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NBCW Can Anthrax or similar substances be detected with current NBC kits.

Mike Rochefort

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I have had the pleasure of being involved in a suspicious package scare today and watched the local civilian officials go into a tail spin with various protocols and involving just about every EMO in the city.
Being retired member of the CAF and holding the qualification of NBCW mobile op it has been a few decades since my involvement with this type of work asked myself is it possible all it would take is a qualified member in good standing to arrive at the site with a kit and do his or her bit with aid to the civil power and help these poor individuals sort things out with a simple detection kit.
Note as it stood they were going to drive this thing eight hours away to have the substance analyzed. In my opinion the forces would be more suited to handle these types of situations in a calm and collective manner.
Opinions please.
 
Yes there are bio threat detectors that work like pregnancy tests.  However, like older pregnancy tests, when you want to confirm what something is you need to send to the lab.  For really scarry stuff, this means testing in Winnipeg.
 
You would be shockingy surprised how ill equiped the civilian authorities are when it comes to NBCW detection, let alone Anthrax or other deadly pathegens. "60 Minutes" aired a program a few years ago that illustrated how large cities like NewYork and Chicago where promised the proper NBCW equipment and training by the Feds after 9/11, but their still waiting.  I'm sure Canadian cities are no different.

Their answer is to suit a poor sap in a plastic suit and send them in to retreive the suspected package and ship it to a suitable lab for testing and disposal.

I agree with your thoughts on bringing in the military in situations like this, there much better trained and equiped for the task.
 
retiredgrunt45 said:
I agree with your thoughts on bringing in the military in situations like this, there much better trained and equiped for the task.
Maybe the Joint NBC Coy & DRDC Suffield, but that would be it as far as bio threats.  We cannot offer very much.
 
The scary thing was the poor sap in a suit was me at one time I was in Suffiled in the mid 80's with DRES at our back  door and they wore our NBC suits for underware.
Now what did that tell me when all we had was that suit if we ever went operational anywhere how protected were we really.
 
Already replied to, but here goes...

Sure they are...That's why Suffield runs so many live-agent serials for civi responders.

Hmmm, who do I want investigating the suspicious package, a Level III HazMat operator who does nothing but, or a Cpl from the local base who does it once in a blue moon?  

I'll concede that SOME (ok, one? JNBC Coy?) is better equipped then many civi agencies, but that's about it.

Most major cities have one or two significant HazMat indidents a week, and have excellent responses.  There're some issues with the scale of the event they can deal with, but the "strange powder in the package in the mail room with people feeling odd" call is becoming fairly routine for our guys.  It's the smaller cities and towns that have the issues.

Once, while working in the OR of the local Res Fd Engr unit, I was in touch with local Fire about some training.  The Chief at the station pulled down his Local Resource Guide for major hazmat incidents.  I pulled out our op plan for ACP in such an event.  We each listed the other as the lead agency for a CBRN event in the local area, so neither of us had put much thought into it. Nice.

DF
 
I would suggest that the military is not well suited to be the first responder to these type of incidents. As MCG stated there are limited number of assets that have the equipment and training to deal with them, and they can't be everywhere.
 
Thanks for the input guys I knew it would stir up some debate.
It was one of those times when I was totally bewildered by their actions and how there was a lack of leadership at the scene and I asked myself the silent questions.
What if it were the real thing?? Short of going on for a long story It was bizarre to say the least.
 
Mike Rochefort said:
Thanks for the input guys I knew it would stir up some debate.
It was one of those times when I was totally bewildered by their actions and how there was a lack of leadership at the scene and I asked myself the silent questions.
What if it were the real thing?? Short of going on for a long story It was bizarre to say the least.

The only way to remedy that situation is with effective, regular training. Hopefully they learned that from the false alarm.
 
Here in BC we're in the midst of expanding our CBRNE capability.  BC Ambulance has some rediculous cash($50 mil is one number floating around) to develop and run our own in house CBRNE program.  Over 120 paramedics from different communities are being trained over the next couple of years.  We aim to be able to put 16 medics with kit on an airplane within (I think) 3 hours of an event.  This will be done by having (I think) 25 or so CBRNE qualified medis on each shift in the lower mainland.  Calgary, To, and a couple of other cities are planning similar expansion.  These agencies will operate on a much shorter fuse then DND does, since they respond to this kind of thing weekly.

DND has told our program head that they operate on a 48 NTM.  That's fine for cleanup, but not so much for mitigation.

I think it's the latest Maple Leaf that has an article on 5 Amb de C providing training to JTF(E) for this kind of thing, but I doubt they got a lot of high speed kit to go along with the task.

DF
 
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