What do you think

[DaJRBull93]

Do you think Jr's should be able to go to a Haz Mat just to do the little things like hellping with scba?

[BFD196]

Well it depends on what`s going on, if the danger of the situation is extreme, then we`re probably needed more back at the firehouse, in case of another call. But, if I`m at the firehouse, and there`s a seat, I go, no matter what. The officer, or driver`s job is the same there as it is at a fire, make sure your safe doing whatever you can do. I really don`t see a problem in running haz-mats, because all you`re going to do is call a hazmat team, and stand around while they do the work.

[HellFire_001]

In my area you are not allowed to do anything unless you are HamMat operations level.

[firefightermatt]

In my town we dont have any juniors but they would probably be able to go on the initial call because we send the haz-mat truck and then the rescue truck and a pumper so a junior would probably be able to jump on either the engine or the rescue truck but anyone (junior or not) that isnt trainned and on the haz -mat team wouldnt be able to do anything unless the call was an unknown substasnce and the substance wasn't hazardous then anyone would be able to wash the substance away, but like I said we dont have a jr dept so that is just a prediction of how things would happen.

[Brian Dunlap]

Haz-Mat Calls are dangerous for any Firefighter no matter what the age. Over the years we have learned more about Hazzardous Materiels than we knew back in the "Old Days" My personnel opinion is NO Juniors should not be permitted to respond to Haz-Mat Calls. The Fire Chief is utimatley responsible for the safety of the juniors and if he/she doesn't know what they're dealing with why jepordize a junior. If a Junior can gain Official Haz-Mat Training than I don't see the problem with them responding. I've been a Firefighter for 12 Years and I'm not a big fan of responding to Haz-Mat Calls. I have the awareness and operations training but with all the chemicals out there today....The risks are much greater. Now as a Junior responding on the Haz-Mat call as a support person and staying well and I mean well out of the possible affected area....Maybe but I'm still not quite sure I agree with that. This is why we have child labor laws to protect not restrict our minors.

[Firestud64]

At every Haz-Mat incident you limit exposure to only those that need to be there. Let the Juniors join in the critique and learn about how it was handled. Keep all unnecessary personnel out of the hot zone[/LIST]

[SVFDJ10]

I think Junoirs should be able to go to Haz Mats becasue they could do a lot there they could help w/ SCBA's, traffic control, crowd control, they could also help w/ the tools and so on. i'm a junior my self and i can't go on haz mats and it really sucks becasue i have been to a few and theres really nothing dangous about them if you not in the hot zone

[BFD196]

We also need to remember that we`re all in different parts of the coutry. Some of you may be responding into huge plants and stuff, where chemicals are everywhere. If that`s the case, it may be best for Juniors to stay back. In our district, most haz-mats are oil spills, or strange odors.

My first call was actually a haz-mat, a strange odor in a retirment home. It turned out to be less serious then originally thought, but I went and was able to do some stuff.

[ 11-15-2001: Message edited by: BFD45 ]