The Hazardous Materials team was created in 1994 to enhance the response capabilities of the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office when responding to incidents involving hazardous materials. Hazardous materials incidents commonly involve criminal negligence and/or specific criminal intent. For this reason the sheriff’s office maintains the ability and personnel qualified to mitigate the effects of the incident, investigate, and prepare for possible prosecution.
The Hazardous Materials Team is staffed by a multitude of members from various divisions and entities including patrol, traffic, detentions, and public works. This includes personnel trained to the technician, operations, and awareness levels. Technician level personnel are qualified to approach the point of a suspected release for the purpose of stopping or otherwise mitigating the incident. Operations level personnel are trained to act defensively, but possess special skills needed to assist in the mitigation.
Certification and training is conducted in accordance with Division of Fire Safety Rules and Regulations, as well as the Code of Federal Regulations governing hazardous materials response. Training is conducted internally, as well as through external sources such as the Center for Domestic Preparedness, National Fire Academy, Emergency Response Training Center, and many others.
The hazardous materials team has responded, and will continue to respond to incidents involving large fuel spills, illegal dumps of hazardous materials, suspected biological and toxic agents, and incidents involving radioactive substances.
While the response to and handling "haz-mat" incidents is the main function of the team, training of County personnel is also an important function. Since 1996, the Sheriff's Office has conducted "Awareness" and "Operations" training for Sheriff's Office personnel, County public works personnel, and local fire and public safety agencies.
