The Chicago Fire Department recently retrofitted a semi-trailer for use as a mobile laboratory to test and identify hazardous materials, said Chief Daniel O'Connell, who oversees the CFD's hazmat operations. O'Connell said the nearly $600,000 lab was developed from scratch to have a customized mobile platform capable of testing such materials to determine response strategies.

O'Connell said the fire department currently has two full-time hazmat teams and a total of 25 team companies trained in Tech-A level hazmat response. The department also has four heavy-rescue squads trained at the Tech-A level. If an event occurs, fire department personnel arrive at an incident and begin field-screening chemical spills. The addition of the mobile lab means teams can test chemicals, contain them and communicate with headquarters to determine the appropriate response.

“We perform field screening and that is the key work; we are not lab technicians,” O'Connell said. “We test the chemicals using a variety of technologies that are now included inside the mobile lab.”

The mobile lab basically consists of a semi-trailer that has been outfitted with technologies specific to hazmat incidents. O'Connell said it is an unmarked unit.

“We don't necessarily want to announce when we are at an incident,” O'Connell said. “So it doesn't say ‘mobile lab’ on it or anything, just the Chicago Fire Department.”

Inside, the lab includes workstations for testing chemicals and storage facilities, including a refrigerator and cabinetry. One unique feature used in the mobile lab is a glove box, which is used for hazmat containment. It uses a special filtration system to safeguard against leaks.

“It generates a negative pressure within the containment enclosure, so nothing can escape,” he said.

The technologies inside the mobile lab include 3-pound, handheld chemical detectors from Ahura Scientific and an ANDROS robot from Northrop Grumman that interoperates with an identical robot owned by the Chicago Police Department. The robot can be controlled wirelessly, so users can dictate its movements and how it collects samples at the chemical spill, O'Connell said. Any data gathered about the chemical incident is transmitted via two-way radio, a firefighter's push-to-talk mobile phone or when the incident commander contacts 911 dispatchers to disseminate the information.

However, the lab is not infallible; that's why O'Connell ensured that reach-back programs were negotiated with vendors. In the middle of an incident, the department needs to be able to reach service providers or manufacturers to quickly have equipment repaired.

“We need to be able to reach vendors at any hour so we can have access to their support personnel,” he said. “Sometimes, this can be at 2 a.m. and we need to know they are there to support us.”