To view this site you need Adobe Flash Player and your browser must allow javaScripts. Go here to get the latest Flash Player. RESPONDERS TODAY Getting set for CBRNE BY PHILIP LEGGIERE, BUSINESS EDITOR THE MULTIPLE COORDINATED TERROR BOMBINGS OF THE LONDON SUBWAY AND BUS SYSTEM ON JULY 7, 2005, EXACTED A HORRIFIC TOLL, INCLUDING 56 DEATHS AND MORE THAN 700 WOUNDED. Tragic as the bombings clearly were for the city,lightning-quick emergency response by London firefighters, police and emergency medical personnel was widely credited with preventing far greater devastation. For example, within 20 minutes after the first explosion, the London Fire Brigade had deployed four units, including a fire rescue unit to the scene, where they began working with British transport police and ambulance services who were already there. Despite a deficient underground communications capability, first responders began rescuing wounded and trapped underground riders in tunnels within a half-hour of the first incident. Miraculously, there were no casualties among the thousands of first response units deployed that day. REUTERS/STEPHEN HIRD PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT unlikely that responders will have the luxury of knowing beforehand precisely what hazards they are facing,” Craig Baker, deputy fire chief of Washington, DC’s, Fire and Emergency Medical Service Department, told Homeland Security Today. The problem is that, until now, firefighters and other emergency workers have had to play a kind of Russian roulette when going to a fire scene, Baker explained. They could don their normal breathing apparatus and hope they weren’t heading into a more hazardous chemical threat, or they could bring along highly specialized, expensive and difficult to deploy CBRNEspecific gear traditionally reserved for HAZMAT workers. “What’s been missing,” Baker added, “is the option of having existing clothing and equipment which can simultaneously offer protection against not just conventional exposure but at least a reasonable protection against CBRNE, as well.” In response to that gap, federal safety agencies—in particular, the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and protective equipment manufacturers—have been working at ways of giving first responders more viable options. NIOSH has created a series of standards for different kinds of respirators, including self-contained breathing apparatus (SCBA), air-purifying respirators (APR), powered airpurifying respirators (PAPR) and two types of emergency escape respirators. For each of these standards, specific criteria have been defined to offer respiratory protection against CBRNE hazards. These hazards include exposure to chemical warfare agents (for example, sarin and mustard gas), toxic industrial chemicals (sometimes referred to as TICs, such as ammonia and phosgene), biological agents (for example, anthrax) and radiological or nuclear particulates. “In traditional air purification systems, the inhaling filter was hazard-specific, so responders couldn’t go to a scene without a variety of different filters,” explained Roland BerryAnn, acting program manager for respiratory protection at NIOSH’s National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory. NIOSH’s work has been an important Homeland Security Today Magazine | June 2009 While this was no doubt a credit to the advance planning undertaken by first response organizations throughout the United Kingdom, it was also, in retrospect, a matter of luck. The reason? Despite the clear and present danger of exposure to chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or explosive materials (CBRNE), most of the first responders went into the subways after the bombing with breathing masks and respirators effective against only conventional explosives. A global threat The issues faced by London emergency responders are not unique. “Despite heightened awareness of the possibility of chemical attack, it remains true that in any given emergency it is highly The scene at Oval train station in London on July 21, 2005 after emergency workers responded to a second wave of attacks two weeks after the blasts of July 7. Though brave and effective, responders were dangerously unequipped to deal with chemical, biological or radiological threats. Register online today for exclusive online content and eNewsletters 11