New Hazardous Materials Team Operating

In response to the high number of toxic chemical accidents in the Santa Clarita, San Fernando and Antelope valleys, the Los Angeles County Fire Department announced Monday that a $700,000-a-year hazardous material unit has begun operating out of a Valencia fire station.

The unit, which went into service last week with four firefighters and a captain, is the third hazardous materials squad in the department and will drastically cut response time in the northern regions of the county, fire officials said. The other county teams are in the City of Industry and Carson.

“Up until now, if there was a spill up on I-5, it could take us up to an hour to get there if we were coming from Carson,” said Capt. Jim Billesbach, who is in charge of the new unit at 27223 Henry Mayo Drive.

Previously, fire officials said, hazardous materials crews would have to be taken by helicopter to accidents in the Santa Clarita or Antelope valleys.

In 1985, the department responded to about 150 hazardous materials accidents; 25 of them were major emergencies, county Fire Chief John W. Englund said. About 21% of the accidents were in the area the new squad serves, officials said.

The region is especially active in illegal dumping and transportation accidents because of the many isolated canyon roads and the heavily traveled Golden State Freeway, Fire Department spokesman Gordon S. Pearson said.

The new team responded Sunday to an incident in Big Tujunga Canyon where toxic chemicals used in manufacturing PCP had been dumped.

Funding for the squad was approved by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors in July. The squad is needed in the area because of the dangers created by about 11 million tons of hazardous chemicals that are transported through the county each year, Supervisor Mike Antonovich said at a press conference Monday.

The county squad is similar to the city Fire Department’s hazardous materials unit stationed in Van Nuys. In a major emergency, both departments would respond.

The unit’s vehicles are equipped with chemical detection devices, breathing apparatus, decontamination materials and special entry suits for up to 23 firefighters.

At a chemical accident, the Fire Department’s main role is to contain and seal off the area until the materials can be professionally cleaned up and disposed of.

The hazardous materials squad also attempts to identify the toxicity of chemicals to determine the range of an evacuation area and, in the case of a fire, whether it is safe to pour water onto it.