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Salt Lake County Advances Haz-Mat Testing After the September 11th terrorist attacks, anthrax scares regularly sent hazardous materials teams chasing suspicious powders. A Utah agency just took a giant leap in technology that will help on all HAZMAT calls.
Identifying suspicious powders in letters became routine for haz-mat teams after 9-11.
But, it took two days to get results from the state lab. Salt Lake County can now get answers within seconds.
Alarms over unidentified powders like this one in April can shut down a business for 48 hours while haz-mat technicians try to determine the threat.
But, this new chemical identifier has changed that for Salt Lake County -- the first department in the state to use this technology.
Cpt. Scott Shaw/Salt Lake County Haz-mat: “NOW WE CAN IDENTIFY ON SCENE WHERE A LOT OF THE STUFF WE HAD TO SEND TO A LAB."
It takes five to 10 minutes to set-up and less than a minute to identify more than four thousand substances -- including anthrax.
Clint Mecham/Salt Lake County Haz-mat Technician: “WE ARE MORE COMFORTABLE IN THE ACCURACY OF THE RESULTS, WE CAN GET THEM FASTER. THAT IN TURN, GIVES US MORE CONFIDENCE IN OUR ABILITY TO PROTECT THE PUBLIC AND PROTECT THE MEMBERS OF OUR HAZ-MAT TEAM."
A gun shoots infrared energy at the substance on a diamond lens. It gives off a spectra wave that can be compared with substances in the library.
Jed Boal/Eyewitness News: “THIS IS THE OLD KIT...AND IT USED A PROCESS OF ELIMINATION TO FIGURE OUT WHAT THE COMPOUND WAS NOT, BY LOOKING AT A FLOW CHART. WITH THE NEW SYSTEM, THEY IDENTIFY EXACTLY WHAT THE COMPOUND IS."
Cpt. Scott Shaw/Salt Lake County Haz-mat: “NOW WE CAN IDENTIFY A LOT OF THE WHITE POWDERS AND THINGS LIKE THAT ON SCENE AND BE ABLE TO CLEAR THAT SCENE WITH OUT QUARANTINING OR ISOLATING."
… or shutting down a business, post office or even airport.
Once the technician identifies the liquid, solid or power, crews can contain it if necessary, or write it off as non-hazardous.
The spectrometer also categorizes drugs and explosives.
Even with a database of thousands, it won't catch everything, but, it has greatly enhanced their ability to do their jobs.
Salt Lake County will offer assistance to other agencies in the area and the state, as they need it.
