An inside look at the Fort Myers hazmat team

Over three weeks ago, we learned about a mysterious hazmat situation in Labelle. Now, WINK News reporter Olivia Jean is getting a look inside the hazmat team.

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The Hendry County Sheriff’s Office called in several different agencies, including the Fort Myers hazmat team.

They were called to Hendry County to help examine, test, and collect evidence on the scene.

The Special Operations Division Chief, Todd Poland, says these big hazmat calls happen roughly three times a year, but smaller calls happen all the time, keeping this team busy.

The hazmat team exclusively welcomed WINK News in for an inside look.

“They are some of the best of the best,” Tracy McMillion, the Fire Chief of the Fort Myers Fire Department.

The group of 45 suits up every day to protect lives across 10 counties.

“We respond to toxic industrial materials and toxic industrial chemicals, weapons of mass destruction, which includes chemical, biological weapons, any type of industrial accidents, spills, leaks, hazards, stuff like that. Natural gas and propane emergencies, we are the people that they call,” Poland said.

Todd Poland and Paul Dearmond, who run this team, say becoming a member is not easy. First or foremost, you have to be a firefighter. For the hazmat certification, you have you do 160 hours of training and take several exams.

“We’re in the business of giving people really good showers for Decon. That’s kind of what we do. And at the same time, we also have to figure out what people were exposed to,” Poland said.

WINK News Reporter Olivia Jean saw all of the gear, tools, and trucks, and even got a show and tell that explains just how this team keeps us safe.

One of the pieces of equipment we were shown is the True Defender. It uses spectrometer to shoot a laser up to the product and can identify certain levels of products.

This is the true defender.

“If we had some kind of a white powder call or something that we were trying to identify what it is, we’re going to use this. It’ll tell us exactly what it is. Usually, if it’s in the library, that means that it’s something that it’s harmful that we need to make sure that we’re aware of,” Paul Dearmond, the Deputy Special Operations Coordinator, said.

Then, there’s the Red Eye.

“This is special because it actually does nuclear isotopes. It goes to higher levels. If there was some kind of a terrorist event, we have the detection equipment to actually identify which isotope was used in that terror even,” Dearmond said.

And then there’s the air monitor. It’s one of the most used testing tools.

“With this new technology, it detects more things that we weren’t able to detect before,” Dearmond said.

Then, there’s the gear. Several parts make a full hazmat suit and when getting suited, everyone has an attendant, who helps get the gear on.

Nelson Ochoa is a newer member of the team and said he loves his job.

“The biggest thing I’ve learned is that there’s always more to learn. It’s a lot of science, but it’s it’s great. We just went through that Hendry County call and that was that was intense,” Ochoa said.

That intense call was when 21 people got sick.

“When we went in there, our primary concerns was obviously the air monitoring. So we went in with an air monitor and tested with that some of the equipment that I showed you earlier. And then obviously, we hit it with our radiation equipment as well, just to make sure there was nothing there. All our results came back inconclusive or negative,” Poland said.

The team was on the scene for three days until the threat was over. Tracy McMillion, the Fort Myers Fire Chief, couldn’t be more proud of the team. The fire chief couldn’t be more proud of the team.

“It makes me proud every day to know that we are still the Region Six hazmat team, and we still operate at a extremely high level. And even when we go into some of our state trainings, our guys always do amazing, so I’m super proud of our guys. I’m super proud of the job they do each and every day,” McMillion said.

The team members said as the years go on, threats change. Years ago, it was anthrax, then meth. Nowadays, most calls they get are fentanyl-related.