Kingsport Fire Department tests for HAZMAT certification
KINGSPORT, Tenn. (WJHL) — The Kingsport Fire Department’s hazmat team spent Thursday working a hazardous materials drill for accreditation by the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency.
The drill simulated a train carrying hazardous materials derailing off of Wilcox Drive, hitting multiple vehicles including a tanker truck.
“This is something for us we’ve been working on for quite a while,” Kingsport Fire Chief Scott Boyd told News Channel 11 “We’re inviting somebody from the outside to come to our department, look through everything, and be able to show us where we’re doing things well, areas that we need to improve on, to be able to find out for sure where we stand.”
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The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency evaluates departments across the state on their skills in responding to hazardous materials incidents, including identifying, containing, and decontaminating an incident scene.
Kingsport’s 21-person hazmat team ran through a drill simulating a train derailment with multiple “leaking hazardous materials” for the bulk of the day Thursday as TEMA officials watched on, assessing their skills.
“In any scene we have incident commanders, we have personnel in the research that researched the chemical involved,” Assistant Fire Chief Terry Arnold said. “We have people in operations that actually go in and retrieve any victims. And then we also have people that would go in and fix the leaks.”
So far, only two other jurisdictions, Chattanooga and Nashville, in the state have been recertified under TEMA’s recently updated classification system.
Though the drill on Thursday may represent a worst-case scenario, with the number of industrial facilities inside Kingsport city limits, KFD staff say preparation is critical.
“With two major interstates, with the chemical plants, the risk of it happening, you know, go up a lot,” Arnold said. “We want to prepare ourselves and be there and be ready if something does happen at one of the facilities around interstates.”
Boyd pointed out fire officials respond to “all hazards.”
“We’re the ones that, when in doubt, they call the fire department,” Boyd said.
If it passes certification, Kingsport won’t be the only locality to benefit. The department already serves as the primary hazmat provider for Sullivan County and provides mutual aid as needed in eight Northeast Tennessee counties.
“Sullivan County and the district has relied on on this team for a number of years,” Sullivan County Emergency Management Director Jim Bean told News Channel 11. “I think the accreditation just takes it a step further to show not only what the team’s capabilities are, but that they’ve increased their ability to add training and equipment to meet that accreditation.”
At time of publication, the drill was still running. Results are expected by the end of the day.
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