Mobilizing against chemical and biological threats in Florida, 75 specialists converged on Indian River State College this past week.
Agents from the state Department of Environmental Protection's Environmental Response Team, the Florida National Guard's 44th Civil Support Team and two regional domestic security forensic response teams participated in four days of exercises simulating potentially life-threatening situations.
Locating buried drums said to contain toxic chemicals and entering "laboratories" purported to produce explosives, nerve agents, botulinum and hoof-in-mouth disease, the teams secured buildings and evaluated the threats staged at IRSC's Banner Center for Homeland Security & Defense.
From decontamination to the dispensing of food, the field exercises were designed to resemble real-life crises.
"Any time we can conduct training and increase knowledge of hazardous materials and weapons of mass destruction in Florida is time well spent," said Lt. Col. Michael Ladd, commander of the 44th CST, based near Starke.
Ladd's unit has had plenty of opportunities to respond, and to respond quickly. Along with its million-dollar mobile lab suite, which can be transported by plane or helicopter, the 44th CST has worked the Daytona 500, the 2006 gubernatorial inauguration and several Super Bowls, said science officer Tecarie Czarnecki.
The National Guard unit, tasked with being anywhere in the state within 90 minutes, provides expertise and support to fellow agencies. It is designed to be completely self-sufficient for at least 48 hours.
The Fort Pierce exercise "was designed to test and strengthen interagency cooperation with first responders when responding to chemical threats," said DEP Division of Law Enforcement Director Henry Barnet.
Phil Wieczynski, who led the DEP team, said, "There's no time to be passing around business cards" in emergency situations. He said periodic training at facilities such as the IRSC "village" helps squads establish rules and responsibilities.
Field drills, complete with air packs and body suits, prepare agents to deal with real-life situations, such as an incident in Opa Locka, where a rogue chemist blew out a wall in his condominium, or an abandoned tractor-trailer rig in Miami containing 250 drums of an unknown substance.
The DEP responders are increasingly high-tech. For example, teams carry cell phone-sized radiological detectors that can sense and radioactive materials in a crowd.
Likewise, IRSC's Public Safety Training Complex features an emergency operations center loaded with flat screens trained on the assemblage of buildings and training sites that constitute the "village."
Bryan Beaty, an IRSC spokesman, said the facility hopes to broaden its mission with approval from the U.S. State Department to train a variety of responders for foreign duty.
He noted, for example, that training by private contractors for teams heading to Afghanistan is very expensive. "This can be a more cost-effective alternative," Beaty said.
Beaty said Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., and U.S. Rep Tom Rooney, R-Tequesta, have toured the Treasure Coast facility and have pledged to assist in the certification process.
Students in the IRSC program already have been involved in periodic exercises in the European nation of Macedonia. Others have been assigned translation duties in the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti.
Beaty said the overriding goal, as with this week's chemical exercises, is to coordinate response efforts -- from law enforcement and fire science to criminal justice and human services.
There are 10 Banner centers across Florida, funded in part through grants from Enterprise Florida, Workforce Solutions and the Agency for Workforce Innovation.
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Contact Kenric Ward at kward@sunshinestatenews.com or at (772) 802-5341.
