Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station responds to local HAZMAT incident

Published May 28, 2010
By Senior Airman Andrew Caya
914 Airlift Wing

NIAGARA FALLS AIR RESERVE STATION -- The Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station Fire Department responded to a hazardous material incident that arose in the city of Niagara Falls, NY as a part of the base's mutual-aid agreement with local community response teams.
Firefighters from the 914th Airlift Wing trained in HAZMAT were called on scene early in the afternoon on May 28 to assist their civilian counterparts in the detection and remediation of a chemical spill inside a building in the local area.
The NFARS fire department has extensive training in scenarios just like this. Earlier this month the base fire department participated with local departments in a simulated HAZMAT scenario on the Rainbow Bridge in Niagara Falls, NY.
According to Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station Fire Department Assistant Fire Chief John Dymes, fire fighters from the Air reserve Station were called in due to their skill in HAZMAT incidents.
"We're the closest Hazardous materials response team in the area and the city called us in because of our expertise in this matter," he said. All of the reserve station HAZMAT technicians are required to be nationally certified in HAZMAT response, this is traditionally higher than that of civilian authorities in the area.
City of Niagara Falls Fire Chief William Mackay elaborated on how the mutual-aid agreement was very helpful to the city of Niagara Falls during this event.
"We work closely with the Air Base and we value the assistance they were able to provide us today, (the HAZMAT technicians) are not a resource we have in-house." He said "With today's hard economic challenges, it's all about relationships and building resources and capabilities together."
One civilian worker was injured during the incident and was taken to Erie County Medical Center for treatment.

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