Sept 15 2005.indd - International Association of Fire Chiefs

Warren E. Isman grant winners recommend hazmat conference
By Sacha Dick
The City of Cleveland Division
of Fire Hazardous Materials
Team, recipients of the Warren E.
Isman Educational Grant, used the
grant to send three of its members
to the International Association of
Fire Chiefs’ (IAFC) International
Hazardous Materials Response Teams
Conference.
The annual conference was held
June 2-4 in Hunt Valley, MD.
The Cleveland team was chosen
among nine applicants to receive the
$5,000 grant, awarded by the National
Fire Protection Association (NFPA) to
a fire, police or other publicly funded
hazmat team seeking specialized
training.
The team must demonstrate excellent
leadership and communications skills
and be trained in compliance with
NFPA 472, Standard for Professional
Competence of Responders to
Hazardous Materials Incidents, and
NFPA 473, Standard for Professional
Competence of EMS Personnel
Responding to Hazardous Materials
Incidents.
The Cleveland team applied for
the first time after learning about
the existence of the grant from other
members of their department who are
Plans for the 2006 International Hazardous Materials Response
Teams conference are already underway. It will be held
June 1-4, 2006, at the Baltimore Marriott Hunt Valley Inn in Hunt
Valley, MD. Please check www.iafc.org for more information.
also members of the IAFC.
The three who attended the
conference were: Capt. George Erker,
Lt. Greg Lightcap and First Grade
Firefighter John Zupanc. All three
later said they were impressed with the
conference’s exhibits and sessions, as
well as the extensive knowledge of and
open dialogue with innovators in the
hazardous materials field.
The team has realized immediate
benefits from attending the conference,
including great ideas for training
younger and inexperienced hazmat
members in research materials and
rapid risk assessment as well as
increased knowledge in general. They
also said they’ve been able to update
Emergency Action Plans in need of
review based on what they learned at
the conference.
The three attendees took their
knowledge home and presented it to
more than 30 others on their hazmat
team and in their immediate fire station,
Station 13. The information will also be
disseminated department-wide.
The team feels the long-term
benefits from the educational
opportunities and response techniques
and procedures will be a benefit not
only to the department, but also to the
community, and conference attendees
encourage other departments to look
at the Warren E. Isman grant as an
opportunity.
“The world is a safer place for having
afforded us the opportunity to share in
this experience,” Capt. Erker said.
The City of Cleveland Division of
Fire has approximately 950 members.
The hazardous materials team is a joint
Hazardous Materials Specialist and
Hazardous Materials Fire Prevention
Unit. IAFC Member Chief Paul
Stubbs is the chief.
The grant was initiated by the IAFC
following the death of Chief Warren
E. Isman in 1991. Chief Isman was
the former chief of Fairfax County,
VA, past president of the IAFC,
senior instructor for the University
of Maryland Fire Services Extension
Program, authored three fire-related
textbooks and served as chair of the
IAFC Hazardous Materials Committee
and the NFPA Technical Committee
on Hazardous Materials.
Sacha Dick is a director of
programs for the IAFC.
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