Firehouses to be response equipment storage solution

Emergency management officials plan to move some hazardous materials response equipment to fire stations in Lafayette and at Purdue University in the coming months to mitigate a storage crunch.

Indiana (Lafayette Journal and Courier) May 12, 2010 -- Emergency management officials plan to move some hazardous materials response equipment to fire stations in Lafayette and at Purdue University in the coming months.

The move is being made, in part, to mitigate a storage crunch that Tippecanoe County, Indiana, has been working to solve for months.

The director of the Tippecanoe Emergency Management Agency told the county council May 11 that two large trailers, and a pickup truck that us used as a pull vehicle will be moved to the Lafayette and Purdue fire stations over the summer.

Along with storing the equipment, the fire departments will assume primary response duties for hazardous material incidents within the county under this new arrangement.

The county’s hazardous materials workers and volunteers will continue to be the first responders for incidents outside of Tippecanoe County, because Tippecanoe Emergency Management Agency is the lead agency within the Indiana Department of Homeland Security’s nine-county District 4.

The crew will serve a supplementary role for incidents within Tippecanoe County.

Link: http://www.jconline.com/article/20100512/NEWS02/5120326

Source: DHS Daily Open Source Infrastructure Report