Haz Mat resource

National Hazardous Materials Fusion Center is a responder-driven data collection, analysis and education Web site. It was set up between the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) and the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC). The site is a free, voluntary, confidential, and secure Web-based resource that serves as a data and information network for hazmat teams; first responders; federal, state and local agencies; and the private sector.

http://www.hazmatfc.com/Pages/Home.aspx

What’s Next?

 

It’s amazing what new technology is out there and how long it takes for it to find it’s way onto the Fire and EMS world. Found this interesting Tech article about a new sensor that would attach to a  smart phone. Is a pocket patient scanner next, or picket sized Hazmat detector. Is an iPhone Intrinsically safe?

NASA Ames News or more info at inhabitat. If you don't have any bomb sniffing dogs around to look for trance quantities of explosive gas, why not use your iPhone instead? That's exactly what Jing Li and a team of researchers from NASA have done with their cell phone chemical sensor. By connecting and interfacing a thumbnail sized sensor to a popular smart phone, they were able to create a device that can sense airborne ammonia, chlorine gas and methane, and report its findings over the cellular network or Wi-Fi. Admittedly, it took a bit more than just a bit of software to add an electronic nose to the iPhone, but it's still pretty neat use of a consumer device.

A new version of MARPLOT is available at

http://www.epa.gov/emergencies/content/cameo/marplot.htm

MARPLOT® (Mapping Application for Response, Planning, and Local Operational Tasks) is a

general-purpose mapping application program that allows you to create, view, and modify maps quickly and easily. It also allows you to link objects on your computer maps to data in other programs.

What is MARPLOT?

_ General-purpose mapping application program

_ Used for creating, viewing, and modifying maps

_ Links objects to data in other programs

_ Used with CAMEO or LandView™ applications

_ Contains information that can be shown on a map

MARPLOT is part of CAMEO’s suite of three separate, integrated software applications

» MARPLOT – Mapping application

» CAMEO – Chemical database and Information modules

» ALOHA – Air dispersion modeling

CAMEO is computer software for chemical emergency planners and responders

Computer-Aided Management of Emergency Operations (CAMEO)

 

EPA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) developed this web site to facilitate the use of CAMEO and to offer online technical support. Please visit periodically for the latest news, information, and resources.

http://www.epa.gov/emergencies/content/cameo/index.htm

ALOHA (Areal Locations of Hazardous Atmospheres)

ALOHA (Areal Locations of Hazardous Atmospheres) is a computer program designed especially for use by people responding to chemical releases, as well as for emergency planning and training. ALOHA models key hazards—toxicity, flammability, thermal radiation (heat), and overpressure (explosion blast force)—related to chemical releases that result in toxic gas dispersions, fires, and/or explosions. (Note: In versions prior to 5.4, ALOHA only models the toxic threat: specifically, how a toxic gas cloud might disperse in the atmosphere after an accidental chemical release.)

http://www.epa.gov/emergencies/content/cameo/aloha.htm

LandView is an innovative “community right-to-know” software tool in the format of an electronic atlas.

LandView has its roots in the CAMEO software (Computer-Aided Management of Emergency Operations). CAMEO was developed by the EPA and the NOAA to facilitate the implementation of the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act. This far-reaching law requires communities to develop emergency response plans addressing chemical hazards and to make available to the public information on chemical hazards in the community.

This product contains both database management software and mapping software used in the CAMEO system to create a simple computer mapping system involving two programs - MARPLOT^® and LandView.

http://www.census.gov/geo/landview/