Emergency preparedness team
sets up decontamination tent

The idea that someone would want to attack the Rochester area may seem a bit far-fetched but is by no means impossible. It could happen, not necessarily from Osama Bin Laden, but possibly from another radical group trying to make its point by terrorizing innocent citizens.

With these thoughts and the tragic events of September 11, 2001 in mind, eight members of the Spencerport Fire Department joined fellow firefighters and medical personnel from North Greece Fire Department, Greece Ridge Fire Department, Barnard Fire Department and the Park Ridge Hospital on Saturday, September 7, to practice the set-up and use of a special decontamination tent.

The tent would be utilized in the event of a large-scale incident involving hazardous materials or a terrorist at-tack. The training was designed to instruct local fire-fighters on the proper set-up and use of the equipment, as well as how to control the panic which may be brought about by such an incident.

The decontamination tent is approximately 10 feet long and contains three sections; one for the patient to remove their soiled clothing, another to shower off any contaminants left on the patient's skin, and a third to put on clean clothing before entering the hospital for addi-tional medical treatment.

If an incident requiring the use of this tent should oc-cur, Spencerport Fire Department has been asked to as-sist in the set-up at Park Ridge Hospital. There will be more training drills of this nature in the future including a full-scale simulation later this month involving people acting as patients.

by Bill Tricarico