Medicine Hat firefighters welcome five from Moose Jaw for HAZMAT training

By Jeremy Appel on October 6, 2018.

jappel@medicinehatnews.com @MHNJeremyAppel

The Medicine Hat Fire Department hosted its Moose Jaw counterpart for HAZMAT training, which was put on by the Justice Institute of British Columbia’s fire safety division, this week.

Participants donned HAZMAT suits and simulated responding to a chemical spill.

Jason Labash, a MHFD lieutenant and one of the leaders of the HAZMAT rescue team, says the purpose of the course is to get everyone in their platoon up to speed on hazardous materials.

“We had enough members to virtually fill a class and do the whole thing by ourselves, but we wanted to share the love,” said Labash. “We wanted to spread out the invitation to other departments.”

The Moose Jaw Fire Department sent five members to the Hat for training, while the MHFD has nine members participating with two instructors from B.C., he added.

Labash said the MHFD gets about 300 hazardous material calls every year, so it’s of vital importance for all members to be ready to handle HAZMAT situations.

“You get a fire and it affects your house. Sometimes it’s bad enough that it affects your neighbour’s house, too,” said Labash. “In a hazardous material situation … I could be looking at evacuating a third of the city.”

Bill Howes, a captain with the MJFD, said the JIBC reached out to his department to join their training in the Hat.

“We’re always expanding our role and getting more people trained all the time,” he said, adding that his firefighters have gone as far as Texas for training. “Any time we can have more people with higher training, the better we are to respond.”

One of the instructors, Dave Rivett of Whiterock, said it’s much more cost effective to train multiple departments at once.

“There’s a cost involved with running these training courses, so it makes perfect sense for a city to contract someone like our agency to come in, do the training and sell spots to other cities that need the training,” said Rivett.

“It’s kind of a win-win for everybody … It’s always good training when you’re interacting with other students from other departments.”

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