Photo By Staff Sgt. Rachel White | Members of the Kosovo Security Force Hazardous Materials Company discover clues that...... read more read more
DES MOINES, Iowa — “All I could think of was how to find the hazard.”
Sgt. Leutrim Shala is a member of the Kosovo Security Force Hazardous Materials Company. He and 24 other KSF members trained with the 71st Civil Support Team in Iowa in September 2023.
The Iowa and Kosovo state partnership allows military, security and public safety agencies to work together in training scenarios. The program is one of 100 connections made by states and nations across the globe.
Shala led a group of three KSF members through Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines, Iowa, to find the planted HAZMAT scenarios put together by the 71st CST, the Defense Threat Agency, and Scott Wendt, the radiation safety officer at Iowa State University’s Health and Safety Department.
Hidden in a locker room, a homemade explosive device was waiting to be assembled on the wooden table. All that was missing was the suspect.
Clues were laid out within the scene to give the KSF members an idea of the type of hazardous materials that might be found in the locker room. Print outs, batteries and other materials give participants clues that help them gauge how large the device may be, how dangerous it potentially is, and determine where safe areas may be.
The Iowa National Guard has a working relationship with the Iowa Events Center, and their contracted security team, so training at Wells Fargo was an easy choice. The CST provides security at the NCAA tournament every year.
A second threat was a backpack with enough radiological exposure to be detected by the KSF, but not enough to put anyone in the arena in danger. The scenario had live radiological materials to make the experience as realistic as possible, while keeping everyone safe.
Planted in different areas of the arena, the two threats served different needs of a potential antagonist. The explosive device is for immediate physical harm, whereas the exposure device is used for longer-term health effects.
“Instead of blowing it up, sometimes it’s good enough to set a large source somewhere and allow people to be exposed to it,” said 2nd. Lt. James Leaman, the operations officer for the 71st CST, “Radiation sickness would be the symptom following the incident.”
The training exercise was a culminating event for a week’s worth of training. The Des Moines Fire Department aided in training the KSF to work with outside organizations.
The 71st CST works with fire departments, law enforcement, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency and other HAZMAT professionals to identify, assess, advise and assist in potentially threatening situations involving chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear substances. Kosovo relies on their KSF HAZMAT team to not only evaluate situations, but also dispose of the substance.
“The main difference between the Kosovo Security Force HAZMAT Company and us,” said Leaman, “is that they don’t have any HAZMAT support. Whereas in Iowa, we have HAZMAT teams all over the place.”
Kosovo aims to expand their fire departments and other organizations to augment the KSF HAZMAT Company.
“The big thing that we are getting from this, that can be missed by some people, is that we are learning from them as well,” said Leaman. “They respond to more things in their [country] than we ever do in the state.”
| Date Taken: | 09.21.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 10.05.2023 11:08 |
| Story ID: | 455173 |
| Location: | DES MOINES, IOWA, US |
| Web Views: | 207 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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