Hazardous Materials: What is a hazardous material? By definition, a hazardous material is "any element, compound or substance that poses an unreasonable risk to health or property and which, because of handling, storage, processing or packaging, may have detrimental effects on emergency personnel, the public, equipment and/or the environment."

There are a wide variety of potential scenarios where an event involving the release of hazardous materials could occur within the District’s service area.

To meet this risk, District Firefighters are trained at the Operations Level, which means they are qualified to serve as first-responders to the release of hazardous materials. This includes response to incidents involving fuel spills, propane leaks, liquid chemicals, chemical vapors, biological, explosive devices, etc.

The District also maintains the equipment and expertise needed to address both local and regional response to incidents requiring the decontamination of multiple patients exposed to a variety of chemical agents. The District hosts a regional cash of specialized decontamination equipment that can be mobilized for response to hazardous materials incidents throughout the multi-county region.