IAFC and U.S. DOT Partner to Create Hazmat Fusion Center

October 30, 2007 -- The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) announced today that it has signed a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHSMA) to lead the development of a new data center that will collect and analyze hazardous-materials incident data in order to enhance first-responder tactics, operations, policy and training.

The Hazardous Materials Emergency Response Fusion Center (Hazmat Fusion Center) will build a secure, web-based network to facilitate information sharing for first responders training for and responding to hazardous materials incidents. This knowledge-base will help ensure that hazmat incidents are handled safely and securely. It will be the first such hazmat data center for the first-responder community, but both the effort to create it and the results it will produce will encompass a broader range of stakeholders. It will provide crucial knowledge for all decision makers on the transportation and delivery of hazardous materials.

Under the agreement, IAFC will spearhead the project, providing program management, technical advisors and subject matter expertise, and will establish initial data-collection efforts. The cooperative agreement is for a one-year period, with options to renew for four additional one-year terms. Year One of the program will focus on establishing the data center’ technical and human elements from the ground-up.