It shouldn’t be a surprise that Venezuela’s largest fire department has a substantial, dedicated hazmat team. In fact, it was hazmat that put the city on the map.

The northern city of Cabimas was a small fishing village founded by monks in the 1750s. In 1917 crude oil was discovered in Cabimas, and everything changed.

According to Wikipedia entries, the Cabimas Fire Department — or Cuerpo de Bomberos de Cabimas — was founded July 24, 1958, although efforts for its creation date back to 1954. It is named after Lieutenant Colonel Ibrahim Ferrer R. who died in the Tacoa Tragedy, which occurred in the state of La Guaira.

In addition to protecting the inhabitants with fire, EMS and rescue services, Bomberos de Cabimas are responsible for controlling fires in oil facilities and wildland areas. The hazmat team operates under NFPA 407.

Things for Cabimas and its hazmat team changed dramatically in 1992 when the well called Barroso 2 was discovered — it had a massive blowout of 100,000 barrels per day.

The hazmat team must also plan for oil transportation as the city serves as a major shipping hub. The port of La Salina, with its artificial island, is one of the main oil tanker docks in Maracaibos’ lake. From there, crude is shipped to the United States, Europe or Asia. There are also some small private docks for oil service companies such as the Halliburton dock in Las Palmas. There are no commercial or tourist docks.