 The Santa Ana Fire Department maintains a constantly staffed Hazardous Materials Response Team (HMRT) at Fire Station #9. The Haz-Mat Team provides emergency response to any and all incidents, whether accidental or intentional, involving hazardous materials within the City. Through a contractual agreement, they also respond as a mutual-aid resource throughout Orange County as a member of the joint powers agreement.
The Haz-Mat team responds with six personnel as a task force (Two captains, two engineers, and two firefighters) and three pieces of apparatus. The main apparatus is the Haz-Mat Squad. The Squad carries state-of-the-art chemical protective clothing, various chemical detection instruments, communication devices and decontamination supplies. The other apparatus, the Transport, carries supplies used mostly in petroleum-based spills. Santa Ana has a total of 70 trained technicians and a number of specialists across the department.
All members of the Haz-Mat Team are trained to a minimum of a Hazardous Materials ‘Technician’ level, as designated by the State. Through additional training, most members have obtained the ‘Specialist’ level. The daily staffing of the Haz-Mat Team can be supplemented with short notice by any of the over forty other certified Haz-Mat Technicians and Specialists that are in the Department.
The Teams routinely work with numerous other jurisdictions and agencies. The Haz-Mat Team can provide technical support to local, state, and federal agencies. A close working relationship based on mutual respect for each agency’s specialty has developed between the Haz-Mat Team and the County Health Department, the Bomb Squad and the State Department of Justice. The Team also conducts inspections of businesses that use large quantities of hazardous materials.
Operations during peacetime and national security emergencies involve a full spectrum of activities from a minor incident, to a major earthquake, to a nuclear detonation. There are a number of similarities in operational concepts for peacetime and national security emergencies. Some emergencies will be preceded by a build-up up or warning period, providing sufficient time to warn the population and implement mitigation measures to reduce the loss of life and property damage. Other emergencies occur with little or no advance warning, thus requiring immediate activation of the emergency operations plan and commitment of resources. All agencies must be prepared to respond promptly and effectively to any foreseeable emergency, including the provision and utilization of mutual aid. Santa Ana's Hazardous Materials Response Team is prepared to respond to all types of emergency incidents.
Santa Ana's HazMat Robot
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