History of Hazmat in Pennsylvania

The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has a proud and storied history in the fire service and hazardous materials response beginning with Benjamin Franklin, one of our nation’s first safety innovators founding the Union Fire Company in 1736 and then with his understanding of blood borne pathogens he established the Pennsylvania Hospital in 1751 the first such organized hospital in the US cultivating the notion of protecting lives and property as a mission worthy of pursuit. Then the exploration and development of petroleum in Oil City, PA, when Edwin Drake drilled the famous well in 1859. The innovations of steel making in Pittsburgh starting in 1815 to the world’s largest steel producer in 1875 forged fire and chemistry to spurn the industrial age. The 1979 response to Three Mile Island in Londonderry Township, galvanized requirements for radiological hazmat emergency response, the 2001 9/11 response to Flight 93 in Somerset County, PA and the fire/rescue response of miners trapped underground and successfully rescued in 2002 involved local Pennsylvania fire and hazardous materials team support personnel.

The Origin
In 1990 a group of fire chiefs and officers, seeing the need to address hazardous material concerns met to guide these fledgling fire/hazmat response teams. These responders began organizing formally in 1980 and provided training to the fire service, chemical facilities, railroad and trucking industry institutionalizing hazmat response. Many industry leaders can relay stories of taking their first hazmat courses in Pennsylvania fire stations.

30 Years of Conference Training and Learning
We will be entering our 30th year of the Pennsylvania Association of Hazardous Materials Technicians conference in 2022. The conference enjoys 250 attendees with over 50 vendor and presenters over 4 days targeting hazardous material response teams operating in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and nearby states. The training and learning conference is a hybrid of hands on, classroom, round table discussion, and product vendor networking with the participants where a vendor can introduce a product into a learning discussion forum to actually see how something may serve their response protocols. We have nationally recognized trainers and instructors providing the latest case studies and response nuances that response technicians can be ready to understand at the street level. In years past we have had equipment and apparatus displays, live flaring and explosives demonstrations, high pressure vessel and reactive substance leak control and containment. Decontamination and live water borne spill response evolutions. PA Fire commission sponsored National Pro-Board certificate training. Representatives from NFPA, NIOSH, ASTM, ACGIH, TRANSCAER, CHLORINE INSTITUTE, and other associations and agencies participate regularly.

Protecting the Environment
Additionally, the ingenuity of Pennsylvania responders to protect lives and property was paralleled with the heightened awareness of protecting the environment which was led by another Pennsylvanian, Rachel Carson, who was responsible for creating cause and affect origins for protecting the environment which eventually created the enactment of the U.S. EPA and ultimately the development of the PA Department of Environmental Resources in 1970 and transforming into the Department of Environmental Protection in 1995. This collectively fostered fire/hazmat/health/emergency management working together as one force where together these agencies hold high standards of accountability and certify hazmat team responders in the Commonwealth.

Mission Statement
The Pennsylvania Association of Hazardous Materials Technicians mission: To provide professional representation and a coordinated voice for the communities and residents of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania to promote training and quality service to the HazMat Technicians in order to minimize loss of life, property and the environment.

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