Hazmat teams from Harford County, Aberdeen Proving Ground, the FBI and the National Guard converged on Churchville Thursday morning for a full-gear training exercise ? and 18 holes of miniature golf.
The training exercise teaches hazardous material responders dexterity and teamwork. It was held at the Churchville Golf and Driving Range and hosted by the Harford County Hazmat Response Team.
“We were looking for an innovative way to conduct suit training,” said Larry Mabe, chief of the county hazmat team.
Mabe said though some have criticized the training as “playing,” the dexterity needed to play a round of mini-golf comes in handy during real life.
“It?s very difficult to work in the suit. You have to compensate for a lack of vision, and you have to be able to regulate your breathing,” said Mary Moses, manager of special operations for Harford County Emergency Operations and a member of the hazmat team.
Total strangers were paired into teams of two for the training. A team of hazmat responders from the National Guard and APG won the training/competition with a combined score of 97.
“The whole thing is to get to know the people you would be working with in the field, and so many agencies don?t do that until the big one hits,” Mabe said. “I want to know who I am working with.”
Special Agent John Huyler of the FBI Baltimore Field Office agreed. Huyler said the exercise also gives Hazmat responders the chance to experience a “dulling of the senses” in an area where space is limited. It is hard to hear ? and, therefore, communicate ? through the Hazmat suit?s headgear. It also gets so warm inside the suit that the Hazmat face mask steams up and gets hard to see through.
“We first did this in 2001, [after Sept. 11] and we actually lost business because of it,” said Churchville Golf owner Ken Rizer.
Laughing, Rizer recalled how people thought the miniature golf course was the site of an anthrax attack.
Rizer donated use of the mini-golf for the exercise, and the only expense to the government entities involved was that of responder salaries, according to hazmat team member Rich Gardiner.
