The Paulding County Emergency Management Agency received a $ 18,885.30 Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness Grant from the Ohio Emergency Management Agency’s Preparedness Branch. The funding will be used to prepare 1st responders on the release of hazardous materials and hands-on training with propane gas. The grant application was written for the courses, HAZMAT IQ and PROPANE IQ. HAZMAT IQ gives 1st Responders a quick down and dirty approach to recognizing and identifying hazardous materials, the state in which, they were released and the harmful effects to people in a short period of time. The course will provide 1st responders a resource to compare what they see in real time to deal and handle the release of the hazardous material in facilities, during a transportation accident or during a fire situation.
The hands-on training that 1st responders will be getting, deal with propane, as a hazardous material, as a source of fuel to heat our homes and cook our food, a source of energy to manufacturer goods and provide service and a fuel source for transportation. Firefighters will up close and personal with live propane fires and the accidental release of the propane gas. It is extremely important that firefighters can recognize and deal with a propane emergency in our county. Currently there are five propane companies in Paulding County, the transportation of Propane on the highways and railroad, in the county, not to mention the number of residence and farms that have multiple propane tanks on their properties in the county. The trainings will take place in 2018 at the new 1st responders training facility that is currently being built. The Paulding County Emergency Management Agency hopes to hold a number and variety of training sessions in 2018 for Fire -EMS – Law Enforcement, utilizing the new training facility and those facilities with hazardous materials on site.
