In September of 2021, Hazardous Materials Company 1 received an alarm for an “Unknown Chemical” located in Bronx, NY. The members of HM1 climbed onto the rig and started out. Many times the initial ticket for a response contains inaccurate or incomplete information. It is up to the Resource Firefighter to gather more information, confirm the accuracy of the information received and offer suggestions or actions to take while we are en route to the incident.
The Resource FF immediately contacted the Battalion Chief on scene to obtain more information. He was told that someone threw acid onto a female. It was on her skin, clothing and in her eyes. She was complaining of burning skin and loss of vision. The Resource FF advised the chief to remove her clothing and flush her skin with copious amounts of water. He also requested that a Haz Tac ambulance be dispatched to the scene.
Moments later, HM1 arrived. The HM1 officer along with the 2 Decon Firefighters assisted the first due engine and EMS with the proper decon of the patient. The 2 Entry Firefighters were tasked with confirming that the substance was an acid and trying to identify the chemical. It’s not always a priority to identify the actual substance in question. Sometimes identifying the type of hazard (LEL, VOC, etc) and mitigating that hazard is sufficient. In this case, we had a symptomatic patient who was the victim of a crime. The type of chemical used in the attack could help drive proper treatment decisions (e.g. Hydrofluric Acid requiring Calcium Gluconate) and also aid law enforcement later on in a potential conviction of a crime.
Initially, the entry team decided to utilize colormetrics. They used PH strips and HF paper on the clothing that had been removed from the patient. The PH strip indicated a presence of a strong acid but the HF paper did not indicate the presence of Hydrofluoric Acid. The entry team followed an eyewitness back to the scene of the crime, which was located a few blocks away. They searched for a bottle or container that may contain a product or trade name. Instead they were able to locate a shallow puddle of liquid on the ground in the same location as the attack.
Once again, the liquid was checked utilizing PH strips and HF Paper. It was determined to be a strong acid and did not show any presence of HF. Using a pipette and glass vile, they collected a sufficient amount of product to attempt to identify the substance back at the rig. The entry team radioed the Back Up Team Firefighters to prepare for sample identification.
The Back Up Team started up both FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared) and Raman Spectroscopy instruments and they were ready to receive the sample upon arrival of the entry team. They ran the sample on 4 different instruments. The result was Sulfuric Acid. The field confirmatory identification was passed along to EMS for the treating physician and to NYPD at the scene of the incident.