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Regular Meeting City Council <br />May 10, 2004 <br />Page 9 <br />the Paris Fire Department could no longer perform offensive mitigation because <br />of the lack of certification. He said that since that time they have been able to <br />increase their level of certification, but not to the point such that they could <br />begin offensive mitigation. Mr. Grooms explained that offensive mitigation is <br />if they had a HAZ-MAT situation such as a chlorine leak at the Water <br />Treatment Plant, they can respond to that leak and they can set up a perimeter <br />and keep people from going in and control the access. They cannot physically <br />go in and cap that cylinder or do anything that is considered an offensive <br />approach without the proper certification, training and equipment. <br />Mr. Grooms explained that what they have tried to do is address this issue and <br />they have met with Mayor Fendley and various members of the city and <br />members of local industries. He said they have a proposal before the Council <br />that would help them to be able to get where they need to be in order to <br />offensively mitigate these situations. Mr. Grooms explained that they are <br />basically talking about approaching this a step at a time. He said they were not <br />saying that they wanted to begin and open themselves to the whole world of <br />HAZ-MAT, but what they have targeted within the local community is <br />specifically, two separate hazards, one being ammonia, which both Sara Lee <br />and Campbell Soup have, and there are some other smaller companies that use <br />that product, and the chlorine that the city currently uses at the Water <br />Treatment Plant. Mr. Grooms said with these funds, they can purchase the <br />training and the necessary equipment, and put together a HAZ-MAT Team that <br />can respond and mitigate these situations. <br />Mr. Grooms explained that they will start slowly and hopefully they can <br />increase the amount of equipment and training so they can handle even more <br />of the HAZ-MAT chemicals and products that are around this area. Mr. <br />Grooms stated that they wanted to go into this slowly and make sure they get <br />the proper and necessary training for the staff. He said the big point that he <br />wants to make is that they make sure they do what is right for the staff. <br />Mr. Grooms informed the Council that they were talking about 15 to 18 <br />