2011 - Sandown, New Hampshire

The Emergency Response Team:The District operates a technical emergency response team. This response team is overseen byone of the member community’s Chief Fire Officer who serves in the Technical Team Liaisonposition. The team maintains a three level readiness response posture to permit it to immediatelydeploy an appropriate response to a District’s community’s request for help involving anunplanned release of potentially dangerous chemicals within their jurisdiction. While the teamprimarily prepares for response to unplanned accidental chemical releases it is also equipped andtrained to deal with a variety of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) scenarios. The teammaintains a host of specialized response equipment to deal with chemical and environmentalemergencies.The Emergency Response Team is made up of 32 members drawn from the ranks of the firedepartments within the District. The team consists of 6 Technician Team Leaders, 18 TechnicianLevel members, 5 Communication Specialists, and 3 Information Technology Specialists. Inaddition to members drawn from member fire departments, the team also includes members fromvarious backgrounds that act as advisors to the team in their specific areas of expertise. Theseadvisors include an industrial chemist, and several police officers.The Team maintains a fleet of vehicles and specialized equipment with a value of approximately$1,000,000. The vehicles consist of a mobile Command Support Unit, 2 Response Trucks, 2Spill Trailers, a Technician Trailer and a Mobile Decontamination Trailer. With the use of StateHomeland Security Program Grant funds this year we added an Operations Trailer which carriesa large amount of spill containment equipment, including 1000 feet of floating containmentbooms, culvert and drain sealing bladders, a fuel transfer pump, and various absorbent materials.This mobile apparatus carries the team’s equipment which includes chemical detection andidentification instruments, containment supplies, plugging, patching and intervention supplies,communication equipment, computer based and other chemical reference guides as well aschemical protective equipment. The team equipment is store at various locations within theDistrict, allowing for rapid deployment when the team is activated. Activation of the team ismade by the request of the local incident commander through the Derry Fire DepartmentDispatch Center.OPERATIONS TRAILER124 119