The Metro West Fire Protection District is a full-service fire service.  By that, it’s meant that we will respond to any emergency.  Our main responses are for fires and for emergency medical alarms.  However, we also respond to Hazardous Materials alarms. 

 Each day, trucks, trains and automobiles carry hazardous cargo throughout the St. Louis area, including within the Metro West boundaries.  Take a look at the delivery trucks that drive through the area and some of them will have a placard on them with icons and numbers that indicate that they have a controlled or hazardous substance in them.  If this cargo were to escape the confines on its container, we have a hazardous material spill.  When that happens, special response from specially trained personnel may be needed.

Within the Metro West Fire Protection District are personnel who are trained specifically for this type of situation.  In addition to the daily training on fire suppression and EMS, they also train on handling hazardous substances.  Learning how to recognize Hazardous Materials, what to use to decontaminate someone or some thing, and how to contain a spill are just parts of the training that is necessary to keep safe when responding to a spill.

 Even with this training and dedication to such a dangerous task, it costs a tremendous amount of money to respond and contain a hazardous substance.  With this in mind, the District has joined a consortium of fire districts and departments in the St. Louis area.  Along with personnel from Fire Departments and Districts throughout the County, we belong to the St. Louis County Hazardous Materials Emergency Response Team (HMERT).  Through grants and corporate donations, the Team has acquired quite a few vehicles to make our equipment mobile.  This also saves you, the taxpayer the cost of funding such a valuable tool.

Home Hazards Materials Reclamation

 We are asked, on occasion, how to dispose of household items that may be hazardous.  Rather than throwing them down the drain, which can be illegal and also very dangerous, there is a safe and effective way to dispose of such unwanted substances.  The St. Louis County Health Department sponsors a Home Hazardous Materials Disposal event each spring and fall the last several years.  If you have a chemical that you want to get rid of, or you have other items you simply don’t know what to do with, please call the  Saint Louis County Health Department Waste Management Hotline at (314) 286-9200, or Click Here for their website.