User:Hourick/Hazmat Team

The Hazardous Material (HAZMAT) Team was formed in 1979 in Houston, Tx as special unit within the Houston Fire Department and has become one of the more respected teams in the nation.

History
Houston organized a hazardous materials team in 1979 as the fire service was awakening to the hazardous material problem. There were few municipal HAZMAT teams from which to seek guidance, so It was a rocky beginning. Problems plagued the team almost from the beginning. After a delayed start, the team quickly became the busiest HAZMAT team in the country and contributed to the training of HAZMAT teams throughout the world. The dedication of the early members was responsible for the rapid success of the team, which had been in doubt from the beginning.

Houston Organized a Hazardous materials team in 1979 after a series of deadly rail tank car explosions in the 1970’s and dealing with an increasing amount of hazardous materials that were being transported through Houston, Tx. While there were few municipalities that had a Hazard Materials (HAZMAT) teams, experience to seek guidance from was limited. After it’s launch, it quickly became the busiest HAZMAT team in the country and helped in training other starting HAZMAT teams around the world, which quickly quieted its critics early on in the program’s beginning. Initially, fighting chemical fires involved hitting the fire with a big line, if the fire spit back, another line was laid to double the firepower. Some departments had only a limited amount of materials for fighting chemical fires, which resulted in the chemical spills and fires being washed down the nearest storm drain.

Fatal tank car explosions occurred in Crescent City, Illinois in 1970; Kingman, Arizona in 1973; and Waverly, Tennessee in 1978. The Kingman explosion took the lives of 12 firefighters. Houston had its explosion of a tank car at a train derailment on Mykawa Road in 1971. These types of explosions were coined BLEVE (boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion). When a tank car or other closed container is exposed to flames above its liquid level for a period of time, the expanding vapor blows apart the container. One firefighter was killed and 28 firefighters injured in the Houston BLEVE. Hazmat Team Idea Fire Chief V. E. Rogers started the Houston's Hazardous Materials Response Team (HMRT). He had attended a fire chief’s convention in 1978 where he saw a presentation of Jacksonville's new HAZMAT team. Rogers thought at the time that if anyone needed a HAZMAT team, it was the Houston Fire Department. After all, Houston was the petrochemicall capital of the world. Rogers set a team in motion immediately after returning from the convention. A few of the members were also tapped to be a part of the new Texas Task Force 1. The task force responds to major disasters and terrorist threats in both Texas and across the United States. Texas Task Force 1 was sent recently to the 2002 Olympics in Salt Lake City to stand by in case of a terrorist attack, and responded to the terrorist attack on 9-11 at the World Trade Center. Again Houston became a leader. Hazmat members of Texas Task Force 1 train personnel of other task forces throughout the country for terrorist incidents.