By Dave Mendez, Sheriff Deputy, King County, USA
As the King County Law Enforcement representative (Emergency Support Function 13), the County that the City of Seattle resides in, I have been a part of numerous activations. Law Enforcement plays a supporting role in any Hazmat incident that is non-criminal or not terrorism related which allows for some perspective when it comes to seeing how both Emergency Management as well as citizens react. It is important to know as a citizen as well as a 1st responder to know what hazards you live and work around as you go about your daily life.
Awareness
If we still must drive into work these days, I will bet you follow the same couple of routes to and from your work. Maybe you stop at the convenient coffee stand or gym on your way in and hit the grocery store and gas station on the way home. Do you know what types of businesses you live, drive or work next to on a weekly basis? Hazmat is not our first thought when it comes to our personal and family safety. Knowing and being aware of your surroundings will give you a leg up if something happens. In 1986 the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to Know-Act (EPCRA) was passed requiring federal, state, tribes, and local agencies to partner in implementing emergency planning and preparedness. Businesses have requirements about chemical, quantities and activities they are supposed to report to your local State Emergency Response Commission (SERC) or Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) who then work with businesses, hazmat teams and the community with making emergency response plans. The community under section 313 is made available to the public by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Prevention
As a citizen, it is difficult for us to assist in the prevention of hazmat incidents apart from maybe our driving skills. So, the easiest and best thing we can do to help 1st responders is to remind them “if you see something, say something.” Each state has some type of environmental protection agency to which you can report spills or illegal dumping to. If lives are in danger, call 911 and give them the precise location and a good description of the hazmat incident. Never put yourself in danger!
“In the case of a Hazardous Materials release will you be given direction to either Shelter in Place or Evacuate. Your local 1st responders or emergency management will be issuing these instructions via the web, social media, news media, text, or phone call. The one thing that you can do to help protect yourself and your family is to sign up for your local, county and/or state emergency alerts via their websites. Once you “opt-in” you will get any emergency instructions on your smart phone via text or phone call. Check with your local emergency management for that free service”
Preparedness
Let’s be realistic, being prepared for a Hazmat critical incident is not high on our list of things to worry or be prepared for. With that said, it may be a good idea to be prepared if you live, work or commute or if you live close to an industry that makes, store or uses chemical, biological or radiological material. If you work in an industry around hazmat, you may have already been required to take “Hazardous Materials Awareness” training including refresher courses. This is the basic Hazmat class in a series of courses in the field. The Center for Domestic Preparedness has an online distance learning course you can take AWR-358. You will have to sign up for a free FEMA SID Number if you do not have one already.
Response
Depending on where you live, you probably have some idea of what to do in an earthquake, tornado, hurricane, or severe snowstorm. In the case of a Hazardous Materials release will you be given direction to either Shelter in Place or Evacuate. Your local 1st responders or emergency management will be issuing these instructions via the web, social media, news media, text or phone call. The one thing that you can do to help protect yourself and your family is to sign up for your local, county and/or state emergency alerts via their websites. Once you “opt-in” you will get any emergency instructions on your smart phone via text or phone call. Check with your local emergency management for that free service. Lastly, if you something is going on near you, avoid the area completely. Keeping the roads around an incident is critical to get 1stresponders to the scene to mitigate the problem.
Recovery
Most hazardous material incidents are small and can be contained by 1st responders. There are times when a hazmat release takes longer to control or mitigate maybe due to weather or other circumstances. If you lost property or had damage done by a Hazmat incident, check with your local or state office of emergency management for help with financial or structural recovery as well as your personal insurance. Funds to assist you will be released if there is some type of declaration of disaster by your local, county or state. Other resources like Red Cross will also assist if you or your family is impacted by a critical incident.
Hazardous materials are not something we typically worry about in our day to day lives, but when an incident happens, it will most likely have a negative impact. Having awareness, helping prevent incidents, being prepared ourselves, responding responsibly and being able to recover allows us to help others in our community who may not have the knowledge and skills you do. FEMA created Community Lifelines to frame incident information, understanding and impacts in plain language to promote whole community prioritization during critical incidents. This is a basic guideline for communities for objectives-based response that prioritizes the rapid stabilization of Community Lifelines after a disaster. The FEMA webpage has more information about the Community Lifelines.
FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CHECK:
Emergency Planning and Community Right-to Know-Act at https://www.epa.gov/epcra/epcra-fact-sheets
The community under section 313 by the EPA at http://www.epa.gov/tri
Online course of the Center for Domestic Preparedness at https://cdp.dhs.gov/training/course/AWR-358%20dL
FEMA Community Lifelines at https://www.fema.gov/emergency-managers/practitioners/lifelines
About the Author:
Mr. David Mendez is currently a Sheriff Deputy employed by the King County Sheriff’s Office in Seattle Washington for the last 16 years. Currently he is assigned to the Critical Incident Preparedness and Response Unit as a Detective. He is an FBI certified HazMat and Bomb Technician as a graduate of the Hazardous Device school in Huntsville, Alabama.
