Hazmatters Private Hazmat Company Expanding Westward First Call Environmental is a private hazmat and environmental response company that offers a range of services from 27 offices. Its staff of 200 strong are either full time or brought in on call, especially where specialized skills are needed. The company has a fleet of specialty equipment including vacuum tucks, roll-offs, waste hauling vehicles, […] Written by Phil Ambrose June 2, 2022June 2, 2022
Hazmatters Small Hazmat Team Protects Major Meat Processing Plant Almost smack in the middle of Arkansas lies Scott County. Waldron, with a population of just over 3,000, is Scott’s county seat. Waldron was incorporated in 1875 and stretches across 5 square miles. A big player in the Scott County and Waldron economies is Tyson Foods, which operates a plant in Waldron. And as with […] Written by Phil Ambrose May 26, 2022May 26, 2022
Hazmatters Private Outfit Blends Hazmat, SWAT, Medical and Rescue With less than three years under its belt, Maryland-based RANT Strategies is combining technical training for high-risk scenarios across multiple emergency response disciplines. RANT Strategies’ instructors are all current law enforcement officers in special operations branches from one the busiest SWAT teams in the nation, sniper team leaders, K-9, aviation, major incident response teams and […] Written by Phil Ambrose May 19, 2022May 19, 2022
Hazmatters Big Hazmat Dogs Running in the big Hazmat Yard The Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District, better known as Metro Fire, serves 358 square miles and a population north of 738,000. When you add in an agreement with the Sacramento County Environment Management Department, Metro Fire’s Hazardous Materials Response Team covers the entire 995 square miles of Sacramento County and its 1.5 million residents, including the […] Written by Phil Ambrose April 28, 2022April 28, 2022
Hazmatters Vollie Hazmat Team Trains Hard in PA In 1986, hazmat was a novel idea that was the talk of the fire service community in Somerset County, Pa. Then, a sizable oil spill occurred in the county and they had to ask for help from the neighboring county’s hazmat team. That was the teaching moment that led to Somerset forming the Hazmat Response […] Written by Phil Ambrose April 15, 2022April 18, 2022
Hazmatters Georgia Hazmat Team Levels Up When a major incident garners worldwide attention in your backyard, it can influence your readiness capabilities for generations to come. The Centennial Park terrorist bombings during the 1996 summer Olympic games in Atlanta did not cause neighboring Cobb County to form a hazmat team — one had been in place for 15 years. But more […] Written by Phil Ambrose January 28, 2022January 28, 2022
Hazmatters Brazil Hazmat Team Meets Private Industry Challenge In the Suzano section of Sao Paulo, Brazil, a private-industry hazmat, fire, rescue and EMS team protects a 30,000-square-foot industrial site. The team is divided into four groups of seven members, with each trained to the hazmat technician level. In 2021, one of the four groups alone saw four hazardous product leaks, two fires and […] Written by Phil Ambrose January 14, 2022January 14, 2022
Hazmatters Florida Hazmat Team Tackles Natural, Manmade Threats Sandwiched between Tampa and Orlando, Polk County Fire Rescue’s hazmat team must be ready for both manmade and natural threats. The county stretches across 2,011 square miles and has a population of about 725,000. The county often finds itself in the path of hurricanes and other tropical storms, which can create hazmat and technical rescue […] Written by Phil Ambrose December 30, 2021December 30, 2021
Hazmatters Hazmat Team Helps Keep Magic Alive at Magic Kingdom Prior to the pandemic, Walt Disney World’s Magic Kingdom saw nearly 21 million visitors in 2019 — that’s 1.7 million people per month. To put that in perspective, the entire state of Florida has about 22 million residents. New York City has a population of 8 million. Throw in the populations of Bay Lake and […] Written by Phil Ambrose December 10, 2021December 10, 2021