Within the past couple of weeks there have been two accidents on major roadways involving hazardous materials and the Lafayette Fire Department Hazmat team responds to at least one emergency call a day.

Hazmat team members responded to the acid spill in Duson last Thursday.  Hazmat Chief Chad Sonnier says, once an emergency call is made the team has to act fast sometimes responding to a scene with little information never knowing how long the process will take. The temperature outside and accident location can often play a major role in the team’s ability to clear the site quickly.

“The issue we had last Thursday night with the acrylic acid is it happened in the middle of the night and it got cold on us and it was crystallizing, becoming a solid. So we had to go real slow and heat up the product so it wouldn’t crystallize .” said Sonnier

Hazmat team members wear special gear to protect themselves from harmful material. The suits have an air tight seal that can cause their internal temperature to rise drastically and make normal communication difficult.

“We have a level A suit that protects you from anything in the air or any liquid. Ya, it’s pretty difficult, you have to shout a lot and use hand signals to communicate.” said Hazmat team member Nathan Breaux

The team also relies heavily on technology to make good decisions while out in the field. They’re typically reading information while on the way to the emergency.

“Here is the Wiser program that we have up, which is one of our many tools we use to help us on scenes to identify products and the properties of those products in the hot zone. Which is where the spill is.” said Hazmat team member Joshua Guillory

All the firefighters at station five are Hazmat certified and say the public’s safety is always there main concern whenever they are responding to an emergency.