DEADLY DISCARDS

Firefighter training looks at handling dangerous dumped remains of
meth labs

Fort Saskatchewan Record -- Local firefighters have first-hand
experience in dealing with the dangerous remnants of a meth lab after
the department offered its first hands-on training session on the
subject Sunday.

"We've had classroom training on this, where the RCMP came out and did
an overview of the product, but it's one thing to have it in the
classroom and another to have it in a simulated, live scenario," said
James Clark, emergency services coordinator with the Fort Saskatchewan
Fire Department.

The department simulated a scenario where the remains of a meth lab
were discarded behind the outdoor arena building in the RCMP Park.

Clark says it's a situation many firefighters are running into. "What
they're seeing happening quite a bit now is the end product of the lab
being dumped anywhere, and that's just as dangerous," he said. "It's
becoming more common, so for us to do something like this is just
invaluable."

A cooler, a rusty propane tank, ammonia, alcohol, drain cleaner,
ephedrine or cold medicine products lay in a pile amongst red-stained
coffee filters, and empty containers by the building--these are all
common products found at the scene of a crystal meth lab, says Clark.

"You can find this kind of thing just about anywhere," said local
resident Curtis Myson, who works with Edmonton-based Ever Ready
Hazardous Material Services, a dangerous goods clean-up company.

Myson was out providing the training session, which is one service the
company offers.

This type of training has really come to the forefront in the last
three years, as crystal meth becomes a prevalent problem said Myson.
"There's been five to six incidents like this in the last year."

The labs create poisonous vapors, corrosive and flammable chemicals
that have the potential to harm anyone near them he said.

In this situation, the lab went sideways on the person cooking meth
inside the building, and a haze of white smoke was created. The
individual discarded the items outside.

The department received a call from alarmed neighbors reporting it as
a fire.

"So they treated it as a structure fire, they pulled the hoses to put
it out, and saw a victim lying on the ground," said Clark. "When they
came in to get the victim they saw the debris by the building and
thought it was just a pile of garbage."

He said in the scenario was a case were the firefighters didn't
recognize the pile as the remains of a meth lab.

"This type of training you really can't put a price on," adds Clark.
"Now that the guys have all had a chance to look at it and see what it
(a meth lab) could look like, it gives them a heads-up, and now,
because they've experienced it, they'll never forget it."

He said the training scenario created a situation where these
particular firefighters had never seen what the by-product from making
meth looked like.

"They picked up the victim and collapsed because they were overcome by
the ammonia," explained Clark.

After that, he said the situation was treated as a dangerous goods
call and firefighters pulled on the airtight HAZMAT suits.

Clark said when the area is cordoned off and everyone on site is
rescued and decontaminated, then it becomes a crime scene. "The (RCMP)
could ask us to go back in and separate all the products to make sure
there's no other chemical reaction."

Myson says these encounters are starting to become more
prevalent.

"A lot of it deals with the fact that the chemicals to make meth are
all readily available."