Minot has averaged a major incident every 10 years. Excluding the 2011 flood, the incidents have involved hazardous chemicals in mass quantities. Why does this happen?

Considering there are an estimated 500,000 shipments of hazardous chemicals every day in the United States, as well as the fact that the majority of those chemicals are flammable liquids transported by trucks, it’s a wonder these types of incidents don’t happen more frequently.

In 1975, the federal government enacted the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act to protect life, property and the environment from hazardous materials in transport. Even with regulations in place, risks for releases still exist. Additional protections were dependent on states providing legislation and emergency management to address local concerns.

In the early 2000s, the state of North Dakota took steps to address this possibility. The state was divided into four regions with the four largest cities providing teams to provide response and mitigate hazardous materials incidents. Minot Fire Department is the Emergency Response Technician Team for the northwest region.

Additionally, one Emergency Response Operations Team operates in each region. These teams assist the technician teams by evaluating and possibly providing simple mitigation to control releases. Minot’s team is trained to mitigate hazardous materials releases. We are fully equipped to make entry to the “hot zone,” and remove victims, close valves, dam or dike a spill, or whatever possible to protect the public from the effects of these incidents.

Increased transportation of hazardous materials in western North Dakota poses an obvious risk. We must not forget that it’s possible to have any of the nine categories of hazardous chemicals (explosives, gases, flammable liquids, flammable solids, oxidizing substances, toxic substances, radioactive materials, corrosives, and miscellaneous hazardous materials) being stored in, or transported through our city and region on any given day.

Protecting lives is our top priority when responding to an incident. It takes very specialized equipment to protect responders, identify what product is involved, and do what is necessary to mitigate these events. This equipment is all carried on a regional response apparatus called the CBRNE, which stands for chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear. This unit, as well as a quick response unit, will respond with properly trained firefighters.

Specialized training is another element that our personnel must complete to become part of the hazmat team. They attend schools across the country to get the education needed to respond to, identify, and mitigate incidents to the professional standard required. The equipment and training are funded by grants through the state’s regional response system. Refresher trainings are held each year to maintain skills necessary to complete this mission.

The Minot Fire Department is equipped, trained and ready to respond to any area within our region when requested. We are an assisting agency in these events and will offer professional guidance and assistance to the incident commander to safely, and effectively, protect lives, property, and environment to the best of our ability.