NFPA Awards 2012 Isman Grant to Salina FD HazMat Response Team

SALINAS, KS -- The National Fire Protection Association’s Fire Safety Educational Memorial Fund Committee has selected the Salina Fire Department HazMat Response Team (HMRT) from Salina, Kan., as the recipient of the 2012 Warren E. Isman Educational Grant.

“The Salina Fire Department Hazmat Response Team is a proven leader in community involvement, education, emergency communications, and implementing cutting edge technologies,” said Ken Isman, chair of the Warren E. Isman Task Force, a subcommittee of the Fire Safety Educational Memorial Fund Committee and son of the late Chief Warren Isman. “We are pleased to provide this award to members of Salina’s HazMat team and support continued training as it applies to this particular field.”

Award recipients select a conference where they can attend specialized hazardous materials training and education sessions. The selected team has the opportunity to gain knowledge and enhance their ability to excel in this specialized field.

The funds from the 2012 Isman Grant will make it possible for the Salina Fire Department HMRT to attend the International Association of Fire Chiefs’ (IAFC) International Hazardous Materials Response Teams Conference in Baltimore, Md., May 2012.

The Salina Fire Department HMRT is a dual fire and EMS service providing fire suppression, EMS, Hazmat as well as technical rescue response for the city of Salina. The department’s HazMat Team is also under contract with the state of Kansas serving as a State Regional Hazardous Materials Response Team. They respond to an average of 130 hazmat-related incidents a year ranging from small fuel spills to highway tanker roll-overs.

The $5000 grant is available to any established incident response team from a fire department, police department or other public-funded program. Qualified applicants are evaluated on leadership qualities, communication abilities, and must have been trained in accordance with NFPA 472, Standard for Competence of Responders to Hazardous Materials/Weapons of Mass Destruction Incidents, and NFPA 473, Standard for Competencies for EMS Personnel Responding to Hazardous Materials/Weapons of Mass Destruction Incidents. The deadline for 2012 applications (PDF, 38 KB) is September 15, 2012.

Established by the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) following Warren Isman’s death in 1991, the grant is named in honor of a man who was known to value training and education. He was the former fire chief in Fairfax County, Virginia, a senior instructor for the University of Maryland Fire Service Extension Program, and author of three fire-related textbooks.

Isman served on the IAFC board of directors and was chair of both NFPA’s Technical Committee on Hazardous Materials Response Personnel and IAFC’s Committee on Hazardous Materials. NFPA’s Fire Safety Educational Memorial Fund was established in 1992. Upon request of IAFC, NFPA assumed administrative responsibilities of the Isman Grant in 1993.