FIREFIGHTERS LEARN TO FIGHT DRUG-LAB BLAZES

JACKSON -- Until a few years ago, a firefighting workshop titled "Introduction to Clandestine Drug Labs" was unknown in these parts. But 30 firefighters from around the region attended the workshop Saturday at the 20th annual Southeast Missouri Regional Fire School.

The proliferation of drug labs manufacturing methamphetamines in Missouri's rural areas has made it essential for fire departments to know how to recognize and handle them.

James "Butch" Mann, a fire investigator with the Division of Fire Safety, led the workshop. He introduced the firefighters to the major dangers associated with drug labs and how to avoid those dangers. Once the signs of a drug lab are present, he emphasized that the next step for firefighters is always to withdraw.

A videotape shown to the firefighters, most of whom are associated with volunteer departments in Southeast Missouri and Southern Illinois, pointed out that a mere quart of ether can destroy a mobile home if it explodes.

Most drug labs have much more ether on hand. Ether is one of the primary ingredients in the production of methamphetamines.

The two-day fire school offers workshops in a variety of firefighting techniques for different experience levels. They include an introductory course in firefighting which teaches everything from how to handle oxygen tanks to operation of ladders and hoses.

Also offered are workshops in recognizing arson, use of protective equipment and breathing apparatus, tactics, ventilation techniques and how they affect fire behavior, rural water supplies and pump operations, and vehicle firefighting.

About 170 students were enrolled in the workshops, including some emergency medical technicians. The school provides continuing education units to qualify students for an arson certificate or other certification.

Most of Saturday's learning occurred in classrooms at Jackson High School. Today, many of the workshops were to provide hands-on experience.

One of the students attending was Darren Bell of Fruitland, who has been a volunteer firefighter for 4 1/2 years. He said he joined the Fruitland Volunteer Fire Department "to help the community out."

Bell is a sales representative for Jim Wilson Co.

Marty Schuessler, the Fruitland Volunteer Fire Department chief, is the education director for the hosting Cape County Firefighters Association. The basic goal of the school is to teach firefighters how to be safe, how fires will behave and how to locate victims, he said.

About 30 people attended the introductory class, including five women. The instructors were David Horton, assistant chief of the Kennett Fire Department, and Kennett firefighter Randy Carter, who explained such basics as which end of the oxygen tank goes up when strapped to their backs.

"It's just enough (information) to make you dangerous and thirst to find out more," Schuessler said.

Drug labs present a particularly dangerous situation for firefighters. "It's explosive. It will kill firefighters," the Fruitland chief said. "Many times they don't even know it's there."

Michael Garrett, a firefighter for the East Cape County Fire Department, said his department has come across two or three fires involving drug labs. And they didn't know they were fighting drug-lab fires.

That is the volatile situation Amman instructed them to get out of once they recognize it. Once the drug lab is recognized, the accepted procedure is to terminate the attack on the fire, inform law enforcement authorities and decontaminate the firefighters.

"It's a fire scene, a Haz-Mat scene and a crime scene," Amann said.

A drug-lab fire then would be fought through an aggressive exterior attack or containment.

Gary Moore, a volunteer firefighter at Whitewater, has never run across a drug lab fire but knows the potential is there. "They could be anywhere," he said.

At the beginning of the school Saturday morning, a plaque was dedicated to the late Brian Miller, who was the director of emergency preparedness for Cape Girardeau County until his death last year.

The school is presented by the Fire and Rescue Training Institute of the University of Missouri Extension Division and is hosted by the Cape County Firefighters Association.