Fla. Departments Rethinking Hazmat Duties as Grants Dry Up

July 22--Marion County Fire Rescue's hazardous materials crews have responded to reports of a fishy white powder in local government offices three times within the past 18 months, including one incident in June that targeted 11 different locations on the same day.

Ultimately, potential terrorism proved to be an unfunny prank because each time the substance was benign.

While the importance of the high-profile targets in those three cases -- schools, the courthouse, the Sheriff's Office -- garnered them considerable attention, hazmat responders roll to someone's perceived emergency more often than many might think.

On average, fire department records show, the county's hazmat squad deploys about every other day, investigating and mitigating all types of situations -- from industrial spills to petroleum leaks at car wrecks and from crystal meth labs to those mysterious white powders, which in one recent case turned out to be the flour at the bottom of a box of KFC biscuits.

Fire department data also indicate that for 2014 the unit's volume of calls has already reached roughly the same number as it did in each of the two prior years.

But cutbacks in federal spending have county Fire Rescue officials rethinking and redirecting their hazmat mission, and as that occurs the burden on local taxpayers might get heavier, resources may be shifted from other services, or the county may have to rely on other agencies outside the community for aid, officials say.

Diminished is the emphasis on identifying and containing possible weapons of mass destruction, something that could raise the worry level in a community that has emerged more than once as a potential terrorist's playground.

That local refocusing became necessary last year.

The Domestic Security Oversight Council, or DSOC, a panel of high-ranking state officials and representatives of groups responsible for security and emergency response, determined that the state did not require as many regional hazmat teams as in the past.

In the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, Florida officials established 29 regional hazmat response teams statewide.

Marion County Fire Rescue was among those teams.

The department's hazmat unit had been formed in the 1990s and designed to handle close-to-home incidents like fuel spills and gas leaks.

After 9/11, its mission as a regional unit grew, with responsibility spread across several neighboring counties as either the primary responder or as a critical back-up unit. The team often worked with state and federal authorities outside the county.

That was made possible by a flood of federal dollars flowing from the Department of Homeland Security. That money also helped the county, as early as 2003, to obtain equipment used to detect threats from chemical, biological and nuclear weapons.

In 2013, though, the DSOC decided to cut 10 of those teams, which was attributable to a lack of money.

Marion County was among those that got axed in the reorganization.

The panel did so even as its annual report for 2013 asserted that the potential for a terrorist attack in Florida was "ever-present."

The report documented the state's "significant" decrease in federal grant funding in recent years.

It plunged by about 80 percent -- from $100 million in 2006 to $19 million last year.

That drop forced the state to target spending just to unspecified "critical" areas, the report notes. "As a result," it observed, "funds are strategically applied for maximum impact across Florida."

Fire chiefs around the state, however, sharply opposed the move.

In a letter last July to the heads of the state Division of Emergency Management and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, the Florida Fire Chiefs Association said it would neither support nor assist in the defunding of hazmat teams capable of tackling weapons of mass destruction.

"(W)e are confident that the most cursory review of the state's hazardous materials risk, threat and vulnerability ... disabuses one of the appropriateness of that notion. In fact a close look ... indicates that the WMD Hazardous Materials Teams are effectively distributed to address the anticipated risk vectors the state faces, given the asymmetrical warfare approach of our perceived adversaries," the letter said.

"(K)nowing the asymmetrical warfare risk we still face as well as the current alignment of assets to address the risk, it is impossible to understand why either agency, and its supporting staffs, would support and endorse such a recommendation."

Locally, Marion Fire Rescue Chief Stuart McElhaney urged officials to rethink the decision as well.

In his own letter last October, McElhaney noted that Marion County is a central transportation hub dissected by major highways, railway lines and pipelines carrying natural gas.

"The defunding of the MCFR team threatens to reduce the abilities of a significant local asset currently maintained and sustained with (federal grant) funding," the chief wrote.

"Marion County's Regional Response Team is not solely a state asset, but a local and tactical asset as well, providing resources and expertise not only to the citizens of Marion County, but to our neighbors that do not have the assets to respond to and mitigate an incident involving hazardous materials."

Ultimately, what the DSOC shift meant for Marion County was the evaporation of money for training and equipment.

For instance, the county in 2009 was awarded $60,295 to train hazmat crews and keep their detectors functioning properly, records show.

By 2012 that had plunged to $14,960.

A year later -- and ever since -- the county has received zero funding.

Over the past four years federal grants, which fluctuate, have funded between 21 percent and 43 percent of the hazmat team's budget.

One main concern, according to senior county firefighters, is that if some tools give out the county would be forced to go without for an extended period of time, or rely on less sophisticated devices, or turn to other agencies.

Consider the TruDefender detection unit as one example.

A 3-pound device the size of a large calculator, the TruDefender shoots a laser beam at that mysterious white substance, for instance, and can tell in a matter of seconds whether it is anthrax, cocaine or Bisquick.

The county acquired one of the $70,000 units through a federal grant three years ago.

Officials say it has a shelf-life of about 10 years.

But it must be maintained routinely, and that is where the depletion of federal grant money is felt.

"The real hurt is the decrease in sustainment funding, because we have to take that from our own budget," said Fire Rescue Capt. Joel Matthias, leader of the county's hazmat unit, referring to the maintenance dollars.

And some of the components, he added, can only be used once, and thus must be regularly replenished.

"It doesn't sound like a lot of money," said Division Chief Jamie Banta, who oversees the department's special operations units. "But the problem with this equipment is think of what your cellphone was like five years ago. And any new expense would be a county expense, and not a federal expense."

"We are going to function, and work to protect the citizens of Marion County," he added. "But the tools we use in the future may not be as high-tech or as advanced as in the past."

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