QUEENSLAND FIRE AND RESCUE SERVICE
SCIENTIFIC BRANCH
What is the Scientific Branch?
The QFRS Scientific Branch was established in 2004, with origins back to 1992. Its objective is to maximise the safety and effectiveness of chemical emergency management throughout Queensland for the protection of people, property and the environment. The Branch has three core products:
Specialist operational support, for the QFRS and other emergency services, such as the Queensland Police Service (QPS), when responding to hazardous materials/Chemical Biological Radiological (hazmat/CBR) emergencies in Queensland;
Development and delivery of specialist education and training, across the QFRS and other specialist agencies, to improve the approaches adopted within Queensland to safely manage hazmat and CBR incidents;
Technical advice, across the operational and policy spectrum, at a state and commonwealth level, to improve incident management doctrine, regulations and codes regarding the manufacture, use, storage, handling and transport of hazardous materials.
The Branch has eight permanent staff including: Director – chief superintendent;
Scientific Officers – six Inspectors; and Administration officer.
Scientific Branch staff have educational qualifications, ranging from Bachelor degrees in chemistry to Doctorates in chemistry and physics. Some have also completed specialist hazmat training such as NFPA 472 Hazmat Technician and Specialist courses and Principles of Risk Assessment and Management courses.
History of the Scientific Branch
The Branch, as it exists today, was established in 2004. Previously, the Branch had been known as the Response Advice for Chemical Emergencies (RACE) Service, which was a component of the Chemical Hazards and Emergency Management (CHEM) Unit, in the former Counter Disaster and Rescue Service.
The RACE Service began in March 1992 and consisted of a core group of staff, located in South East Queensland, and a volunteer network of scientists and chemical engineers spread across regional Queensland. This model has stood the test of time. In its first year, RACE provided support at 52 incidents. Today, the Scientific Branch has more than 40
Volunteer Scientific Advisors and provides support at approximately 350 incidents across Queensland and interstate every year.
The Branch has also supported the delivery of international events such as the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM), held at Coolum in 2002, and more recently the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum, where Scientific Officers spent a month in Cairns in 2007.
In 2003 support was provided at the largest known anhydrous ammonia release in Australia, where 25 tonnes was released at an abattoir about 150 km west of Brisbane. Through the cooperation of the QFRS and the company, approximately 20 tonnes was recovered. The operation to make the site safe took almost five days.
In 2004, the Scientific Branch was established when RACE transferred to the QFRS and staff were appointed as official Authorised Fire Officers within the QFRS.
In 2005, the QFRS agreed for the Branch to provide support to the Australian Capital Territory Fire Brigade. The Branch shifted to a new purpose built facility at Cannon Hill in Brisbane.
In 2006, the Branch provided support at the Kota Pahlawan maritime incident, involving sodium ethyl xanthate. Scientific Officers spent approximately 10 days on board the vessel whilst it travelled around Australia to its destination in Perth.
In 2007, the first Scientific Advisors reached 15 year service in the Scientific Branch Volunteer network.
In 2008, QFRS signed a Memorandum of Association for the Branch to provide support to the Northern Territory Fire and Rescue Service.
Why is the Scientific Branch needed?
Hazmat incidents often pose significant difficulties to emergency responders. They frequently require a multi agency response and technical expertise to manage their safe resolution.
When hazmat emergencies occur anywhere across Queensland, the QFRS needs accurate scientific information about the identity of the hazardous materials involved and the hazards they and the situation present, now and into the future, to both emergency responders and the community.
Information must be retrieved about: The hazardous materials; Their containers;
The environment; and The situation.
Large industrial fires also pose significant hazmat difficulties to emergency responders and the community. They frequently require a multi agency response to manage their safe resolution.
When large industrial fires occur, the QFRS needs accurate scientific information about the identity of any hazardous materials involved, smoke plume and fire water run-off off-site impacts and atmospheric monitoring for both the responders and the adjacent communities. These fires provide unique hazards during the fire suppression and subsequent damp-down/clean-up activities to both emergency responders and the community.
The Scientific Branch, through its personnel’s technical and operational experience, is able to provide the practical support and advice needed by emergency responders for the effective management of unidentified hazardous materials, contamination incidents, leaks, spills, fires and toxic emissions. The Branch provides assistance at all stages of a hazmat incident, from response to the recovery phase.
The Branch delivers an extensive educational program across the QFRS. Every year, it reaches more than 400 fire fighters across the state. Other programs include the Chemical Detection Instructors Course and the Advanced Hazmat Course. Additionally, the Branch maintains an intensive targeted internal skills maintenance training program, that reaches all staff and volunteers.
What emergencies do the Scientific Branch respond to and what does it do?
The Scientific Branch responds to any hazmat emergency when activated by either the QFRS or the QPS communication centres.
Typical emergencies include:
large industrial fire, e.g. mattress factory
fires in chemical warehouses, e.g. pesticides store;
traffic crashes involving Dangerous Goods (e.g. anhydrous ammonia);
chemical spills (e.g. nitric acid, styrene, caustic soda); monitoring leaking containers on ships prior to docking and
after docking;
ammonia leaks in refrigeration plants; and
identification of suspicious substances and the contents of abandoned containers.
Permanent Scientific Officers are on-call around-the-clock, seven days a week, to attend the scene of an emergency or to provide advice over the phone.
The Branch provides information, advice and the operational capability to:
perform on-site analysis of solid, liquid and gaseous materials;
identity of hazardous materials and the hazards they present, now and into the future;
identity possible chemical reactions;
hazardous material properties, such as reactivity, toxicity and flammability; and
public safety and environmental protection strategies.
To provide this, the Branch has an extensive array of capabilities.
The Scientific Branch Capabilities
The Scientific Branch has a wide range of analytical and technical capabilities 24 hours a day. The Branch has access to information on materials and processes via:
• electronic databases and texts; and
• a research library of reference materials and incidents. The Branch can perform computer models of a
variety of CBR and hazmat releases, ranging from BLEVES and explosions to toxic gases. These models provide a tool by which the QFRS may predict the future situation at an incident and informs crucial decisions impacting the safety of emergency responders and the broader community.
The Branch has an extensive array of detection and sampling equipment positioned and integrated into the broader QFRS detection and sampling caches, strategically positioned across Queensland. A snapshot of the Scientific Branch cache includes:
• A gas detection suite, including:
− AreaRae system – wireless linked remote gas/vapour monitoring system;
− PID and four gas detectors, together with standard QFRS instruments, that can be connected to the AreaRae network and relay information from up to 5 km away;
− Electrochemical detectors for various gases, including ammonia, chlorine, formaldehyde, hydrogen cyanide, sulfur dioxide, and phosphine;
− Chemical Warfare Agent Detectors
− Colourimetric detection for many different airborne contaminants;
− Specialist detectors including refrigerant, mercury vapour analysers and flame ionisation detectors;
• Radiation detection and identification instruments including radiation survey portals; • Air sampling systems for asbestos, pesticides, and volatile organic compounds; • Field deployable analytical equipment, including:
Fourier transform infrared spectrometers; Raman spectrometers with libraries; HAZCAT analytical test kits;
Sampling systems for solids and liquids.
The Branch performs numerous other activities to support the activities of the QFRS in protecting the community. It has applied scientific knowledge to extend the capabilities of its resources into areas not previously considered within the emergency management community, such as applying the AP2C to measure airborne organophosphate pesticides in real-time.
The Branch has been involved in a number fo Marine Hazardous Material incidents, including monitoring atmospheres at sea, boarding ships with QFRS officers to make safe prior to the docking.
The Scientific Branch in Brisbane and South-East Queensland
The Brisbane-based service is provided in collaboration with Queensland Health Forensic and Scientific Services (QHFSS). QHFSS staff are tertiary educated chemists and the arrangement provides 24 hour access to the excellent laboratory facilities of QHFSS to identify materials, so that incidents can be safely resolved.
Two Scientific Officers operate specially equipped Emergency Response Vehicles and are on-call 24 hours a day, seven days a week, to support the QFRS and other emergency services, such as QPS. These incorporate the capabilities outlined above and function, effectively, as mobile laboratories.
This provides the Branch with the capability to service multiple simultaneous emergency incidents and long duration deployments.
Scientific Officers also support the Scientific Branch Volunteer network and can be deployed anywhere in the state to support major or long duration incidents.
Scientific Branch Volunteer (Scientific Advisor) network
A stand out success of the approach adopted within Queensland to support the management of hazmat incidents is the Scientific Branch Volunteer network.
The Scientific Branch draws on the services of local, suitably qualified professionals. They are typically chemists or chemical engineers and provide a prompt, at-the-scene response to emergency incidents involving chemical hazards.
These specialists come from private industry, local authorities and tertiary institutions across Queensland. The value of the commitment shown by these volunteers and their employers, who allow participation without disadvantage, to the success of the network cannot be over-estimated.
The volunteer network was established in 1992 and currently boasts approximately 40 Volunteer Scientific Advisors. The network is supported 24 hours a day by the Scientific Branch, based in Brisbane.
Every region within the QFRS has access to Scientific Advisors, with the major station in each area forming their nominal base station. The Scientific Branch works closely with all regions to ensure that the Scientific Advisors get all the support they need to attend training and respond to incidents.
Education and Training
The Branch provides a one-week induction course for new volunteer candidates to the network. The course focuses on preparing the regional officers to act as an interface between sources of specialised chemical advice and the emergency services response crews.
In broad terms, the course covers:
the roles, structures, resources and means of communication and response procedures of emergency service organisations;
the hazardous properties of chemicals;
hazardous materials and Dangerous Goods legislation; the management of hazardous materials emergencies; chemical information resources;
incident assessment and risk control measures; and QFRS operational Doctrine.
Volunteer Scientific Advisors are provided with equipment such as a uniform, identity badge and technical resources to assist them and are introduced to Senior Officers of the local emergency services in their home town.
Each year, a compulsory skills maintenance training program is offered on four occasions, either at regional centres or in Brisbane, and at different times of the year, to cater for the availability of the regional officers. This ongoing program assures the competence of volunteers and introduces new areas of hazmat incident management.
Travel and accommodation costs for volunteer training courses are met by the Scientific Branch.
If you would like further information on the volunteer network or you are interested in joining the volunteer network, contact the Scientific Branch on (07) 3909 4310, or email raymond.bott@dcs.qld.gov.au.
