Philadelphia Fire Department HAZ-MAT 1.

About the Philadelphia Fire Dept. HAZMAT unit (from the official Philadelphia Fire Dept. HAZMAT page):

The Hazardous Materials Administrative Unit’s (HMAU) was instrumental in establishing Bridesburg Shelter-in-Place Committee, which is a community outreach initiative to enhance hazardous materials safety. This committee began a Shelter-in-Place outreach program in partnership with educators of both the public and parochial City school systems, the Philadelphia Local Emergency Planning Committee (LEPC), and industry. The outreach educates teachers, parents, and children how to safely shelter-in-place during a chemical emergency.

With the naming of Philadelphia as a “Strategic Military Port” in 2003, the Local Coast Guard Marine Safety Office has implemented heightened security and preventive measures along the entire coastline of the Port. This designation calls for improved communications and agency inter-operability with an increased emphasis on the hazardous materials incident response capabilities of Philadelphia’s HazMat Task Force Unit.

HMAU provides Hazmat Survey Teams for each Philadelphia Eagles Home Game.

New Technology Initiatives
HMAU also acquired a new biological detection instrument for use by the Hazardous Materials Task Force. The Rapid Analytical Measuring Platform (R.A.M.P.) is a reliable, user friendly system which is used to detect anthrax, ricin, small pox, botulinum toxin, and the plague. This instrument will enhance the task forces biological detection capabilities.

HMAU is investigating new detection equipment with state-of-the-art technology. The Product Acoustical Signature System (P.A.S.S.) uses acoustic waves similar to sonar to identify and measure unknown liquids in a sealed container.