The National Hazardous Materials Fusion Center, a partnership between the International Association of Fire Chiefs and the Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, is recruiting Regional Incident Survey Teams to gather information to help develop best practices, lessons learned and improved curricula and training materials for the hazmat response community.

Teams currently are being assembled in the central, eastern and southern regions. RISTs have five to seven members with expertise in various response disciplines. The teams will respond to hazmat incidents in their specific areas, collecting information and data.

Applications for RIST leader positions are due by Nov. 7; member positions by Dec. 5. For position descriptions and applications, visit www.iafc.org/hazmatfusion.

NHMFC also will hold focus groups through the end of November to come up with lessons learned and gain advice and feedback to develop a secure, Web-based portal to serve as an information network for hazmat teams; first responders; federal, state and local agencies; and the private sector. These focus groups will be held Oct. 23 in Atlanta, Oct. 28 in Chicago, Nov. 13 in Newark and Nov. 19 in Seattle. To participate, contact Lauren Hill at lhill@iafc.org or 703-896-4823.