From 1993 until 2000, the Bloomington Township (Ind.) Department of Fire & Emergency Services averaged 10 hazmat response calls per year. This all changed after Sept. 11.

Across the nation, all fire departments had calls coming in from all directions about “suspicious white powder.” From Oct. 1 to Nov. 31, 2001, our team responded to more than 50 anthrax scares. It was a massive burden to the department's budget because of both the equipment requirements and the fact that there was no one to bill for the response.

Response priorities had changed. No longer did we have to worry about one or two workers being splashed with chemicals, but rather many civilians potentially being exposed and contaminated. This posed a serious problem in the event that our team would have to perform a mass-civilian decontamination. Late November in Indiana is definitely not the time to be stripped down and standing in a portable PVC shower. Something had to be done, but with hardly any budget, what?

Nancy Brinegar, our newly elected township trustee, saw our concern over equipment and increased our line budget for hazmat supplies. The state fire marshal's office also had started receiving grant money from the Office of Domestic Preparedness and from Homeland Security to better equip the regional response hazmat teams. This allowed for even more upgrades to equipment and supplies.

We had just placed in service a new hazmat response trailer. This left the old 16-foot trailer to carry the decontamination showers and pools to the scene. But we found a better use.

Portable stairs were purchased from a local camper dealer for entry to the back of the trailer. At the rear of the trailer were 4 feet measured off to allow a disrobing area for the contaminated person. A clothes receptacle was placed for containment of the person's personal belongings. A wall was built with a 3-foot doorway; then again, we measured up 4 feet and built another wall with a 3-foot doorway on the opposite side. This opens to the clear area where scrubs can be donned by the victim, who then can exit out the side door of the trailer.

Drains were placed in each compartment of the trailer and hooked together to drain from the side. This allows collection pools to be placed at the side of the trailer, then after operations are complete, left in place for the cleanup crew to dispose of.

The shower floor stops were fabricated from treated 4×4s, cut and placed in the doorways. This contains the water and prevents cross contamination between the primary and secondary shower stalls.

The hot water is furnished by a 70,000btu propane-fired portable heater purchased through our Local Emergency Planning Committee funds.

We then plumbed the trailer using 1-inch PVC pipe. Shut-off valves were installed to each shower, as well as to the rear of the entrance for the use of a garden hose sprayer for possible deluge decontamination. The feed for water supply was fabricated in the rear lower left hand side of the trailer. It's a standard ¾-inch garden hose hook-up. The apparatus that tows the trailer has a 300-gallon skid unit, and we can supply our own water if no other source is available.

The shower “heads” consist of an overhead “X” from the PVC pipe with small holes drilled throughout. This gives thorough, steady streams of water without the blast or splashing associated with standard shower heads.

Now we were faced with how to we seal and protect the inside from contaminates. I remembered that we had an old tanker that had consistently held water in the cabinets, thus constantly rusting through the bottom. We took the tanker to Rhino-Lining and had the cabinets sprayed. Not only did that cure the rusting, but we had to drill a drain hole in each cabinet because it retained water so well. I went to Rhino-Lining and asked what chemicals affect the linings. Bluntly, the salesman answered, none. I asked if I could get that in writing and he grinned and handed me a pamphlet describing Rhino-Lining. Sure enough, the report states that there are no known chemicals that affect the linings.

So the floor, walls, and sides were totally sprayed with Rhino-Lining and the seal is great and the water proofing of the interior of the trailer is fantastic. The total cost for the building of the trailer was less than $5,000.

In these times of strict budgets and more demands on service, innovation is the hidden gift that firefighters possess among many other talents. Use it! Advertise it. Show your community leaders that you're serious about taking care of your citizens well being.

As we all know, firefighting is a team effort. It feels good when a job goes well and has a positive outcome. Our firefighters feel pretty good when the public thanks them for considering their comfort and decency in the event of a chemical incident where decontamination has to be performed. Nobody wants to be left out in the cold, especially stripped.

Chief Faron L. Livingston Bloomington Twp. (Ind.) Dept. of Fire & Emergency Services