Pictured below are Firefighter Phil Rogers (in the bomb
technician gear) and Mass State Police Trooper Dan Jones
during last week’s training.
The Chelsea Fire Department frequently works very closely with the Massachusetts State Police Fire and Explosion Investigation Section, and last week several firefighters were able to train with the specialized unit in order to prepare for an emergency.
“We routinely train with the Mass State Police Fire Investigators,” stated Captain Richard Perisie, who is the fire department’s lead fire investigator. “We just recently started training with the Hazardous Device (Bomb Squad) units as well.”
The fire department provides support to the State Police Bomb Technicians any time they operate in the city.
“Our personnel need to be prepared if a device detonates,” stated Deputy Chief John Quatieri, “the troopers are putting themselves in an extremely dangerous environment, you just can’t downplay anything these days.”
The training provided to the fire department this past week focused on supporting the bomb technicians during incidents involving suspicious packages, improvised explosive devices and other types of explosive events.
The training was delivered by Mass State Police Trooper Dan Jones who is the EMS coordinated for the State Police Bomb Squad. Chelsea firefighters were informed of what type of injuries to expect if a device were to activate and how to rapidly get the technicians out of their protective gear if necessary.