ALFRED, Maine – The bright yellow, orange, and blue suits looked hot and uncomfortable, and the black gloves the students wore seemed large on their hands as they worked to contain hazards.
What they encountered wasn’t actually hazardous – water mimicked an array of chemicals Hazmat Technician course students worked to contain in a series of mock spills on Aug. 29 as part of their coursework.
Donning the suits was all part of the drill for students in the course, which was hosted by York County Emergency Management Agency’s Hazardous Materials Response Team and sponsored by the agency and by York County Fire Academy, and the Maine Emergency Response Commission.
The course, said instructor Allan Nygren of Bangor-based Training Technologies, Inc., is designed to teach firefighters and others how to effectively deal with an array of hazards – including advanced identification of substances, leak sealing, gas identification, classification, and much more.
It and other courses like it are designed to keep people safe from harm.
“What is it, and what will it hurt?” when something is spilled or leaked into the air, Nygren explained.” How to wash it off, how to make it go away.”
In all, 19 students from York County and other fire departments, a midcoast chemical company, and from the Maine Department of Environmental Protection spent a week at the York County government building in Alfred, learning about various hazardous chemicals and other substances and how to safely deal with them.
Saco firefighters Marc Martin, Pat Sarto and Connor Redlon – the latter also a member of Buxton Fire and Rescue, said the course was beneficial.
Martin explained that Biddeford and Saco departments operate a decontamination unit used to remove hazardous materials from suits, footwear, and gloves worn by those who have worked to deal with any spill or leak.
Technicians must arrive at a scene prepared with breathing apparatus and an array of suits and gloves—which one is worn depends on the hazard encountered. And yes, they are hot and uncomfortable—and necessary.
Sarto said the course information students must read and remember can be dry, but he noted that Nygren has a way of making it interesting, and the class work is interspersed with the hands-on mock scenarios.
“It’s a great class,” said Redlon of the Saco and Buxton departments.
The hands-on exercises mimicked a leak of corrosive material and a chlorine leak, among others.
York County EMA Training and Response Coordinator Scott Gagne said he took the technician course as a refresher to be up to date with new information.