DTSC Advanced Chemical Support for Emergency Response and Homeland Security

In the event of a natural disaster, industrial accident, terrorist incident or other release of dangerous chemicals, DTSC’s Environmental Chemistry Laboratory (ECL) is a key part of the state’s advanced chemical response capabilities. ECL’s capabilities include two fixed analytical laboratories, and a mobile laboratory with advanced on-board and field instrumentation.

ECL’s capabilities are integrated with DTSC’s Emergency Response Program which responds statewide to calls for assistance with Hazardous Materials (HazMat) emergencies.

The laboratories also support biomonitoring, toxics in products and other Cal/EPA initiatives.

ECL has fixed laboratories in both Northern and Southern California that may be called upon in an emergency.  The laboratories routinely provide technical support in analytical and environmental chemistry to DTSC’s permitting, compliance and site clean-up activities.  The laboratories have advanced instrumentation to perform analyses of complex environmental samples. Some of the key instrumentation includes the following:

• Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometer (GC/MS) 
• High Resolution GC/MS
• GC/MS/MS 
• Gas Chromatographs with Electron Capture Detector (ECD), Flame Ionization Detector (FID), Flame Photometric Detector (FPD) and/or Hall Detectors
• Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy /Mass Spectrometer (ICP/MS) 
• Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectroscopy (ICP) 
• Mercury Analyzers 
• Atomic Adsorption Spectrometer

In the event of a HazMat emergency, the laboratory may provide analytical and environmental chemistry support to identify what chemicals have been released, the extent of contamination and how their chemical and physical properties may affect their environmental fate and transport. 

These fixed laboratory capabilities are integrated with our advanced emergency response mobile laboratory.

On-site data are crucial for incident commanders in taking appropriate emergency response actions concerning evacuation, providing shelter, treating victims and cleaning and re-occupying impacted areas.  With funding from the Governor’s Office of Homeland Security, the DTSC Environmental Chemistry Laboratory (ECL) obtained an emergency response vehicle, a mobile laboratory, and several field-portable analytical instruments to provide support in emergency response efforts.

DTSC’s mobile laboratory incorporates several safety features for the chemists’ protection, such as: a high efficiency particulate air filtration system (HEPA), and a fume hood. An on-board  satellite communication system enables analytical data generated from the site of the incident to be transmitted to DTSC’s Environmental Chemistry Laboratory in Berkeley, California, or other state and federal laboratories for data sharing and decision making.  

To prepare for emergency response, DTSC’s Environmental Chemistry Laboratory has incorporated a series of activities into its routine operations.  These include:

• Development of standard operating procedures for the deployment of the mobile laboratory for emergency sample analysis.
• Participation in statewide training and exercises for emergency response.
• Providing support to DTSC field projects to maintain operators’ skills and to familiarize them with the field coordination of DTSC project teams.
• Participation in statewide field testing and exercises to validate analytical approaches for emergency sample analysis within a limited timeframe. Interaction with “first responders” from DTSC, USEPA Region IX, local National Guard Civilian Support Teams, local HazMat Teams, and local emergency response units to identify analytical skills needed in an emergency.
• Participation in the California Interagency Laboratory Workgroup, organized by the California Department of Health Services, to integrate the role of DTSC Environmental Chemistry Laboratory’s analytical activities with other local, state and federal laboratories for emergency response.
• Arranging for visits of the mobile laboratory to DTSC headquarters and regional offices to provide an opportunity to interact with DTSC field staff.
• Introducing the state-of-the-art analytical capabilities to the public by participating in exhibits and fairs
• Enhancing environmental education, the mobile laboratory has been visited by groups of San Francisco Bay Area high school students.

• April 2006                Participation at emergency response exercise organized by the California Specialized Training Institute in San Luis Obispo, California. Using the DTSC Mobile Lab and a series of field portable instruments on-site, DTSC staff successfully identified all seven unknown samples used in a simulated emergency training exercise.
• May-July 2006         Portable equipment (XRF) from the Mobile Lab was used to conduct a survey of micro-environments for the presence of brominated flame retardants.  Home and office furnishings, as well as automobiles, were screened for Bromine as an indicator of polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDEs).
• September 2006       Participation at the Annual Continuing Challenge HazMat Conference in Sacramento
• January 2007            Central Valley Fertilizer. The Mobile Lab crew spent four days at this site assisting DTSC Site Mitigation staff screen soil samples for Toxaphene (chlorinated pesticide). Near-real-time results from the Mobile Lab GC/MS instruments were used to guide further sampling.
• February 2007          The Mobile Lab and its crew visited UC Riverside and gave demonstrations to graduate students and faculty.  The Mobile Lab participated at the CUPA meeting in Cypress, CA. A presentation of its capabilities was followed by hands-on demonstrations.
• March 2007              The Mobile Lab and its crew participated at the California Hazardous Materials Investigators Association (CHMIA) meeting at Shell Beach, CA. A presentation of its capabilities was followed by hands-on demonstrations.  Portable equipment (FT-IR, Raman) were used to screen and identify various types of plastics in support of DTSC’s initiative on Toxics in Plastics.

One of the important factors for environmental analyses during emergency response situations is the ability to analyze large numbers of environmental samples in a short time frame for the protection of public health and safety and the environment.  For this purpose, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency formed the Homeland Security Laboratory Capacity Workgroup.  This workgroup has compiled a list of standardized analytical methods to be used for analyzing homeland security incident samples. 

In addition, comprehensive research in method development in responding to nuclear, chemical and biological agents has been carried out at the Forensic Science Center of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, Georgia.

DTSC Environmental Chemistry Laboratory

DTSC Human and Ecological Risk Division

California Office of Emergency Services

California Office of Homeland Security

Department of Homeland Security