On Saturday morning, a number of Bucks County emergency response teams and local agencies came together at Coyne Chemical in Bristol Township’s Croydon section to train for a hazmat incident.
The drill started with the hazmat teams from Coyne Chemical evaluating a problem the hypothetical incident would cause. As need arose, they called the various fire departments and the Bucks County hazardous incident response team for assistance. From start to finish, the entire drill was expected to take about two hours, officials said.
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“It’s a joint initiative to make sure that everyone is prepared for an incident,” said Tom Coyne, the president of Coyne Chemical.
And the effort was truly a joint initiative. The Croydon Fire Company, Edgely Fire Company, Bucks County Rescue Squad, Bucks County Hazardous Incidents Response Team, Lower Bucks Hospital, Third District Fire Company, and Coyne Chemical were all involved to some extent with the drill on Saturday morning.
The last time a joint training exercise like this was done was about four years ago, according to Kevin Dippolito, the Bristol Township Fire Marshall.
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“There are lots of agencies benefiting from this exercise,” Dippolito said.
In interest of keeping the drill as close to a true accident as possible, response times were separated to make the arrivals of different agencies feel real. The Bucks County Hazmat Team, for example, took about 30 minutes to arrive due to their commute from Ivyland.
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“We never expect it to go perfectly, but we want to correct our mistakes and learn from them,” said James Kettler, the chief of the Bucks County Hazmat Response Team.
The sentiment echoed by all leaders on the scene is the importance of knowing the teammates that they are responding with. There are a lot of moving parts when dealing with a hazmat leak or something similar and making sure that all components of the response can work together is one of the biggest reasons to have the joint drill.
Victims of the drill were sent to Lower Bucks Hospital where they were held until they were decontaminated and treated.
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“This is not something that you come across all the time,” said Tom Tryon, the chief of the Croydon Fire Company. “We work together on fires and car accidents all the time, but hazmat situations require much more interaction and coordination.”
The drill was completed with the aim of preparing first responders for the worst case scenario.
