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As a result, 74 inspectors are now certified to use the devices when entering buildings in emergencies.
“This training and the subsequent deployment of these devices will provide another avenue for us to be proactive and vigilant in our efforts to combat terrorism,” Bergen County Public Safety Director Brian Higgins said.
“Whenever a fire inspector enters a building, he/she will be monitoring the environment for radiation,” he said.
Federal Homeland Security grants paid for the training by National Securities Technologies.
It’s all part of a Counter Terrorism Operations Support Group, including several counties in New Jersey and New York, that has been mobilizing in advance of next year’s Super Bowl at MetLife Stadium.
Several related initiatiaves are under way.
Last month, a 5-day “mass casualty training exercise” — believed to be the first of its complexity and size in the U.S. — was held at the Law and Public Safety Institute.
The Bergen County representatives in the Counter Terrorism Operations Support Group include Larry Rauch, chief of Bergen County Fire Services (and the county fire coordinator), Hackensack Fire Chief Thomas Freeman, and Senior Environmental Health Specialist Thomas Bischoff of the Bergen County Hazardous Materials Unit.
There will be another training day with the PRDs to allow the remaining Bergen municipalities to participate, Higgins said.
PHOTO: Courtesy FBI
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