Despite criticism of how the U.S. intelligence community may have handled early warnings about Sept. 11, the Defense Department hasn't had its head in the sand for the past few years.

In fact, the DOD's Defense Threat Reduction Agency and Technical Support Working Group have been working with its Canadian counterpart to develop systems and technologies to counteract weapons of mass destruction.

When the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom first began working together to prioritize and develop promising technologies for their first responders to use in counterterrorism tactics, at the top of the list was a foam that would not only fight fires, but decontaminate chemical and biological weapons and mitigate blasts.

Where to begin?

The search for such a technology was initially developed by the Canadian Department of National Defense and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The program was jointly funded by the U.S. and Canadian governments via Technical Support Working Group.

The program established several criteria aimed toward developing an aqueous foam that could be impregnated with decontaminant. This surfactant would be able to use any type of water, including gray water, sea water or non-potable water, with no adverse affect on the dispersal system or chemical performance properties of the foam and decontaminant. In addition to destroying all known and tested chemical and biological agents, the foam would remove or encapsulate radiological and nuclear materials from surfaces.

Development goals required that the foam be environmentally friendly, safe for use on material and current suits and protective systems, and inexpensive. It also had to be compatible with current monitors, capable of decontaminating most toxic industrial chemicals or hazardous materials, and compatible for expedient use with fire systems and other military dispersal systems.

Finally, the foam delivery system needed to be portable, self sufficient and deployable through standard doorways. For certain uses, the foam also could be deployed with a ballistic container or tent that would allow for blast mitigation, containment and decontamination of chemical and biological devices.

Once ready, the AFFF-based technologies for blast mitigation, decontamination and containment were first introduced in the early '90s as a classified program known only to a small group of military first responders in all three countries. A detailed analysis by the Technical Support Working Group and U.S. and Canadian government research facilities proved that the two systems, known as BlastGuard and cascad (Canadian Aqueous System for Chemical-biological Agent Decontamination), met all of the program requirements and exceeded most NATO and national requirements.

For example, the foam and decontamination mix destroys sarin and most other nerve agents in under three minutes, with VX requiring about seven minutes; achieves a 10 log reduction against anthrax; and removes radioactive particles 200% better than any other methodology. In addition, the foam encapsulates and eliminates the vapor threat immediately, reducing the downwind hazard. The encapsulation prevents migration of particles or agent and helps to assert positive control of the contaminated area.

Defense designs

The dispersal and containment systems were designed by George Cowan, a former chief firefighter for the Canadian Forces, and Dr. Eddie Cundasame while under contract to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and Department of National Defence. At the same time, Dr. Garfield Purdon of Defence Research and Development Canada — Suffield was perfecting the decontaminant for inclusion in both systems.

These two efforts resulted in a dispersal and containment system that was rushed into service with U.S. and Canadian first responders in early 1996. In addition to the novel foam decontaminant technology, the system used a proven foam dispersal system for injection into a portable, self-contained unit. To increase portability, compressed-air foam systems were designed as backpack and larger dolly models. The entire program was licensed to Fort Erie, Ont.-based NBC Team Ltd. by both the Canadian and U.S. governments in 1997 and has been in manufacture ever since.

Once the systems were in the hands of first responders, their performance was measured by users. For example, after undergoing fire testing with Ottawa — Carleton Fire Department hazmat personnel, the foam was approved as part of a Class A and B — capable system. Detailed analysis for hazmat and other threats was undertaken to ascertain specific capabilities and is still ongoing.

Once the “Top Secret” classification had been removed, the systems were demonstrated publicly throughout the world. Many were impressed with the multipurpose aspect of BlastGuard's tent system, which has a wmd containment capability, and the decontamination response capability of cascad. The cost-effective foam combo fights fires and handles hazmat calls while remaining fully portable and operable from a small trailer or the back of a van.

Since those early demonstrations, BlastGuard and cascad have been present at the Sydney and Salt Lake City Olympics, the Super Bowl, Republican and Democratic conventions, and the Presidential inauguration. The systems are in use today in Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Korea, Singapore, Sweden and the United States.

In addition, the BlastGuard and cascad systems have won the MacLean's Magazine 2001 Top 10 Technology Award and the 2001 Canadian Federal Partners for Technology Transfer Award, both of which are reviewed by the Canadian scientific and first response communities. In 2000, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons selected cascad as the best portable decontamination technology; it's now used by the OPCW's inspectors throughout the world.

How they work

Awards are all well and good, but what do BlastGuard and CASCAD mean for the average department? They're intended to provide the fire service with robust, portable field-ready systems that can be deployed from a small vehicle using any water source to fight fires, apply coverage and containment to hazmat scenarios, and contain and decontaminate wmd explosive events.

The CASCAD system uses standard 1H-inch firefighting hoses and nozzles for minimal training time, and all injection and mixing is automatic for error-free ease of use. The light-weight portable backpack deployment units use compressed-air decontaminating foam to allow the initial survey and detection teams to react instantly to any problem. This same technology is used by the U.S. Army Technical Escort Unit and the U.S. Marine Corps Chemical Biological Incident Response Force and has been effective operationally in many incidents over the past few years.

Similarly, the BlastGuard system uses foam and a containment tent to provide first responders and bomb squads with a complete blast suppression system for explosive devices, including the capability to mitigate chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear agents on the spot. Like CASCAD, BlastGuard is instantly operational and provides first responders with excellent protection and mitigation.

Niagara Falls Acting Fire Chief Barney Ruddell says, “The units will make biological investigations safer for both fire department personnel and the public.” Although there are federal response assets that have this capability, deployment times may be unacceptable to local first responders in more remote areas. By adding these systems to their inventory and completing the appropriate training, local departments can increase their response capabilities, sometimes dramatically.

Basic training

Training on the systems is provided by NBC Team Ltd., which offers on-site training to departments so that the communities they serve don't lose their response capability or critical assets during the training and integration period.

The company also provides a live-agent training experience for system users at the DRDC — Suffield proving grounds. This program has been used by TEU, CBIRF, Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Air Force, Fire Department New York, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and other U.S. and Canadian first responders.

According to CBIRF Executive Officer Lt. Col. Scott Graham, “The live agent training and equipment is the best we have ever experienced.” The full spectrum of service and training support for first responders also has won accolades from the Ottawa — Carleton police chief and fire authorities as they prepared for the recent Group of Eight Summit.

Capt. John Gagnon, the chief hazmat officer for Ottawa — Carleton, and Deputy Police Chief Sue O'Sullivan have established an integrated response model for chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear incidents that is now used as the Canadian model for establishing a CBRN capability. Both officers attribute a large part of their current success to the selection of CASCAD and BlastGuard equipment coupled with the live-agent training program to prepare the team members.

For example, Gagnon believes that the team's outstanding response to last February's Ottawa anthrax hoax is a result of the extreme confidence in their own equipment and abilities that have been reinforced by actual training with cascad in live agent conditions.

Before receiving significant funding, O'Sullivan and Gagnon had worked on this program for the last five years and pioneered many new techniques. Drawing on their departments' initial response capabilities, they integrated their response model and methodology under a central command and control to encompass fire, police, EMS, health and other municipal departments, creating a simple yet effective response system for the nation's capital region.

Canada's equivalent of the Office for Homeland Defense has encouraged other regions and areas to mirror the success of the Ottawa — Carleton National Capital Team Model for forming their own response teams and equipment selection. The model also was used when planning contingency operations for many of the urban subway systems throughout North America and Europe because of the simple effectiveness and efficiency of the system.

Chief Ted Jarboe of the Chevy Chase (Md.) Fire Department was part of the team that observed and recommended application of this technology back in the early '90s, in conjunction with Technical Support Working Group, the Technical Escort Unit, Royal Canadian Mounted Police and others.

Live-agent lessons

As evidenced by the experience of Ottawa — Carleton and others, live-agent training has proved invaluable for providing confidence in SOPS, personal protective equipment and responders' capabilities to react.

Responders soon learned that rapid application of foam to the threat had a significant affect on controlling contamination and limiting the downwind hazard. This is especially true in limited spaces with ventilation challenges, such as subways, tunnels, sports stadiums and other public gathering areas. The adherence of the foam to vertical and horizontal surfaces for long periods ensures full decontamination and encapsulation, regardless of surface type.

End-users also discovered that the BlastGuard tent's ability to cover and, when filled with foam, mitigate and contain leaking devices and/or explosive devices that exceeded three pounds of C4 was even more impressive. Post-blast analysis and damage are minimized by using this system, and chemical and biological devices are controlled and contained on site with a significant reduction in risk to the public.

Other major lessons learned from live-agent testing showed the following:

• Preplanning and preparation are critical to a successful response.
• CBRN events need an integrated response and good command and control.
• Compatibility with current monitoring systems is critical to determining decon process effectiveness.
• Automatic mixing and premeasured chemicals ease the error factor.
• Foam normally will encapsulate more than 90% of the vapour emitted by a threat, dramatically reducing the downwind hazard.
• Portable CAFS provides a more quickly deployed alternative to traditional methods.

Although foam isn't a new concept, specifically developed foams can have numerous advantages over traditional AFFF technology. Such specialty foams can be broad spectrum with multiple dispersal capabilities, offering a step forward to first responders for a wide variety of response capabilities, including against WMD.

In the end, it's especially comforting to know that the governments were developing this capability in a collaborative program to provide the first response community with the very best technology to combat the ever-present threats that face our communities.

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Douglas Eaton is a former member of the Irvin Aerospace staff and is the director of marketing and sales for NBC Team Ltd. A military veteran, he has 30 years of Airborne Special Forces experience and has been a special advisor and trainer to the FBI, U.S. Marine Corps and other U.S. first responders for the past 10 years.