More Than 80 Firefighters, First-Responders at Hazmat Drill in the Pass

Riverside County hazardous materials teams, health officials, and the Morongo Fire Department staged a chemical leak drill next to Interstate 10 and the old Casino Morongo building Wednesday morning in Cabazon.

The drill scenario involved a railroad tanker car - technically known as a "corrosive liquid tank" - leaking hydrated calcium hypochlorite, a chemical compound used for water purification, disinfecting swimming pools, and bleaching paper and textiles, according to a federal hazardous materials database.

It was only a drill and the tanker was leaking water, but more than 80 firefighters and other first-responders trained at the scene as if there were real hazardous materials pouring out of the ruptured container.

Some participants donned fully-contained hazardous materials suits, complete with oxygen tanks and breathing apparatus. It was about 90 degrees in Cabazon when the drill started about 10 a.m. in a shade-free parking lot.

Inside the hazmat suits, firefighters and other trainees were dealing with temperatures 100 degrees and higher, drill coordinators said. Some trainees used cooling vests to extend their endurance inside the impermeable, cover-all suits.

Hazmat vehicles on the scene included a command truck equipped with high-resolution cameras, big-screen monitors, and multiple computers, to allow on-scene investigation of chemical incidents at a safe distance and research capabilities in real time.

A freight train derailment in March 2008 in east Riverside County illustrated why first-responders and incident coordinators from different agencies need to be prepared.

A 65-car Union Pacific train was eastbound from Colton to El Centro when more than 20 cars came off the tracks in Mecca, north of the Salton Sea and near Highway 111.

Two cars ruptured, leaking hydrochloric and phosphoric acids, and about 60 residents were evacuated in the sparsely-populated area.

Kim Saruwatari, the county health department's chief of emergency preparedness and response, recalled the challenges.

"It was a big, multi-disciplinary response," she said. "Cal Fire Haz Mat was there, the primary responders, other haz mat teams sent support. There was an evacuation of the community, concerns about contamination. . . .

"We had a need for lots of inter-agency collaboration," Saruwatari said. "For me it was the one of the first times I was involved in something like that.

"It was several days. We were out there in shifts, with public health people rotating out there for the duration."

Training in advance for multi-agency response incidents is key so different teams get to know each others' skills and gear, Saruwatari said.

"As you can see here you have all these different fire departments that don't work together on a daily basis," she said. "They have different capabilities, they have different levels of training, and they have different equipment.

"So when we all come together and train, Cal Fire knows that maybe they don't have that specific piece of equipment but Riverside City does, and so they know where to get the resource.

"They don't have to go hunting for it," Saruwatari said. "They know who knows how to do things, and they know when one of these teams shows up on scene what they can do.

"So the ultimate result is that when you have a hazmat incident like this, the teams know each other, they've worked together, they've trained together, they're going to be better at getting it under control sooner, which means the public's going to be in better shape."

The exercise Wednesday was hosted by the Morongo Band of Mission Indians, and participation of the Morongo Fire Department made it the first time members from a tribal emergency services unit were involved in such a drill, county and tribal representatives said.

The Countywide HAZMAT Operations Group training included teams from the Riverside, Corona, Hemet and Cal Fire-Riverside County fire departments, the Riverside County Sheriff’s Hazardous Device Team, and Riverside County Environmental Health and Public Health.

"Joint exercises such as these are an excellent opportunity to increase regional coordination and for agencies to become familiar with each other's resources and capabilities," said Riverside City Fire Battalion Chief Mike Koury, chairman of the county hazmat group.

Morongo Tribal Chairman Robert Martin said he was pleased members of the Morongo Fire Department were able to participate.

"The more we train together, the better prepared we all will be in the event of an actual emergency," Martin said.

The county Department of Public Health manages and coordinates the Countywide HAZMAT Operations Group.

"The cooperation and coordination that develops through these types of exercises will help protect our communities if or when the need arises," said Dr. Eric Frykman, the county’s medical officer.

Funding for the training was provided by a grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.