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Posted on 08/29/2025 10:44:05 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Emergency response teams from across the country faced off in the annual hazmat challenge. It’s all about keeping their skills sharp.
“Hazmat teams from around the nation encounter so many different scenarios and hazards that they very rarely get to see this many scenarios in one place,” said Chris Rittner, an emergency response group leader.
From wrecked cars, planes and rail cars, it can all be found at the Los Alamos National Lab Emergency Response Center.
“The reason we do these challenges is there’s a requirement for teams to maintain their training and competency,” said Rittner.
The training event and competition draws in hazmat teams from New Mexico, and other states. This year, City of Santa Fe firefighters faced off against Los Alamos County firefighters, the LANL Hazmat Team and the Utah Army National Guard Civil Support Team.
“This started 29 years ago by local teams from Española, Los Alamos, and Gallup getting together to share the training and making a competition out of it,” said Rittner.
From there it grew into a week’s worth of competition and challenges designed to prepare hazmat teams for anything they could face.
“Most of these are taken from real world events. And they can be as simple as a motor vehicle accident, leaking gasoline, all the way up to an aircraft crash, to a bioterrorism event, or even clandestine drug laboratories,” Rittner said.
Officials say competing to see which hazmat team is the best takes this training to the next level.
“They get to build networking, build camaraderie, and get their training requirements and trophies at the same time,” said Rittner.
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That is what I used to do. It was interesting work.
HAZMAT Rodeo? Been there, done that - close enough.
I had the displeasure of being my Army company’s NBC guy (Nuclear, Biological & Chemical Warfare advisor). Everyone was issued MOPP Suits (Mission Oriented Protective Posture) and had to spend time learning how to get them on correctly as fast as possible, then spend significant time wearing the gear while trying to perform their job.
Back in the Cold War 1980s the Pentagon wanted us scared to death of Russian Spetznat paratrooper Dolph Lundgren clones, mindless killing machines who ate babies for fun. They supposedly resorted to one or more B and C tactics if things didn’t go their way and might nuke us on a really bad day. So gas masks and charcoal-lined overalls were the answer.
But oh so miserable. They trapped your body heat so you’d fatigue twice as fast. When the mask lenses fogged up you could not remove the mask under combat conditions, so it was literally “onward through the fog”.
Somebody put an infantry nut in charge of a medical company and he was determined to make them all killers. He made them run for hours in the Texas summer - in full MOPP gear - until nearly half of them fell out. That Sergeant Major was doing his retirement physical the next month and died on the treadmill. Sometimes there IS justice.
Moral of the story: be very kind to HAZMAT crews if you encounter them because they’re doing a hard job made much harder by the protective gear.
Do they do tickle the dragon training?
After talking about some office worker that stepped in an innocuous puddle outside the facility on his way to the safe area after an alarm happened he said that the puddle was actually acid. So stay out of the puddles!
Some student asked what happened to the guy.
“Um, maybe you didn't hear me when I introduced myself. I was in charge of OSHA's fatal incident response team (or something like that). He died. ALL of my examples include people that are D.E.A.D dead.”
A nice meme from the time.
Drunk bored marines in Kuwait would see who could run the fastest mile in mopp 4 gear. They have a different definition of fun then myself
Was a hazmat expert for many years, first in aerospace then in the fire department. Whole different world of response compared to most containment and rescue work because often you don’t know what you’re dealing with when you get there.
Civilian HAZMAT is a lot worse. I once got to see their commonly used guide for HAZ materials. It was as thick as a 1900’s unabridged dictionary. They can’t respond to a call without first checking their reference book for *everything* related to that material, its properties, hazards, effects, decontamination, etc., ad nauseam.
Even so, a lot of the time they have no clue to what they’re up against.
Next challenge, the toxic challenge of their lives:
D.C. and Federal Government
Wow; that guy was the Jim Carroll of Toxicity ("These are people who died who died. These are people who died!"). His is a grim but life-saving service.
FreedomPoster - I'm curious what you thought about the concept of rectangular surgical masks with elastic loops protecting against a virus?
You mean throwing a pebble (the microvirus) down a railroad tunnel (the gaps between the fibers of the masks)? I raged at every dumbass imploring me to wear one. You either succumbed to COVID or you didn't. I was hospitalized at Vanderbilt for something else at the time and nearly every person there had it - patients, nurses and doctors - despite all their preventive measures. I noticed the cleaning folks seemed healthiest. Their constant exposure to diseases probably bolsters their immunity.
We all deserve a cut of those pharma profits for that crap while Fauci and his gang get stretch therapy.
datricker - Marines in Kuwait would see who could run the fastest mile in mopp 4 gear. They have a different definition of fun than myself.
God bless the misunderstood children.
yefragetuwrabrumuy (who my mind calls "You Forget your Bunny") - They can’t respond to a call without first checking their reference book for *everything* related to that material, its properties, hazards, effects, decontamination, etc., ad nauseam. Even so, a lot of the time they have no clue to what they’re up against.
The walking definitions of "hazard pay" and good reason to live each day to the fullest.
>>You mean throwing a pebble (the microvirus) down a railroad tunnel (the gaps between the fibers of the masks)?
EXACTLY!
I know enough about air filtration to be dangerous, and I couldn’t believe the whole damn thing. Never served, but grew up an Army brat, knew what MOPP was about, knew the NBC-trained would be STDH.
Nice Jim Carroll reference, +1 on that.
Re: Fauci and the like, here’s a nice meme that summarizes where I’m at on the subject. I think you’ll concur.
https://m3.gab.com/media_attachments/4d/76/8f/4d768f4fe463da656b624e1ba49c00a4.png
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