March 29, 2024
BANGOR DAILY NEWS (BANGOR, MAINE

Firefighters practice with radioactive materials

Radioactive materials are transported on the highways of Maine on a regular basis, and on Tuesday Bangor firefighters completed a refresher training course on how to deal with accidents involving such materials.

A mock drill was set up behind the Main Street fire station and firefighters responded to find a mock scene involving a parked van that had been hit by a truck driven by a drunk driver.

When firefighters arrived, they discovered that the driver of the van had been removing a container of radioactive material from the back of the van when the accident occurred. The container was thrown out the back door and onto the pavement.

The first job was help the driver of the van who received a broken leg in the incident. Before approaching the scene, however, firefighters armed themselves with radioactive monitoring devices.

The devices measure the amount of radiation that is permeating the firefighters bodies, according to Robert T. Caspole, of the Maine Emergency Management Agency who conducted the training, along with Fred Leadbetter also of MEMA.

“When the level gets too high, the firefighter leaves the area and another firefighter will come in and relieve him. That way each firefighter is exposed to a little radiation, but none are exposed to a lot,” said Caspole.

Caspole said that the Bangor Fire Department provided training in radioactive materials on a regular basis. He said that the MEMA provided training for the department about every two years.

“This stuff is on the roads and they have to know how to handle it, how to protect the accident victims, themselves and the public,” he said.

Radioactive material most often is transported in sealed containers to hospitals for X-ray machines and to engineering and contracting firms who use it to X-ray pipelines in order to search for cracks in pipes, Caspole said.


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