HAZMAT Certified - Awareness Level, First Responder Level, and Operations Decon Level

Well, I'm officially a certified HAZMAT responder now. I can recognize and identify a HAZMAT incident, I can identify within about a minute what kind of hazardous material (generally) I'm dealing with and (if I have access to a copy of the DOT ERG book and another minute and a half to two minutes) can identify the specific material and initiate isolation and containment procedures, as well as civilian protective actions. I can don (and doff) a Chemical Protective Equipment [CPE] suit at Level A, B, or C protection (including Powered Air-Purifying Respirator [PAPR] or Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus [SCBA], as required) in less than eight minutes (as long as I have someone to tape a couple areas, when it's a splash-guard suit). I can raise and open, with the help of a few other people, both one ambulatory and one non-ambulatory decontamination tent, in less than 20 minutes (about ten minutes per tent). I can decontaminate incident victims no matter what their level of consciousness. I can, when required, perform basic decontamination triage.

I spent 4 hours in a level C suit today, scrubbing mustard off people. I never want to see mustard again. I also never want to scrub mustard off of anyone's penis and testicles ever again, no matter how many layers of protective equipment I'm wearing, and no matter how long the handle on my brush (he got a bit excited...poor guy must have been mortified).

I've got my Operations Decontamination certificate right now. The other two are coming in the mail soon.