HAZMATTERS: Burnaby Fire Department

This week on HAZMATTERS, we are checking in with the Burnaby Fire Department out of Burnaby, BC. This fire department boasts a roster of 280 paid members, all of which do a 6 month rotation through their HAZMAT station. 92 members are currently Technician level, while the remaining are trained to the Operational level, all of which striving to become Technicians.

The area in which they serve has a population of around 250,000, and plenty of potential first in hazards. The area has one refinery with associated tank farm and loading dock for ships, as well as pipelines in the area that transport crude oil, gasoline, diesel, and even jet fuel. There are several sources of ammonia in the area including ice rinks and food processing operations and even a hazardous waste reclamation facility. One unique tenant they have is Ballard Power, which manufactures hydrogen fuel cells.

The group carries the capability to perform mass decon with an inflatable decon tent. For metering, the team is using a 5 gas MultiRae, equipped with PID, and have recently upped their training experience with the purchase of a HAZSIM gas detection simulator.

As far as getting to the scene; they currently have a 2000 Ford F450 cube van with two 18 foot trailers, one for our decon equipment which travels with the van on all runs, and one for second responses.

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This HAZMATTERS is brought to you by HAZSIM!

HazSim Pro training system has been used to train across the U.S since 2011. Trainers in HazMat and Confined Space realized that ‘tapping the student on the shoulder’ was NOT effective training. This system uses NO hazardous materials and although may not look exactly like your front line meter, shows the important data which the all students needs to learn to ‘react’ to. Click HERE for video of setting up the system. Click this link for customers in action using the HazSim to better train responders. Click HERE for a quote.

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