By BARRY W. WALKER
Plymouth Bureau
PLYMOUTH — The Central New Hampshire Hazardous
Materials Team, a seldom-seen agency, is considered a vital
part of the emergency response arsenal of the 53 communities
it serves.
The haz-mat team is called in any time a disaster
involves potentially life or health threatening chemicals,
waste products or other pollutants. Units stationed in
Meredith and Concord were called in Friday to help with the
fire in a trailer where vinyl asbestos floor tile and mastic
were stored at a Plymouth State College construction site.
In addition to helping with decontaminating duties, the
team conducts post emergency research into the
identification and spread of possible harmful pollutants.
"The teams will respond, for instance, in a
terrorist situation," said Lee Kimball of the
Department of Safety Office of Emergency Management.
"Those potentially involve hazardous materials, even if
it’s a bombing."
The teams were kept busy during the recent anthrax scare,
he said.
"We were formed by Capital Area Mutual Aid,"
said Team Chief David Hackett. "Later, Lakes Region
Mutual Aid signed on as part of it and we became the Central
New Hampshire Haz-Mat Team."
Each of the team’s 40 members come from fire and police
departments within the 53 communities it serves. Each is
trained in handling hazardous materials emergencies. Each is
a volunteer.
One of its decontamination units is still under
construction in Concord, but its other units are stationed
around the area it serves for faster response, Hackett said.
"We have a hydrocarbon abatement unit at Bristol, a
Haz-Mat unit at Meredith and another one in Bow," he
said.
All of the equipment and materials the team uses are
bought with funds raised by the team.
"We don’t get any state money, except for some
training funds," Hackett said, "although we’re
trying to go after some of the federal funds available in
the wake of Sept. 11.
"One of our primary concerns is that there is no haz-mat
team north of the Lakes Region Mutual Aid area," he
said. "It’s a long way up to Berlin and towns in that
area when you’re responding to an emergency."
Teams are being formed, however, in the North Country and
Connecticut Valley areas, Kimball said.
