DETECTION THE ESCONDIDO CASE
In November 2010, the FirstDefender RMX was put to the test by fi rst responders at premises in Escondido, Calif. A gardener was hospitalized aſt er an explosion occurred while he was maintaining a rental property. Police arrived to examine the scene. The tenant had leſt behind hundreds of unknown chemicals in mason jars, drinks bottles, lab beakers and jugs, and white powder was found on surfaces throughout the home. The incident was quickly escalated and the San Diego County Bomb Arson unit and Hazmat team called in, armed with a FirstDefender RMX analyser among their many other response tools.
HMTD To secure the premises, the Hazmat team had to identify the materials that this garage chemist had produced. Using the FirstDefender
As with any technology, Raman also has its limitations: Raman spectroscopy is inappropriate to analyse dark-coloured substances because they can absorb energy and present a detonation risk. Additionally, some materials generate excess light or ‘fl uorescence’ during analysis, which can inhibit identifi cation. These limitations are addressed by using complementary technology such as
RMX to examine mason jars of white powder found on the property, they identifi ed the contents as HMTD (hexamethylene triperoxide diamine) – a highly unstable peroxide-based explosive highly sensitive to shock and friction. Robots were then used to remove the HMTD containers and move them to a safe detonation area.
Ricin Once this explosive risk was neutralized, responders continued checking for biological and chemical hazards. The discovery that the tenant had previously purchased quantities of castor beans, a precursor for the lethal biotoxin ricin, made the investigation more urgent. Hazmat teams used Raman spectroscopy to identify all the unknown substances they could, and were in regular contact with Thermo Fisher’s chemists when they wanted to confi rm their data.
FTIR spectroscopy, which create neither heat nor fl uorescence when analysing materials. However, the TruDefender™ instruments must physically touch the material being analysed, requiring the user to interact with unknown substances that could be hazardous or toxic. When used together, FTIR and Raman technolo- gies can be combined to assist fi rst responders and EOD squads in the
Interior of the Escondido home: the living room.
Destruction Aſt er identifying and examining as many of the unknown materials as possible, it was decided that destroying the house and its contents in a controlled burn was the safest way to end the crisis. Dozens of agencies were consulted to confi rm that thermal destruction was the best way to neutralize all threats and the house was burned on 9 December 2010. In securing the Escondido property,
the handheld Raman analyser was critical to ensure that fi rst responders minimized risk to themselves and the surrounding community. Raman spectroscopy provided actionable intelligence that emergency teams used to address this complex incident and the many chemical and explosive threats it presented. When dangerous situations like these occur, it is essential that fi rst responders have the right tools to keep the public safe.
identifi cation of chemical warfare agents, toxic industrial chemicals, explosives and precursors – all major security threats. ❚❙
Nick Vent is Supervisor, San Diego County Hazardous Incident Response Team, Calif. John Johnson is Director, DHS/Law Enforcement Programs at Thermo Scientifi c Portable Analytical Instruments.
Thermo Scientifi c instruments are deployed by military chemical battalions worldwide.
CBNW 2013/01 59
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