TEMA hosts hazmat training course for local emergency management

MADISON COUNTY, Tenn. — The Tennessee Emergency Management Agency (TEMA) hosted an annual hazmat training course for area EMA directors at the Madison County Fire Department.

This 40-hour training course starts with the basics in a classroom setting. By the third day, EMA directors got to suit up.

“So they are actually bottled up, mask, full hazmat suit, and that right there is more or less so these EMA directors know what those firemen are going through when they enter a scene like that,” said Madison County Emergency Management Director Jason Moore.

Thursday, they learned hands-on activities that show methods to control spills.

“What this is teaching you is how to do damming and diking,” Moore said. “Also, how to respond to actual fuel spills, the clean up process, the mitigation process, the whole nine yards.”

Moore says the main focus of this course is to learn how to respond in an incident with hazardous materials, and more importantly, how to keep everyone safe.

Madison County Fire Department says emergency management plays a major role in helping get the right people on scene.

“So I think it’s very important they are knowledgeable of hazardous materials,” said Jana Compton, Madison County Fire Department’s Training Director. “They are also trained on how we handle that situation, and all-in-all, it just helps everybody work together and understand what’s going on and why things are done the way they are done.”

This type of hazmat training is offered at no cost for local agencies.

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