Silicon Valley is home to some of the world’s most innovative companies. But it’s also home to a serious concentration of hazardous materials. According to a July 15, 2010 Wall Street Journal article, the area is “home to one of the nation’s heaviest concentrations of toxic waste sites.” It’s no wonder that Richard Alameda became interested in HazMat as a young firefighter in Mountain View, California in the 1980s.
Mountain View is one of the communities served by Pierce dealer Golden State Fire Apparatus, representing customers throughout Central and Northern California since 1989. Mountain View Fire Rescue’s protection area covers about 12 square miles and numbers about 75,000 citizens. Situated at the base of the San Francisco Bay, it’s bordered by the cities of Sunnyvale, Palo Alto and Los Altos. In other words, Mountain View is a dense, urban area pretty much at the heart of Silicon Valley.
And while computers are now made from much safer materials, and Alameda has risen to the rank of Battalion Chief, HazMat still remains a primary concern. The department also faces the possibility of domestic terrorism threats that weren’t an issue in the 1980s. That concern contributed to the department’s decision to invest in a Pierce® Quantum® HazMat vehicle.
When You’re Looking At Worst Case,
You Specify “Can Do.”
Under Chief Alameda ‘s direction, HazMat Team Captain Kevin Futch led a group that developed the vehicle’s specifications and capabilities in consultation with the Pierce team in Appleton.
According to Futch, “The vehicle is called Haz-Mat 5 but, in reality, it’s a special operations toolbox, plus a support vehicle for structural fire response.”
Of course, that includes a full complement of HazMat equipment and suits, including level A and B encapsulating suits and chemical resistant clothing. “We carry a full set of mitigation tools, including pillows, pads, chemical retardant agents and a decontamination section for chemical biohazards with the ability to treat up to 300 people,” said Futch. “We have a breathing air station and awnings on both sides so that firefighters can rehab and get out of the sun. We also use these awnings as shelter for our HazMat crews as they pull on and remove protective clothing.”
As Capt Futch said easy-access to all the equipment on board is critical, “We used an innovative design and specified compartments that utilize PUC-style doors, where the top half rolls up and the bottom half folds down to provide a step for the HazMat team – they really like that feature. It makes the upper compartments more usable. It improves accessibility and lessens the chance of injury.”
When Planning and Response Are Almost The Same Thing,
You Need Serious Capabilities
Because HazMat operations require real time planning, the vehicle has dedicated command areas for material analysis, reference resources, and a large L-shaped workstation area.
Chief Alameda was particularly impressed with this feature. “It provides an environmentally controlled area where the HazMat team can do their research and their technical referencing. And for extended events, it is also an area where the command team can locate their central command. ” Futch noted that “even the overhead cabinet doors can be used as dry erase boards or with magnets.”
The vehicle will be operated by five team members per shift. It replaces a 1978 Ford chassis with a beverage delivery body. “It served us well” said Futch, “but now we are stepping into a whole new level of capabilities and response.”
The team is equipped to take on just about anything. Futch said, “We are also set up to respond to confined space and trench rescues. The vehicle holds a selection of lumber and pneumatic hand tools to build shoring. We also deploy air monitoring equipment for confined space rescues, and carry a powerful light tower, a breathing cascade system and a 25kW generator.”
The new chassis was a selling point. Chief Alameda said, “We are in the process of completing an entire fleet upgrade so we replaced seven engines, our tiller truck, our rescue and our HazMat vehicle, and they’re all Pierce Quantum rigs. Having commonality across the fleet is really good for our maintenance team who, now, just have to maintain one type of vehicle.”
Responding to Situations and Quickly Generating Awareness
Thanks to California’s robust mutual aid plan, possibly the most comprehensive in the country, other HazMat teams soon got a demonstration of Mountain View’s Pierce Quantum.
“Yesterday, they had county training where the regions HazMat teams all gathered at one of the Santa Clara County fire stations,” Chief Alameda said. “Some of the other teams asked if we would bring our new Pierce because, technically, it isn’t in service yet. It was quite a hit.”
Chief Alameda said, “All of the other HazMat teams had rave reviews for the new truck – noting the innovative design, the PUC style doors on all compartments, the Command Cab design and the overall quality of the Pierce Quantum and body. Iit was impressive.”
When comprehensive HazMat capabilities are your starting point, you tend to impress people.