SECRET DRUG LABS ENDANGER FIRE CREWS

State's Firefighters Warned Of Hazards

When firefighters from the Schriever Volunteer Fire Department in
Terrebonne Parish responded to a 911 call of a house fire about a year ago,
they found a dead man and several containers of unidentified chemicals
inside the burning house.

The firefighters later learned they had stumbled across a hidden laboratory
manufacturing methamphetamines, an illegal and addictive stimulant
sometimes referred to as "the poor man's cocaine." Although Schriever
Department President Phil Schexnayder said no one was injured, the danger
to firefighters who respond to blazes sparked by volatile chemicals used to
manufacture drugs in these secret labs is growing. Those dangers include
explosions or toxic fumes.

"You go to put the fire out thinking it's a regular house fire and you see
all those chemicals. You back out because you don't want to get killed,"
Schexnayder said.

On Friday, he and about 100 other firefighters from around the state got a
lesson in clandestine drug labs as part of a seminar at the Louisiana State
Firemen's Association's 98th annual conference being held this weekend at
the Landmark Hotel in Metairie.

The seminar, presented by Trooper First Class John Dayries, a drug lab
specialist with the Louisiana State Police, included pictures of common
chemicals, many available over the counter, and equipment used in the
bedroom drug labs, which are on the upswing in the New Orleans area.

The hope is that firefighters entering a home containing such labs will
recognize the clues -- empty packets of sinus medication, piles of lithium
batteries, containers of chemicals, blenders or hot plates -- and pull out
before a catastrophe like an explosion occurs.

"We prefer them to back out . . . and call in local law enforcement,"
Dayries said. "Our team can come in and shut the lab down safely."

Attention to these clues can be crucial because most of the labs are hidden
in hotels, apartments, or houses where even neighbors are unaware of the
criminal activity.

"You can find them in a $200,000 house or in a shack," Dayries said.

Aside from the threat of explosions of unstable chemicals, first responders
could also fall victim to toxic fumes. Anhydrous ammonia, a common material
used in making meth, can burn the lungs and arrest respiratory systems.

Some drug cooks even booby-trap their labs. On one occasion, Dayries said
he tripped a booby trap connected to a pipe bomb and had to stand in one
place for more than three hours as the bomb squad defused the device.

While fire chiefs at the conference said no firefighters have been lost or
injured recently in fires at drug labs, they agreed the information passed
on by Dayries was invaluable.

"This is another tool that we can use and take back to our guys,"
Schexnayder said.