The Department of Homeland Security has awarded a grant of more than $4 million to Clark County and its surrounding cities to purchase nine fire trucks outfitted with equipment to detect unseen chemicals and radiation.
The money, which came from 2005 Homeland Security grants, was given to communities throughout the United States to prepare for potential terrorist attacks and unforeseen occurrences.
"It's vital for our first responders to be well-equipped to respond to any type of disaster that might strike," said Clark County Commissioner Susan Brager. "These specialized units are shared across jurisdictional boundaries so they can be called upon for use anywhere in the county."
The new "Superman" trucks are called CBRNE Response Units, which is an acronym for chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive.
"It's not that we want something to happen, but if it does happen, we want to be really prepared for it," said Richard Brenner, hazardous materials coordinator for the Clark County Fire Department.
The vehicle parked at Station 24 on Dean Martin Drive has been in service and responds like a regular fire truck. The CBRNE unit is equipped with a radiation detector on its front passenger side. The detector is built into the truck itself, and the power source and controls for the device are located inside the vehicle's passenger cab.
"When the power is on, it measures radiation. It alerts us to something like a dirty bomb, for example," Brenner said.
If the department receives a reading that it feels is high enough, then it would establish a hot zone around the area, Brenner said.
In addition to the truck's radiation detector, the department supplies hand-held radiation detectors and nuclear detectors, which are stored on the truck in special compartments.
"The radiation detector looks like a speedometer," Brenner said.
There also is a chemical agent detector that helps firefighters determine which chemical warfare agents are being used in a situation. The chemical agent detector can help responders decipher what a chemical is, from sarin to pepper spray.
"It's used in incidents where we have odors or people complaining about odors. We can also use signs and symptoms of people to help determine what chemical we are dealing with," Brenner said. "We deal with biological everyday, so we carry gloves, gowns and masks on all of the trucks, not just the CBRNE."
The fire department has to purchase equipment that is on an approved list from the Department of Homeland Security and is classified by type of equipment, not vendor. So while fire departments can choose any vendor they want to use, the equipment itself must be on the approved national list.
"Radiation is my biggest concern, and I want our people to be trained," Brenner said. "Chemicals are hard to disguise, but radiation, you can't see it and it scares people more. As first responders, we have to be prepared to handle that. With the meters now, you can detect it. If you have the instrumentation, you can detect it."
For decontaminating victims of an attack, the trucks are equipped with shower heads that swing out from the side of the truck so victims can wash chemicals off their bodies.
The trucks also have hoses like a typical fire truck, which can be attached to a fire hydrant to wash down large masses of people.
"I'm big into dry decon, where people take their clothes off, put on a poncho and then are washed," Brenner said. "The material soaks up the chemical agent, so if they take their clothes off, that's half the battle."
Water tanks in the vehicles contain 500 gallons of water, and all CBRNE units are stocked with detection equipment and showers.
"There's not enough room for this equipment in a normal fire truck, so now we have the CBRNE response," Brenner said. "We came up with a list of things that needed to be on each truck and we let each agency design their own vehicle. For instance, the city of Las Vegas' looks just like the hazmat truck."
The fire department's hazmat team, which is housed at Station 24, is involved in the process of designing the trucks because it deals with hazardous materials on a consistent basis and is trained to handle chemical warfare situations.
Each jurisdiction in the area, including Boulder City, Henderson, Las Vegas, North Las Vegas, Mesquite and Clark County, was approved for one CBRNE vehicle, with the exception of Clark County, which was approved to purchase four.
One CBRNE Response Unit costs a little more than $500,000, and the equipment costs about $40,000, Brenner said.
"We need to think of these things post 9-11," he said.
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