PORTLAND AIR NATIONAL GUARD BASE, Ore. — Emergency managers from Oregon and Washington joined forces here for the annual "Hazmat Olympics," a joint training designed to test the limits of their emergency response capabilities.
With the sound of breathing masks and the sight of bright yellow safety suits, the 142nd Wing teamed up with the 194th Wing from Camp Murray. In this hands-on training, the teams went through eight stations to practice finding, testing, and cleaning up dangerous spills.
Master Sgt. Lacey Wood, an emergency manager with the 142nd Wing and a key participant in the training, emphasized that while these specific worst-case scenarios are rare, the skills required to handle them are highly perishable.
"We don't do this skill very often, so it's good to keep up on training on all these different tasks," Wood said. "We need to know how to do it if we were to respond."
During the training, Airmen donned heavy-duty protective equipment to practice sampling unknown liquids and solids, performing radiological detection, halting simulated fuel leaks, and managing casualties in a contaminated environment.
While the training ensures Airmen are prepared for global deployments, the scenarios are deeply relevant to potential emergencies closer to home. According to Wood, local emergency management responses can range from containing localized base fuel spills to answering domestic calls alongside civil authorities, such as identifying unknown cargo at a commercial shipping yard or responding to an overturned chemical tanker on an Oregon freeway.
"It's an obviously very important job," Wood noted. "It can be a pretty important skill to have, and something that we definitely have to keep up on so we don't forget. There's a lot of different things that go into emergency management."
Beyond testing skills, the "Hazmat Olympics" serves as a crucial mentorship and integration point. The roster included two recent technical school graduates experiencing the grueling demands of Level A suit operations for the first time alongside seasoned veterans.
This hands-on training lets experienced Airmen quickly teach their skills to new members. This helps new team members gain the confidence and experience they need for emergencies. Because the emergency team is small, it is important to have a strong group of people ready. This is especially true if a crisis happens at home, where the team might need to pull in extra help from the whole base.
This training ensures our Airmen are ready to respond effectively, keeping our service members and the community safe in the event of an emergency that requires these critical skills.