According to base Assistant Fire Chief John Dymes, the base firefighters were called because of their HAZMAT skills.

"We're the closest hazardous materials response team in the area, and the city called us in because of our expertise in this matter," he said.

All of the base's hazard material technicians must be nationally certified in HAZMAT response. Most civilian communities don't have this level of certification.

Niagara Falls City Fire Chief William Mackay elaborated on how the mutual-aid agreement helped the city.

"We work closely with the air base, and we value the assistance they were able to provide us today," he said. "(HAZMAT technicians) are not a resource we have in-house. With today's hard economic challenges, it's all about relationships and building resources and capabilities together."

One civilian worker was injured during the incident and was taken to Erie County Medical Center for treatment. (Air Force Reserve Command News Service)