At the base of FDNY's Hazardous Materials Comapny 1 in Maspeth, Queens which it shares with Squads 288 and 270. The firefighters in Squads 288 and 270 as well as all of the other FDNY Squads are trained and certified HAZMAT technicians. Whereas the firefighters in Hazardous Materials Company 1 are HAZMAT technicians and specialists.

The Squads provide an extra hand of assistance to FDNY HAZMAT and can respond to incidents if HAZMAT is unable to. Squads can maintain a situation until HAZMAT arrives or even resolve it on their own in some cases.

The concept of Squads are new to the FDNY and came about after the events of 9/11.

On 9/11 the FDNY's HAZMAT Co. 1 was among the hundreds (eventually thousands) of firefighters whom responded to the World Trade Center which were heavily damaged that morning by commercial airliners hijacked and used as weapons against the structures by al-Qaida. When the entire World Trade Center eventually came crashing down, all of HAZMAT Co. 1 was nearly wiped out.

The team's HAZMAT response truck along with a library that included countless MSDS (Material Safery Data Sheets) and hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of high-tech HAZMAT equipment were buried and destroyed under the crush of rubble.

Even more tragic was the lose of 12 members of HAZMAT Co. 1 on that day.

The city's ability to handle HAZMAT and CBRN incidents was severely compromised for months until new members could be trained for HAZMAT Co. 1.

The loss of so much equipment, men, knowledge and talent placed the city in a very dangerous position.

Considering the fact that HAZMAT Co. 1 could be severely compromised in the event of another major attack, the FDNY developed Squads and placed them at strategic locations throughout NYC's five boroughs (Manhattan, Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn and Staten Island). Squads are trained in HAZMAT operations and technical rescue (the FDNY's Rescue companies were also nearly wiped out on 9/11 as well).

Should a massive terrorist attack ever severely compromise or even wipe out all of the city's Rescue companies and HAZMAT Co. 1, then the Squads - though not equiped or trained to the level of expertise of the Rescue companies or HAZMAT Co. 1 - would fill the void as best they can.