CHEMTREC®, in partnership with the National Volunteer Fire Council (NVFC), has awarded two volunteer fire departments with $10,000 each to enhance their hazmat incident preparedness and response capabilities.

The recipients of the 2020 CHEMTREC® Hazmat Emergencies Local Preparedness (HELP) Award are the New Johnsonville (TN) Fire Department and the Water Witch Hose Company #2 (New Milford, CT).

The New Johnsonville Fire Department will be utilizing the CHEMTREC® HELP Award to set up an operations level response trailer, which will include resources such as personal protective equipment that will keep their firefighters safe while mitigating hazmat incidents and protecting their community.

Water Witch Hose Company #2 will use the CHEMTREC® HELP Award to update their personal protective equipment and the hazmat supplies on their response trailer. This award will not only benefit the department but fulfill their mission of protecting lives and property throughout the region and state.

CHEMTREC® is the world’s leading source of 24/7 call center support and information during hazardous materials incidents. To further assist fire and emergency service departments responding to hazmat emergencies,

The partnership with the NVFC started in 2019 and launched the HELP Awards. Each year, two eligible volunteer fire departments that are also NVFC members receive the award to enhance their response capabilities and increase local preparedness to respond to and prepare for hazardous materials incidents.

“We are grateful for CHEMTREC’s support of our volunteer fire departments through the HELP Award,” said NVFC chair Steve Hirsch. “This award provides much-needed assistance to help fire departments prepare and train for hazmat emergencies to keep our front-line responders and their communities safe.”

“At CHEMTREC® we recognize that the first responder community is critical to hazmat response and we remain dedicated to working closely and effectively with responders when an incident occurs, as we have proudly supported the industry over the past 50 years.

“We are delighted to offer the HELP awards for a second year and pleased to continue our partnership with the NVFC. These awards represent our appreciation of the volunteer fire service and will continue to be an ongoing reminder of our commitment to emergency responders for many years to come,” said CHEMTREC’s chief executive John Modine.

Learn more about the CHEMTREC HELP Award.