Hazardous Materials Response Team
A Hazardous Materials (Hazmat) Response Team is an important part of the fire service for the members and the citizens they serve, and infrastructure for those departments who serve industry and interstate commerce by water, rail and surface transportation where a high risk/low frequency to a major hazmat incident is probable.
C2FR’s Hazmat Team has 8 technicians consisting of 3 Battalion Chiefs, 3 Lieutenants and 2 Firefighters.Â
Hazardous Materials in our Response Area
Cowlitz County has 14 facilities Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC) that report under the Toxic Release Inventory (TRI).
Cowlitz County has the second highest number of TRI releases, with 3,010,572 pounds, in the state of Washington.
The I-5 corridor is the major North/South surface transportation route in the state of Washington and ranks as one of the busiest corridors in the country. Approximately 8,500 trucks, averaging 16 tons of cargo, use the corridor per day.
The Columbia River flows through the District, and while not one of the busiest waterways in the nation, it is the busiest river in the state of Washington.The annual top five types of vessels making port on the waterway were as follows: Bulk Carrier 886, Vehicle Carrier 190, Barge 195, General Cargo 73 and Tanker 81. It is also important to note that all but 33 of the vessel port visits were upstream of the Port of Astoria and passed through the District.