Photo By 1st Lt. Anna Doo | Part of the ongoing mission of the New Mexico National Guard’s 64th Civil Support...... read more read more
RATON, N.M. – Part of the ongoing mission of the New Mexico National Guard’s 64th Civil Support Team (Weapons of Mass Destruction) is to continue a working relationship with local first responders statewide. In order to fulfill this mission, the team members offer training to firefighters, hazardous materials professionals and other law enforcement and emergency technicians.
Tom Vigil, Colfax County’s Emergency Manager worked with the CST to tailor training specific to his area’s needs. Approximately 20 people from Raton Fire Department; Miami Volunteer Fire Department; City of Angel Fire, Fire Department; and volunteers from Union, Harding and Colfax counties participated in the week-long event June 1-5, 2015.
The CST made a slight adjustment in their approach to this training exercise said Air Force Staff Sgt. Christopher Lefevre, a survey team chief with the 64th CST. As per a request from Raton Fire Department Chief Jim Matthews, they redesigned their approach to be more of a traditional military "crawl, walk, run" type of event. This denotes beginning the instruction of a new skill slowly and with classroom instruction; moving on to a guided hands-on exercise and then a full speed evaluation of the skill.
The week began with a full day of classroom instruction. This consisted mostly of slide presentations with a brief introduction to various pieces of equipment used by the CST. Subjects covered included biological agents, chemical agents, radiation, laboratory glassware, confined space operations, hazmat terminology, personal protective equipment and decontamination.
The students spent the next day listening to the CST provide a more in-depth explanation of the purpose and function of multiple pieces of hazmat equipment. Then they conducted a walk through of radiological fundamentals and equipment using radiation detection and identification gear along with a chemical, biological and homemade explosive lab process. The CST set up four lanes of training to physically walk through as actual physical lab processes and not solely pictures or slideshows.
The culminating event was a full on exercise at an abandoned warehouse used by the fire department as a training site. The Raton fire department was first on scene and established a safe area around the perceived threat while the incident commander began to gather facts and assumptions and determine what kind of additional assistance he needed. After some initial evaluation, the IC decided the threat was more than his capability could safely handle on their own and called in the CST. Together, the hazmat team of the Raton fire department and the skilled Soldiers and Airmen identified the potential threat and made a plan of action for follow through.
The CST believes these types of events are extremely important. As first responders and emergency responders, the National Guard and communities should have established, strong working relationships prior to an event or incident. Doing so allows the Guard to serve the community more efficiently and effectively. In addition, there is continuously more to learn in the hazmat and weapons of mass destruction world. The CST aims to learn just as much from those they train as they hopefully learn from them.
Vigil said, “Events like this allow us to get to know one another, to trust each other and fulfills the push for more cooperative training.”
He said the Raton FD already has an outstanding group of hazmat technicians and equipment but they have not had the opportunity in the past few years to exercise their capabilities and interest new firemen to the hazmat specialty.
Trainers with the CST believe that the week's events have given the current hazmat technicians an opportunity to become refreshed on hazmat operations as well as spark a strong interest in hazmat for the newer firemen.
The CST has already received feedback from some of the department officials expressing the desire to conduct similar training with the CST on as often as a quarterly basis. Vigil echoed that sentiment adding other local law enforcement and health care specialists to the desired roster of students.
These community training events are beneficial for all involved even if only the communication challenges are identified and mitigated. Each community that requests training from the 64th CST can also ask for specific elements to be targeted much like Matthews did. He wanted the military team to focus on refresher training for the qualified hazmat firemen while eliciting a desire by potential new members.
The training was tailored in order to meet the fire department chief’s intent rather than the "cookie cutter" training exercises the unit has set up in the past. After all, one of the missions of the CST is to support the community and the first responders who are out there risking their lives to save others.
| Date Taken: | 06.04.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 06.11.2015 18:41 |
| Story ID: | 166353 |
| Location: | RATON, NM, US |
| Web Views: | 359 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
This work, 64th Civil Support Team conducts HAZMAT training for Raton Fire Department, by 1LT Anna Doo, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
No keywords found.
LEAVE A COMMENT