Hazardous Materials Team

The Hazardous Materials Team is a Certified Type l Regional Response Team for the State of Florida identified as HM4-C in the State Regional Response system. It is able to engage at the highest level of HAZMAT/WMD response and actively acts as liaison between the fire rescue service and other involved agencies on hazardous materials incidents. HM4-C also has the training and capabilities to conduct mass decontamination on large scale events.

The members of the Citrus County Hazardous Materials Type I regional response team are utilized as a State resource. CBRNE Hazardous Materials Response Team are a regional response team that has additional technical Chemical, Biological, Radiological/Nuclear, and Explosive (CBRNE) assessment capabilities intended to be capable of mitigating most Hazmat incidents without outside assistance at a large or prolonged incident. As a State resource, our team can be deployed throughout the region, State, or out of State. We must be able to coordinate our actions in an emergency using an interface that facilitates communications between incompatible devices, as well as, provide educated and experienced technicians to other agencies during large scale incidents.

Acquiring advanced training is high on the team's agenda. The team works to stay abreast of the latest technologies, acquiring and putting into service high-tech monitoring devices, spill and leak mitigation tools, and personal protective clothing. The team also monitors the latest trends in HAZMAT response such as Bio-Terrorism, which now is a highly perceived threat.