The awareness of chemical and biological terrorism has grown dramatically over the past few years. Since the anthrax attacks of 2001, significant concerns have surfaced throughout the response community regarding the protection of first responders in the event of chemical or biological terrorism incidents.

The anthrax attacks, coupled with the events of Sept. 11, reinforced the need to protect emergency workers. The federal government established grant programs for first responders, and the National Fire Protection Association published NFPA 1994, Protective Ensemble for Chemical/Biological Terrorism Incidents, which defined three levels of protection. Chemical protective clothing manufacturers responded by planning and designing practical ensembles for first responders.

Five years later, there are several ensemble designs available to first responders for any level of response and protection. Looking at today's chemical protection technology, the majority of response programs employ limited- or single-use garments for overall chemical protection. Not only is this classification affordable, it simplifies selection, usage, protection and decontamination concerns. These disposable fabrics offer excellent chemical protection and performance. One of these, the Tactix MT94, recently was used in realistic training exercises by the Montgomery County (Md.) Hazardous Incident Response Team.

Hard choices

Those who respond regularly to hazmat incidents are familiar with how difficult it can be to choose appropriate chemical protective clothing and use it properly. Of course, selection and usage are significant components of any regulatory agency's requirements for hazmat response teams operating at chemical emergencies. But those requirements can change quickly due to technology advances that spring from experience and education. There also are times when technology has to keep up with regulations and standards, such as when the Occupational Safety and Health Administration or NFPA recommend health and safety enhancements.

It almost goes without saying that hazmat responders are seeing significant changes in the application and use of chemical protection for handling chemical emergencies. State-of-the-art fabrics provide a broad range of chemical compatibility and excellent protection factors, allowing entry into unsafe and dangerous environments to perform a mission. These fabrics are capable of withstanding physical challenges such as punctures and tears to prevent toxic substances from entering responders' bodies and systemically attacking target organs, causing acute and/or chronic toxic effects.

Although chemical protective clothing shouldn't be considered a replacement for engineering control methods, there are few alternatives. Because the clothing is the last line of defense for protecting the responder, care must be taken to ensure it provides the appropriate level of protection for an incident.

For example, overprotection, while not necessarily wrong, is an understandable trap because chemical protective clothing is considered a fast and easy method of providing skin protection. However, it may complicate the mission or contribute to heat-related emergencies. Some of the most common causes of injuries while wearing chemical protective clothing are slips, trips and falls. It's not fun dressing up in a “body bag with a window” when that level and type of protection isn't warranted.

A successful chemical protective clothing program must ensure that personnel are sufficiently trained in the proper use and care, selection, fitting, maintenance, and inspection of the ensembles. An adequately trained, competent person also should review the selection and use of the clothing. The program should include information specifying:

• The best level of protection and compatible fabric based on mission and/or task to be performed,
• Physical and chemical properties,
• Exposure and contact time,
• Work duration,
• Weather conditions, and
• Decontamination procedures.

Class structure

Hazmat responders need to be familiar with the chemical protective clothing standards produced by the NFPA Hazardous Materials Protective Clothing and Equipment Technical Committee. Although these are voluntary consensus standards, they still should be implemented in a department's chemical protective clothing program.

The standards include NFPA 1994; NFPA 1991, Vapor-Protective Ensembles; and NFPA 1992, Liquid Splash-Protective Ensembles and Clothing. They describe non-respiratory protection of responders during on-scene activities, performance requirements, test methods, selection, and care and maintenance. NFPA 1994 references the three classes of ensembles for the on-site environments that responders may enter when they perform their missions.

A Class 1 ensemble would be selected where the identity or concentration of the vapor or liquid agent is unknown, where it's necessary to provide vapor protection, or where liquid contact is expected and no direct skin contact can be permitted. An exposure at this level would produce immediate death or serious incapacitation. Typical applications would be a rapid-entry deployment of hazmat teams into enclosed areas, such as a subway or tunnel, to perform product identification, confirmation and mitigation. Civilian rescues in this environment most likely wouldn't be a consideration due to high concentration levels.

A Class 2 ensemble would be selected where it offered sufficient vapor protection for the intended operations, where direct contact of liquid droplets is probable, and where victims are non-ambulatory but symptomatic. Intended operations would include immediate rescue and removal of survivable victims from contaminated areas where direct and cross-contamination are likely, as well as delivery to a decontamination site.

A Class 3 ensemble would be selected where it's necessary to provide sufficient liquid protection for the intended operation, where direct contact of liquid droplets is possible, and where victims are impaired but ambulatory. Intended operations would include assisting walking and talking victims to a decontamination site and/or participating in decontamination operations where cross-contamination is probable.

Capital choice

Since 1957, local governments near Washington, D.C., have come together under the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments. Within the council are public safety subcommittees responsible for developing response objectives, health and safety guidelines, and personal protective equipment recommendations that are forwarded to the Fire Chiefs Committee for final approval.

When it came to specifying chemical protective clothing, Class 3 ensembles were selected and distributed for first responder protection throughout the capital region. These ensembles include overboots, butyl gloves and powered air-purifying respirators with CBRN cartridges. Each public safety jurisdiction also is developing plans for on-site distribution of its equipment cache in the event of a significant chemical release that would require chemical protection for a long-term event.

The chosen ensemble is Lion Apparel's recently designed Tactix MT94. Many hazmat and urban search-and-rescue teams and law enforcement agencies have placed this garment in their lockers for selected types of uses and responses.

Certified as compliant with NFPA 1992 and 1994, the garment is made of Gore Chempak Ultra Barrier fabric with a Nomex outer shell that has significant fire resistance in addition to its ability to resist cuts and abrasions caused by the jagged edges typically created by an explosion. This garment can allow personnel to enter places where other ensemble materials may be compromised by physical damage.

The MT94 ensemble also provides a considerably higher level of vapor and liquid protection than a non-compliant NFPA Level B garment, but it does not offer Level A protection. Unlike a fully encapsulated Level A suit, however, the MT94 allows users to kneel in the suit without risking a breech and offers greater field of vision. Another benefit of the ensemble is that the suit's interior can be cooled by soaking the outside with water, thus allowing the user to operate with greater comfort. The ensemble can be laundered and reused up to five times as long as it hasn't been exposed or contaminated.

To put the MT94 through its paces, the Montgomery County Hazardous Incident Response Team participated in a field test that included realistic training exercises using the ensemble. The exercise activities presented extreme challenges not only for the responders, but also for the chemical protective clothing.

The team has a rapid-entry standard operating guideline that's part of a two-pronged life-saving approach. When live non-ambulatory victims are visually identified inside of the hot zone and need assistance, firefighters dressed in structural turnout gear with SCBA will position upwind, make entry, remove the victim and take the potentially contaminated victim to an emergency decontamination area.

But how does a responder know if a victim is contaminated or just stunned by an explosion or disabled by some other cause? The hazmat response team can quickly don the MT94 ensemble and enter the hot zone with various types of predesignated detection and field sampling devices. The team then can perform a reconnaissance to determine if toxic substances, radioactive materials and potential structural traps are present. Retrieving and communicating this information as quickly as possible to the incident commander allows him or her to initiate a chain of events that ensures both responder and civilian survival.

Confidence builder

When it comes to chemical protection, reliability, trust and security offer the confidence in the protection that's needed to complete missions safely. In addition, incident commanders must truly understand not only the limitations of protection, but also those of the personnel performing an assigned task or mission.

Personnel using full-encapsulation ensembles should be well-trained in self-survival and rescue techniques in the event of an in-suit emergency or extrication of personnel requiring assistance from the hot zone. Hazmat response teams must develop guidelines addressing self-survival techniques and rescuing their own who are in chemical protective clothing — in other words, a hazmat rapid-intervention team program.

Keep in mind that chemical protection is not the all-inclusive, ultimate solution for managing a chemical release. It's only one of the many tools available in addition to risk-assessment techniques, air-monitoring devices and hazard zone establishment.

A successful chemical protective clothing program starts with building the confidence of personnel. The agency must embrace the technology and tap into the many valuable resources available from chemical protective clothing manufacturers and providers, such as free training, software programs and visits. These resources have been beneficial to enhancing the confidence of Montgomery County hazmat personnel in both their abilities and today's chemical protection.

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A member of the Montgomery County (Md.) Department of Fire and Rescue Services for 30 years, Capt. Gregory Socks was assigned to the hazmat company in 1987 as the training coordinator and shift officer. He has been the volunteer hazmat coordinator for the Washington County (Md.) Special Operations Team for 13 years and the vice president of operations for Docimo & Associates Hazardous Materials Training and Consultants for more than 10 years. He has an associates of arts degree in fire science technology.

Robert Stephan is a battalion chief with the Montgomery County (Md.) Department of Fire and Rescue Services. He is the team leader for the Hazardous Incident Response Team.