All four Air Quality Section staff are members of the Wichita-Sedgwick County Hazardous Materials Team. We are assigned to the command team to provide advice and information about environmental and health issues of the incident and response.

We have also been involved as second responders, entering spill sites with the Wichita Fire Department and Sedgwick County Fire Department HazMat Team members to help identify and quantify toxic chemical spills and releases. Our specialized gas, liquid, and solids sampling equipment is used during responses to chemical spills, release of gases, and other incidents.

The Environmental Department members of the HazMat Team have the required OSHA training to participate in these responses. Our responders also help conclude HazMat incidents by ensuring that the contamination zone is safe before allowing public access to the site, and that the hazardous wastes are properly disposed of after the incident.

We have been a part of the Wichita-Sedgwick County Hazardous Materials Team since 1985 and we train with other Team members at exercises and seminars to improve the overall response capability of the Team. Our training and detection equipment now provides the capability to identify many chemical, biological and radiological agents in addition to the range of hazardous materials that the Haz-Mat team has traditionally encountered.

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