CLASS TEACHES HOW TO SPOT METH LABS

They're odorless, cheap and can be created with items found at most local
hardware stores.

They're spreading across the state, and they're killers.

Cropping up in houses and garages, methamphetamine labs are being found in
Johnson and Carter counties. One recently exploded in Hawkins County,
killing two men.

For those making and taking the drug often referred to as meth, crystal
meth and crank, the risk of death is real. For first responders such as
police, fire and medical service personnel, dangers also exist.

"This is pretty green to all our guys," Washington County-Johnson City
Emergency Medical Services Lt. John Reeves said.

In an effort to help educate EMS and other safety personnel to the dangers
of these illegal home-based labs and how to recognize them, the Southeast
Methamphetamine Task Force held a workshop here Monday outlining what first
responders should look for and how to protect themselves.

"When they go through (a suspected area) they can take a quick assessment
and evaluate if they are in a meth lab," Task Force Warrant Officer Lou
Wilson said.

Wilson is a member of the Tennessee National Guard assigned to the task
force. This group works through 40 counties in the state educating first
responders as well as working as backup for investigators and emergency
workers in dealing with these labs.

Of the 553 meth labs found in the state last year, Wilson said the task
force was responsible for taking 422 of them.

Much of the danger with these labs, Wilson said, is that one in six
explodes, filling the air with poisonous fumes.

Standing over a table of methamphetamine ingredients commonly used by
illegal labs, Wilson talked about the dangers of the drug and how it is
easily - though with a high threat of danger - created in a person's home.

It involves Coleman fuel, lye and over-the-counter drugs found at most gas
stations.

"Nothing here is illegal," Wilson said. "You probably have a lot of this
stuff at your house."

These chemicals are combined and cooked together to create the drug.

It's that cooking, Wilson said, that creates potential dangers to both the
makers and anyone entering the scene, including first responders.

"They're heating all those different chemicals to get the reaction they
want," Wilson said. "You're taking a very flammable, toxic environment and
condensing it to a very small space."

At least one police officer has been injured in the state when he entered a
meth lab, unscrewed a jar and inhaled the chemicals inside.

EMS spokesman Jim Jones said his personnel have yet to deal with such a lab
but wants them prepared when the time comes.

"This is basically for our people so they will know what they are walking
into," Jones said. "Some of this stuff is ordinary-looking stuff if you
don't know what it is."