When a clear need for better hazmat response arose nearly 45 years ago, fire chiefs in central Indiana’s Madison County got busy.

It started with a 1977 rail incident that forced the evacuation of a nursing home and brough multiple mutual-aid agencies in. Two years later the county had a hazmat incident that closed all lanes of an interstate highway for several hours.

By 1980 the fire chiefs had organized into a group and started sending people to various schools with funding from grants and the Emergency Management Agency. Once they had a sufficient group of firefighters initially trained in hazmat response, they begged and borrowed from different agencies and businesses to secure a minimal amount of equipment.

When the Madison County Hazmat Team began in 1980, it was made up of volunteer firefighters. It has since transitioned to cross-staffed career firefighters from the East Madison Fire Territory who volunteer to be on the team. They are now a Type II team and are managed by the county’s health department.

That full transition took place in 2023 and goes down as one of the team’s biggest wins. The team went from being all volunteer with no budget to being career-staffed with a county-funded budget through the health department.

The 30-member group trains monthly for four hours per session with a mix of hands-on and classroom training. When possible, they train with other agencies. Approximately 131,000 residents live within their 452-square-mile response area.

The team is equipped with a five-person custom cab. Each seat has a 4500 psi SCBA pack, plus five more for operations. The rig has an 80-gallon overpack, a weather station, and a rear work area with cameras, computers and a light tower. It has liquid transfer equipment, an air drill to pump out containers and a cascade system. It carries six Kappler Level A suits, Tingly boots, in-suit communication, various gloves, liquid splash suits, Zumro decon w/heaters, radiation monitors (including alpha, beta, gamma and neutron), multiple 4-gas detectors with PIDs, chemical classifier strips, RedWave Threat ID (gasses, solids and liquids), hand tools, pillows, booms, absorbents, patch/plug kits, folding ladder, dome clamps, acid neutralizer, base neutralizer, chlorine/H2s A, B, C kits, sound-level meter, heat gun, Drager kit with pump and tubes, non-sparking tool kit, Betts valve, and air-hose and 240-volt reels on both sides.

Despite the team’s success in changing its staffing and funding model, as well as building its equipment stock, challenges remain. And oddly, it was their biggest success in getting to a budgeted, paid-staff model that presented collateral challenges.

Obtaining sufficient funding to purchase necessary equipment and funding to send hazmat techs to schools for refresher and new-hazards training are current pain points. The cost of covering team members’ shift (call-in) pay is an obstacle to continuing education.

But as far as this team has come since the rail and highway incidents of the late 1970s, it’s a safe bet they will find solutions to this funding issue as well.