Disaster Experts Descend On Orlinda For Day Of Training
ORLINDA TENNESSEE: (Smokey Barn News) – On Wednesday, March 21, 2018 Robertson County EMA along with its Special Operations Team conducted a state-mandated exercise for the Byrum Porter Senior Center located in Orlinda Tennessee.
The drill was a mock hazmat exercise in which the participants consisted of 18 individuals from the senior center along with the Orlinda Fire Department, the Robertson County Sheriffs Office, Robertson County EMS, the Robertson County Emergency Management Agency and their Special Operations Team.
The scenario was that a farm truck carrying Aldicarb pesticide that’s sold under the brand-name Temik that’s granular in nature along with the truck carrying Famphur insecticide sold under the brand-name Warbex that’s liquid in nature. In the scenario, two containers fell out of the truck and upon hitting the roadway the containers ruptured releasing the products and allowing them to land in front of the senior center.
The two (when actually mixed together) create a carbon dioxide and ammonia gas. In the drill, a couple participants were sitting out front at the senior center in rocking chairs when the incident occurred and with the wind blowing towards the center, the participants sitting out front were exposed to the inhalation hazard and began to have shortness of breath and respiratory issues.
The two quickly went inside the center and reported what had happened and their symptoms. The staff at the center enacted their hazard response plan and dialed 911. They immediately began their shelter in place protocol. Responding agencies arrived on scene and reported to the incident commander Chief Johnson of the Orlinda Fire Department.
RCEMS transported the two participants to an area hospital. The RCSO shut down the street in both directions and the RCEMA Special Operations Team under the direction of the director and deputy director of our RCEMA deployed the hazmat team.
Team member Tyler Davis began with using a highly sophisticated state of the art drone to recon the hazardous materials for identification so the team would be able to assess actions for mitigating the hazard. By using the drone, it shows how this type of 
technology can be utilized in the field. Hazmat tech team member Rodney Hoover alongside hazmat operations team member Dan Seaback suited up in level A fully encapsulated suits and were transported to the Hot zone of the hazmat spill by team member Peyton Smith.
The team members in the level A suits contained the hazard by over packing the containers that had ruptured. On the decon line was team member Josh Lowe and Austin Wallace. When the team members in the level A suits returned to the cold zone they went through the decontamination process.
Team member Anna Tyler photographed the training exercise. After the drill had concluded, all participants and responding agencies had a debriefing at the senior center to review the drill.
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