Oxford Hills is losing its decontamination strike team because not enough local fire and rescue workers are willing to keep up with the specialized training necessary to keep state certification. 

Losing the team means the Norway and Paris fire departments will be required to return specialized equipment and vehicles to the Maine Emergency Management Agency. The equipment is expected to be distributed to certified teams across the state.

In 2002, fire chiefs in Oxford, Norway and Paris joined to sponsor a strike team, DST 4, to respond to respond to weapons of mass destruction incidents and other hazardous-material emergencies in Oxford and Androscoggin counties. The team was staffed by department members who undertook additional training.

In the past few years, however, it has been increasingly more difficult for the team to keep up with the training and staffing required for state certification.

“DST 4 has struggled for many years to maintain membership and participation on the team,” team administrator Teresa Glick recently wrote to MEMA. “Many of our members work on multiple fire and EMS departments in addition to their full-time jobs and are often unable to attend additional training because of their schedules.”

According to a 2008 agreement between DST 4 and MEMA, the team has to maintain a minimum membership of 20 members. At a recent training scenario, only five team members showed up, said Norway Fire Chief Dennis Yates, DST 4 team leader.

Volunteer fire and emergency departments have struggled to keep enough people on staff to respond to structure fires and vehicle crashes, not to mention emergencies such as serious chemical spills, Paris fire Chief Brad Frost said.

Most firefighters and volunteer emergency medical technicians work at one or two other jobs in addition to the time they spend responding to emergencies or training, Frost said.

He said Oxford Fire and Rescue saw the writing on the wall and pulled out of DST 4 last year, contributing to the final decision to give up the team altogether.

Losing the team gives him even more cause to worry about how he will keep his department staffed and trained in the future, Frost said.

Giving up its certification means returning the vehicles and equipment loaned to the team as part of its agreement with MEMA, including two pickup trucks haz-mat suits, a decontamination tent, breathing apparatuses, portable radios and a trailer to transport the gear. Although owned by the state, the equipment was maintained by the team, and the partner departments were permitted to use it for their own purposes.

The trucks in particular were frequently used to ferry personnel and equipment to emergency scenes, Yates said. As chief, he uses the team’s pickup as a primary emergency response vehicle and may request a new purchase to replace it.

Frost said losing the pickup would put the Paris Fire Department at a big disadvantage, but the department would adapt. The team is expected to return its equipment to the state by Feb. 13.

On Tuesday, Glick noted that emergency departments across Oxford County have hundreds of members who are trained to respond to emergencies involving hazardous materials, but they cannot put in the time to train as part of the team.

Another decontamination team is stationed in the Rumford area to respond to a possible emergency at the NewPage paper mill, Glick said.

Yates said DST 4 has only ever used its equipment for training purposes.

“But you never know,” he cautioned. “We could give it back and a month later we could be facing a serious emergency.”

[email protected]