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The Elmira Fire Department is
responsible for responding to all Hazardous Material Emergencies in
Chemung County. All employees of the fire department are qualified
up to "Haz-Mat Technician" and some have become certified "Specialists".
We have the only response team of this kind in this part of New York
State. Our entry team has responded to various types of spills,
and we constantly practice for the more dangerous chemical
emergencies we could encounter in this area. We have many
industrial centers in the area that use some very dangerous
chemicals. It is our job to control any emergencies involving
these substances. The team responds with several utility units,
trailers and a command bus containing the entry-team equipment and detection devices. The
decontamination equipment is carried in a new trailer unit. The
State Department has sent additional advanced detection and
decontamination equipment in response to the increased threat of terrorism
and weapons of mass destruction in this country. Our team also has access to the CAMEO computer system
for logistical information. This is an
incident command computer program that merges local geography, weather
conditions and the types of
hazards in the emergency to give the incident commander the most up to date
information possible. The team is led by Deputy Chief David Jessik. The pictures on this page are from various drills we have had. |
