By Christie Mochinaga, Health Hazardous Materials Specialist III
The Los Angeles County Fire Department’s Health Hazardous Materials Division (HHMD) recently graduated two Hazardous Materials Specialist classes which will help fill 39 of 40 vacancies within the division’s six inspection offices throughout the County.
Each class completed a ten-week training academy. The academy consisted of classroom instruction and hands-on field experience, primarily conducted in-house with current HHMD staff.
The curriculum’s mandatory training, per the California Environmental Protection Agency’s (CalEPA) guidelines, included, but was not limited to, hazardous materials and waste regulatory requirements; chemistry; hazardous waste identification; 40-hour Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER) training; the California Environmental Reporting System (CERS); Aboveground Petroleum Storage (APSA); the California Accidental Release Prevention Program (CalARP); investigation and sampling techniques; inspection techniques; and, report writing.
Interim Fire Chief Anthony C. Marrone, Chief Deputy Dawnna B. Lawrence, and Deputy Fire Chief Nick Duvally joined the family and friends of the most recent graduating class to commemorate the accomplishment.
Please welcome and congratulate the following team members:
Class “Triple Bond”
• Vivian Aceves
• David Kornoff
• Benson Low
• Celine Norman
• Matthew Stueber
• Justin Tao
Class “Iota”
• Denise Chen
• Shogakat “Kate” Chilingarian
• Michael Chung
• Melisa Custer
• Miguel Echauri
• Kelly Fullner
• Jiayang Hu
• Brittany Remo
• Farnaz Saleh Saber