Fire departments have been training officers in decontamination procedures for some time — and the education of firefighters just keeps getting better. But challenges still remain when it comes to optimizing decontamination skills, equipment and deployment for firefighter use.

Without a doubt, the increase in firefighters' knowledge and their ability to respond is the most important trend in decontamination usage and deployment. "The trend is for a lot more people to be cross-trained" says John Breedlove, CEO of Intelagard. "[They] have more depth of knowledge regarding the various chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear threats that they may have to deal with, and how to decontaminate themselves with respect to these threats. They are also starting to deal with some of the secondary contaminants that can occur in hazmat situations, such as hydrogen cyanide, and how to deal with them safely."

Departments now are demanding top performance from all their decontamination facilities. Take portable decontamination showers: Before Sept. 11, 2001, these units were usually little more than "hoop wands and kiddie pools," says Mark Conron, president of FSI North America. It wasn't until 2002 that companies started making decontamination showers tailored to U.S. needs. Still, these were often single user models with just one or two decon stalls: As time passed, "End-users have become more and more sophisticated, demanding and getting multiple-line three- and four-stage shower systems to handle large numbers of victims," he says. "More recently, there has been a growing demand for three-, four- and even five-line multiple-stage decon shower systems to handle 10 to 20 or more victims in various stages of decon."

Hospitals, too, are more concerned with decon procedures. Most hospitals realize that first responders won't detain all victims of a hazmat/terrorism event at the scene. Installing their own decon facilities, acquiring personal protective equipment and training their staff ensures that incoming patients and hospital workers will be decontaminated adequately. "In the early 1990s, most hospitals had no decon protocols and rudimentary decon equipment at best," says Stanley Dickinson, DQE's director of training. "Today, that has changed: many hospitals have decon systems that match the capabilities of the fire departments, or better."

State governments also are taking decontamination more seriously than ever before. Leading the way is Illinois, which recently signed a contract with Modec to purchase 27 decon vehicles. Each one is a self-contained CBRN response and mitigation platform, built onto a large truck chassis. "This is the first statewide decon project of its kind in the country," says Modec president Brian Kalamanka. "It is especially unique because it is entirely vehicle-based." The units will be distributed across Illinois, with a special emphasis on covering Chicago.

Departments aren't just purchasing more units; they are doing more with them. "We are seeing more and more departments add portable water heaters and hot showers to their hazmat response units," says Ryan Crittenden, general manager of HazMatShower.com. "Cleaning solutions and solvents are more effective in warm water than cold water. Also, using warm water during decontamination reduces the risks of hypothermia and shock."

Improvements also are being made to detection and identification devices, such as Ahura Scientific's line of handheld detection units. One of these is the First Defender, which can identify solid and liquid chemicals without actually touching them, allowing it to analyze these unknowns "through translucent vessels and containers," says Duane Sword, Ahura Scientific's vice president of marketing. "It can be fitted with a 42-inch, semi-rigid FlexProbe, which can be connected to the FirstDefender's laser for hard-to-reach locations or areas too small for the FirstDefender to access." Meanwhile, for substances not amenable to analysis by FirstDefender due to fluorescence, Ahura Scientific makes the TruDefender FT. It uses fourier-transform infrared technology to directly sample and identify unknown substances right in the hot zone.

"Our technology is capable of automatically identifying chemical combinations as well as pure chemicals," says John Johnson, Ahura Scientific's director of U.S. Homeland Security. "This matters to first responders, because most chemicals that you encounter in the field are not pure."