05-005 Weapons of Mass Destruction (Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear) Guidelines

WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION

(CHEMICAL, BIOLOGICAL, RADIOLOGICAL, AND NUCLEAR) GUIDELINES

PURPOSE

The purpose of this Field Operations Directive is to provide policy, guidelines and procedures to field personnel who will be responding to incidents involving chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) hazards.

BACKGROUND

When responding to CBRN incidents, Department personnel will be responsible for handling law enforcement functions (e.g., traffic control, containment, investigations). Fire department personnel will be responsible for conducting victim rescues.

Due to the unique hazards associated with CBRN, the Department has set guidelines that are intended to protect Department personnel and the community.

CBRN agents come in many forms and have different effects:

• Chemical – Chemical agents are generally liquids, often aerosolized, and most have immediate effects or are delayed for a few hours. Many chemical agents have a unique odor and color.
• Biological – Biological agents often have no odor or color and can be either in liquid or powder form. The effects from a biological agent are usually delayed, often for days.
• Radiological – A radiological dispersal device (RDD) is a conventional explosive dispersing radiological sources. Radiation cannot be seen, smelled, felt, or tasted.
• Nuclear – A nuclear weapon is a device that releases nuclear energy in an explosive manner as the result of nuclear chain reactions involving the fission or fusion or both, of atomic nuclei.

DEFINITION

Emergency Response Guidebook (ERG) – A guidebook published by the Department of Transportation that identifies evacuation distances for hazardous materials.

Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) – PPE is the ensemble of specialized protective clothing and respiratory protection that is required to make an entry into a hazardous environment. There are four levels of PPE:

• Level A PPE (Level I) – Consists of a fully-encapsulated vapor protective suit with the self-contained breathing apparatus worn on the inside of the suit.
• Level B PPE (Level II) – Encompasses the highest level of respiratory protection, but a lesser level of skin protection for liquid splash protection. In this configuration, the self-contained breathing apparatus is worn outside the suit.
• Level C PPE (Level III) – A lesser level of respiratory and skin protection, which consists of a liquid splash protective suit, air-purifying respirator mask, inner and outer gloves, and boots.
• Level D PPE (Level IV) – The uniform that personnel wear to work on a daily basis affording minimal protection.

Hot Zone – The hot zone is the exclusion zone where hazardous material may have been released and is unsafe to enter without specialized training and equipment.

Warm Zone – The warm zone is defined as the decontamination reduction zone and surrounds the hot zone.

Cold Zone – The cold zone is the support zone and is safe from contamination. This zone surrounds the warm zone. This is where the command post, staging area, traffic control posts, etc., are located.

Force Protection – Sworn personnel providing security for public safety responders and critical locations.

Shelter In-Place – Seeking shelter inside a building and remaining inside until the danger passes

POLICY

Station Responsibilities

Each station will be provided with Level C PPE to outfit a squad (12 personnel). This equipment is to be cached inside the station armory in the gear bags provided (see Attachment “A” for description of contents). With the exception of the respirator mask, PPE shall only be deployed during a CBRN incident.

Stations shall be responsible for sending field personnel to Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) training. Personnel who have attended the WMD training course may be required to don Level C PPE and enter the warm zone during CBRN incidents.

Stations shall ensure that emergency response personnel who have completed the WMD training are appropriately reflected on their in-service sheets in accordance with FOD #90-08, Standardized Symbols Used for Daily In-Service Sheets.

During an incident involving CBRN, the affected station shall have the primary responsibility for providing outer perimeter containment, traffic control and initial investigation activities (field interviewing witnesses, victims, etc.). If necessary and safe to do so, the affected station may be required to deploy a squad into the warm zone with concurrence from the on-scene fire department incident commander. This squad will be relieved and the incident sustained by the patrol divisions’ Mobile Field Forces (MFF) and the Sheriff’s Response Team (SRT) (see Attachment “B” for information on decontamination operations - squad responsibilities).

Upon request, unaffected stations shall respond to the incident with 50 percent of their on-duty field personnel. The unaffected stations shall send a sufficient supply of PPE to outfit all of their responding personnel. Responding personnel must have completed the Department approved WMD training.

First Responding Units’ Responsibilities:

First responding units must immediately take steps to protect themselves, during incidents involving suspected release of CBRN agents.

• If Department personnel are in a CBRN contaminated area or a suspected CBRN contaminated area, they shall immediately don their issued respirator mask and exit the contaminated or suspected contaminated area.
• Establish an initial containment. The outside perimeter of this containment shall be outside the suspected hazardous/contaminated area. Once the fire department and/or HazMat Detail personnel arrive, this containment area may increase or decrease and the hot, warm, and cold zones will be established.
• Isolate for 660 feet minimum in all directions, which meets or exceeds ERG guideline distances for toxic inhalation hazards, chemical weapons, and radiological sources. If a hazardous material is placarded or identified, utilize the ERG recommendations for evacuation distances. Once established, the evacuation and isolation distances should not be decreased by anyone other than a fire department incident commander.
• Wind direction and conditions need to be taken into consideration when determining the size of the containment. If a shelter in-place is necessary, sworn personnel shall direct people to seek shelter inside a building and to close all doors and windows and to shut off all ventilating, heating, and cooling systems. From a safe vantage point, reassure victims that assistance is on the way.
• Deny entry into the contaminated area and wait for properly-trained and equipped resources.
• Provide as much of the following information as practical to the desk:
  • Exact location
  • Observed CBRN indicators
  • Wind direction/weather conditions
  • Plume direction
  • Number of victims
  • Orientation of victims (direction, position, pattern)
  • Types of injuries
  • Safe access routes
  • Containment posts (crime scene)
  • Traffic control points
• Establish a command post and staging area
• Obtain witness statements
  Station Desk Responsibilities:

The station desk shall ensure that the following notifications are made:

• Fire Department
• Special Enforcement Bureau
  • Arson/Explosives Detail
  • HazMat Detail
• Emergency Operations Bureau
  • Joint Regional Intelligence Center (JRIC)
• Aero Bureau
• Sheriff’s Information Bureau

Emergency Operations Bureau’s Responsibility

Emergency Operations Bureau (EOB) shall ensure that the following units are notified and will coordinate their response as necessary:

• Special Enforcement Bureau
• HazMat Detail
• Arson/Explosives Detail
• Joint Regional Intelligence Center (JRIC)

Special Enforcement Bureau’s Responsibility

Special Enforcement Bureau (SEB) maintains a cache of equipment and supplies, which contain additional PPE for field personnel. SEB will coordinate delivery of this cached equipment to the location when necessary.

Incident Command/Operation

A unified command (among law enforcement, fire and health) will be established for all CBRN incidents within Los Angeles County. Exclusion (hot) and contamination reduction (warm) zone management at a CBRN incident is the responsibility of the fire department; therefore, entry into either the warm or hot zones shall be with the approval of the fire incident commander and/or HazMat Detail personnel. The following units are exempt from this policy: All Special Enforcement Bureau details and Transit Services Bureau’s Threat Interdiction Unit.

Field personnel shall not act contrary to recommendations/determinations made by on- scene fire department personnel and/or HazMat Detail personnel.

AFFECTED DIRECTIVES/PUBLICATIONS

FOD #90-08 Standardized Symbols Used for Daily In-Service Sheets (adds WMD to the list of symbols)

CITES/REFERENCES

MPP §5-06/040.85 Respirator Masks

MPP §5-06/070.15 Weapons of Mass Destruction, Responding To MPP §5-06/070.20 Weapons of Mass Destruction, Definitions MPP §5-06/070.25 CBRN Evacuation Considerations

MPP §5-06/070.30 CBRN Coordination Requirements MPP §5-06/080.50 CBRN HazMat Detail

EOP §4-3, Weapons of Mass Destruction

ATTACHMENT “A”

PERSONAL PROTECTIVE EQUIPMENT

Each station will be issued the following Departmentally approved PPE to be secured in the station’s armory and deployed when necessary. Each station PPE cache will also contain 12 replacement respirator canisters so that squad personnel who use their issued canister will immediately have functional respiratory protection after their mission is complete.

• One gear bag containing:
  • 12 suits (XRT Suit: attached hood, integrated gloves and oversock, boot cuffs, and two-way zipper with storm flap)
  • filter/canister
• One gear bag containing:
  • 12 pairs overboots (rubber, 12" height, quick tab closures)

Personnel are authorized to use only their Departmentally-issued Avon model #FM-12 or C50 air-purifying respirator and the aforementioned Departmentally-approved PPE. Personnel wearing PPE will be monitored for heat stress and may be required to re- enter the warm zone to complete their missions.

Suits, overboots, and respirator mask canisters shall be disposed of after each entry. At a CBRN incident, SEB will have additional suits and overboots for use by field personnel.

The respirator mask may be decontaminated and used again. When decontaminated, the respirator mask will be returned to the individual to whom it was issued.

All station PPE gear bags will be restocked by SEB as soon as possible after the conclusion of an incident.

ATTACHMENT “B” DECONTAMINATION OPERATION

The decontamination and protection operation requires four squads. Each squad shall be designated numerically one through four and shall perform specific duties as described below:

• Squad Responsibilities - As personnel arrive at scene, they shall be directed to fill in and rotate forward so that Squad 1 is always complete. Subsequent squads should be filled in the numbered order. It may be necessary to divide squads to fill multiple key positions.
• Squad sergeants shall keep in continuous communication with fire personnel for conditions and rotation of personnel and/or adjustment of responsibilities.
• Squad 1 - Responsible for forming a skirmish line and preventing persons from exiting the hot zone without going through the decontamination process.
• Squad 2 - Responsible for escorting victims who do not require decontamination through the warm zone to the “Law Enforcement Investigation Area” to be interviewed.
• Squad 3 - Responsible for providing security and escorting victims who need decontamination through the medical decontamination corridor. Responsible for custody of the evidence bags in the warm zone until investigators are able to take custody of them. Responsible for providing security for law enforcement equipment left at the public safety decontamination corridor.
• Squad 4 - Responsible for escorting victims to the “Law Enforcement Investigation Area” who have been cleared of any contamination and are not in need of medical attention. Those victims who have gone through the decontamination corridor and are still contaminated shall be escorted back to the front of Squad 3 for additional decontamination.