As a result of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, the federal government has taken a new position on the issue of domestic preparedness. Millions of dollars are being spent in an effort to properly train and equip the nation's first responders to respond and arrive in a safer and more efficient manner.

As they undertake this monumental task, incident commanders, fire chiefs and company officers are being thrust into operations that may never even have been conceived of in the past. As a result, new thinking and tactics must be considered before responding to a suspected or actual terrorist event.

Fire departments — specifically hazmat response teams — must now work more intimately with law enforcement agencies to mitigate the potential for death and injury in a WMD event.

Hazmat teams may find themselves working hand in hand with police Special Weapons and Tactics teams in performing rescues, supporting tactical operations and even making entries into potentially hostile situations. When assuming a role in these situations, a plethora of problems can emerge, and some interesting solutions have been found.

Miami's approach

In November 1979, City of Miami Fire Rescue created the first fire-based tactical medical team in the United States. A group of paramedics was trained in SWAT tactics, and the team has been in place ever since. Recently the hazmat response to WMD events was examined, and newly appropriate training was conducted and is ongoing.

The City of Miami Metropolitan Response System, which is composed of the city's fire and police departments, recently participated in several periodic drills as part of a federal program to distribute grant monies and equipment. The drills in Miami were a result of discussions about how the city would respond to a terrorist event should one occur.

One particular drill took place at the horse race track in the city of Hialeah and involved all agencies in greater Miami-Dade County, including five fire departments, three hazmat teams and four police departments. The simulation involved a release of sarin nerve gas that resulted in 25 “victims” requiring treatment and transport to area hospitals.

The immediate problem was to create an environment where the turf wars were either eliminated or at least understood by both tactical police officers and hazmat team firefighters. The solution is easy, but the manner in which it's presented is critical.

SWAT cops tend to be more aggressive than ordinary police officers, while line firefighters tend to be more aggressive fighting ordinary fires than firefighters operating at hazmat responses. SWAT cops must be trained to recognize that a hazmat response requires careful thought, methodical analysis and the cooperation of several sections to accomplish a common goal.

In a SWAT operation where snipers are involved, negotiations are undertaken and entry and backup entry teams are put into place before an assault ever takes place. In a hazmat response, many sectors must be ready before anyone enters the hot zone. Research, recon, decon, rehab and medical sectors are all needed before a hot-zone operation ever begins.

Response to a terrorist event could be renamed a “tactical hazmat response,” because when we play from the same sheet of music a more cohesive and safe response will be the result. However, this only addresses the thought process; a significant amount of training is also necessary. It's important that police officers are familiar with hazmat equipment concerns. Training the hazmat team on SWAT team maneuvers and their concerns is vital as well.

Understanding the equipment

It goes without saying that SWAT teams aren't comfortable operating in cumbersome chemical suits and SCBA. Most police officers have never had to deal with Level A or B suits, the effects of nerve gas and other chemical agents, or the idiosyncrasies of air monitoring. But there's much more to hazmat operations than donning PPE.

All personnel, firefighters and police officers alike, must be thoroughly familiar with air monitoring to determine the type of WMD agent or toxic industrial chemical present. This understanding is essential in choosing the correct level of PPE and respirator. It's most important for them to understand the limitations of the equipment and the personnel wearing such equipment.

From the fire department incident commander's point of view, he or she must realize how important it is to set up the ICS, specifically a unified command post, with personnel from all participating agencies within that location.

Rotation of personnel is a real concern. A plan to rotate personnel is vital considering how hot one can get in Level B suits, especially with a high humidity level outside. In the event of an actual disaster, this kind of operation will most likely go on for hours and probably days.

Effective communication is difficult, so a liaison for each team has to be in the command post with radio communications to each team. It's key to set up the staging area and advise all responding units as soon as possible. Radio frequencies in most cases will be completely different, so face-to-face communication is a must. There also will be equipment arriving from all over the county, and there must be an area to place this equipment, so control of resources is seized from the start.

In a WMD incident involving mass casualties, the possible infiltration and compromise of the staging perimeter is an important concern. Most SWAT teams have substantial experience in this arena, and they can and will provide this security.

The last thing anyone needs is to have contaminated people wandering in and around operational personnel. Brightly colored crime scene tape and appropriately dressed police in PPE, easily identifiable by all personnel, can provide this security. The officers in security positions can be armed with pressure extinguishers containing a decontamination solution in the event of walking wounded wandering into the perimeter.

Training techniques

In Miami we have the advantage of having firefighter/paramedics assigned to SWAT teams, and several are on the hazmat team as well. Because of these multiple roles, we were able to properly train all SWAT officers on the use of equipment and conduct several full-scale drills to test the efficiency of a hazmat team and SWAT operation.

During the many training sessions, police officers had live-fire drills where they wore Level A and B suits and trained with SCBA and canister masks in place. Responses with Level A suits weren't ideal, because fields of vision were small and cumbersome double gloves made any efficient shooting all but impossible. Level B Sarenex hooded suits with SCBA were found to be most effective in the drills. All officers were equipped with rapid adapters and NBC filters as a last resort should they run out of air.

One important lesson the department learned from the process was that responders must set up staging quickly and have police and hazmat teams as close as possible in that staging area so access to equipment is easy and briefings can be completed more efficiently. Three to four months is an appropriate time frame to consider training for this new type of response. In our case, we knew the drill was coming and managed to train everybody, including the hazmat team, in about two months.

Refresher training on WMD and response should be conducted at least once every two years. Considering, at least in Miami, the 24-on/48-off fire department schedule and three eight-hour shifts for the police department, perhaps annual training might be a better way to keep these thoughts in the minds of all responders.

A good venue for this would be the refresher license renewal training for EMTS and paramedics. I suggest adding another two- to four-hour module on terrorism — specifically NBC weapons — and most importantly, your department's strategy and tactical operation to these events.

As time moves on, the level of complacency and feeling of invulnerability will increase. The terrorist knows this, and that's when he will strike again. We won't know when that will happen, so it behooves all of us as firefighters and as commanding officers to be constantly alert for opportunities to reinforce this concern to first responders under our command.

For now, most fire departments are still in a high state of alert. Those in command roles must attend as many meetings as necessary to ensure all agencies are vigilant and informed of new intelligence, target areas and procedures. Health departments must be actively involved with planning and strategy development sessions. All ancillary agencies must be invited to seminars, training sessions and brainstorming sessions that will allow the community to be better informed.

If police agencies and fire departments can work together, there's no reason other agencies can't as well. Most important is the willingness of all parties to accomplish the same goal and share information with the desire to improve operations. By working together, more can be accomplished and more lives can be saved in the long run.

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Chief Michael J. Essex is a 33-year veteran of the fire department and currently is the special operations officer for the department's emergency response division. He is responsible for the hazmat team, dive rescue team, technical rescue team and the SWAT paramedic team. He was the founding father of the city's SWAT medic team, of which he is still an active member.

Lt. Joseph Zahralban is an 12-year veteran of the department and is assigned to the hazmat team. He is a paramedic and a tactical medic assigned to the Miami Police SWAT team. He is also the CEO of Environmental Action, a private hazmat team operating primarily for the federal government.