The National Hazardous Materials Fusion Center launched its Web portal portal today during Hotzone 2010. This free resource provides hazmat-response information, including training packages, reports, incident-based case studies, statistics, trends, alerts, recommendations and peer-to-peer networking.

The portal was designed with a consistent method of information collection to support information sharing across jurisdictions and levels of government and to support both individual and national-level needs. The secure incident reporting system is available for hazmat teams to enter, manage and analyze their own incident reports while allowing the Hazmat Fusion Center to create a national picture of hazmat response and disseminate regional and national hazmat trends and statistics.

The portal is the central element of the Hazmat Fusion Center, a program established and supported through a cooperative agreement between U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) and the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC). The program — which has adopted the tagline “Responders Helping Responders” — was created using a bottom-up building process based on the needs and the active input of the hazmat response community.

The Hazmat Fusion Center also includes the already-established Regional Incident Survey Teams (RIST) and an operations center currently in development. RIST members are local responders in each of the five PHMSA regions who have volunteered to be trained and dispatched after major incidents, at the request of the jurisdiction, to assist in collecting lessons learned and analysis of the event.

Emergency responders must register either an individual or agency user to access secure portions of the portal. Registered responders may view full RIST survey reports, smart practices and lessons learned and may participate in the hazmat discussion forum and bulletin boards. Agencies that respond to hazmat incidents may register to use the Hazmat Fusion Center’s incident-reporting system. Registration is free.

For more information, visit the Hazmat Fusion Center online or e-mail hazmatfusion@iafc.org.