New Moncton-based hazmat team expected to be ready by July

A new hazmat team covering southeastern New Brunswick based in Moncton is expected to be ready to deploy by July.

Moncton councillors recently approved an agreement with the province, which will fund the team consisting of specially trained and equipped municipal firefighters.

"We have quite a bit - with the highway and the trains - we have a lot of hazardous material that is going through our city or close to our city," Conrad Landry, Moncton's fire chief, said in an interview. 

Geoffrey Downey, a spokesperson for the province's Department of Public Safety, said in an email that Moncton's expanding industrial, manufacturing and transportation sectors justified creating the team in the region.

It will be what's known as a "heavy" team, like those already established in Saint John and Fredericton. 

Smaller "scout" teams can be deployed to assess a scene and determine if a heavy team needs to be deployed. There are scout teams in Edmundston and Bathurst.

But there are no teams in the southeast. That meant hazardous material emergencies in the Moncton region required teams to drive for several hours.

About half of the Moncton fire department has undergone the two and a half week training program. Further training is scheduled for April. 

"Today we're semi-ready. We'd like to be ready by July," Landry said. "The contract has been signed, now we need to train additional staff and equipment needs to be purchased." 

The agreement approved Feb. 7 by city council will see the province cover annual costs in the range of $95,000 and reimbursing expenses for responses, Landry said.

The agreement follows years of discussion and preparation to establish a regional team.

The team requires protective suits, equipment to detect what chemicals they're dealing with, products to neutralize chemicals and to plug leaks.

The fire department won't be adding staff, but it needs a new trailer to haul the team's equipment that will be paid for by the province.

Downey said the hazardous material teams are deployed six to 20 times per year, depending on the nature of the incident, in support of local fire departments.

There have been two times over the last five years hazmat teams needed to be deployed to Moncton. 

"It's not something that's very often, but when it happens, time is of the essence and we need to have the proper resources and be as efficient as possible," Landry said. 

Hazardous materials move through the city along the Trans-Canada Highway and the CN rail line cutting through downtown. But Landry said there are also risks elsewhere. 

"There's a lot of manufacturers in our industrial parks that use various chemicals. It's not just transportation," Landry said. 

"If it's a chemical that could be dangerous to humans, that's what we're trained for."