WMD Training

[bechereg]

1.)What are the feelings on the WMD training programs that are out there?
2.) Are they efffective ?
3.) Are we ready?

[Herb King]

I'd answer your second question first, no! We are not ready because most of us fall prey to the great killer of civilian in fires, "It can't happen to me" When you read the publications out there and go to some of the classes put on by NFA outreach and others you see a good talk to the problem but unless your area has had an event or a good scare, there is mostly talk.
To your first question the best training I have seen is the one at IAFC in KC a few years back. I have been through military FF weapons training, nuke survival and other types but this one woke me up. I forget the speaker's name, he was from the beltway area and was very informative, check with IAFC to see if he will repeat for a regional or local training. The NFA outreach course is OK, but unless you have a knowlegable trainer in the real materials, not a TTT, is just bumps up your awareness. Couple this with a decent Haz-Mat OPs class and you should have most of the tools you need to not get yourself killed.
One other thing, don't think these items are not out there. Look at web sites that tell you how to distill the beans, cook the chemicals and develop dispersion mechanisms. Look into actual response incidents, the ones you can access that is, and you would be suprised at how often this is happening out there. And of course don't discount the wild card, terrorist who just want to see us jump. They are out there, foreign and home grown.

[Vinny Del Giudice]

I understand DC Fire Dept. recently received a large grant from the federal government for its HAZMAT program -- and no doubt that takes MWD into consideation. Regards.

[Hook and Ladder]

Here's the name and # of the COBRA WMD people with DOJ Rick Dickson 1-256-848-4012.
This was a great class with top notch instructors with real world experience. Check it out.