State funding problems are putting the future of Hazmat 2, a team trained to respond to weapons of mass destruction and/or hazardous material incidents in the nine-county area, in doubt, said Princeton Fire Chief Brent Francis, who chairs the team’s executive board.

“We’re not even up and running yet, and the future’s already in question,” he told the crowd gathered for the daylong training at the Area 2 State Fire/Rescue Training Center.

The team, which serves Caldwell, Christian, Crittenden, Hopkins, Livingston, Lyon, Muhlenberg, Todd and Trigg counties, was initially funded with about $906,000 through homeland security grants.

That money has enabled the team to buy several pieces of equipment, including vehicles and trailers, that are shared among all nine counties, he said.

Next year’s funding will come from a pool of $35 million available to the state, but instead of a systematic distribution, funding will be awarded as competitive grants, leaving open the possibility that some teams could not receive funding, he said.

That funding is a must for the Pennyrile region’s team, he said, particularly in the area of administrative expenses, such as responder training.

The team’s intent is to train about 60 responders to the level of technician, at a cost of between $300 and $400 per person.

That cost may prove to be too much for the team’s small administrative budget, Francis said.

“If the state does not fund any more administrative monies, next year Hazmat 2 may or may not exist,” he said. “It may already be gone. It’s a little disheartening, as much work as has gone into this.”

Work on the team, developed through the Department of Homeland Security in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, began locally almost a year ago, when Caldwell County agreed to be the host county for the team and Francis was named its leader.

The team’s executive committee soon began the process of bidding and acquiring equipment, using other such response teams in the state as a guide.

“We’ve tried not to reinvent the wheel,” he said.

The team will be anchored around three “Level A” counties (Caldwell, Christian and Livingston) that will each house 38-foot gooseneck trailers containing large decontamination tents, specialized protective suits and other gear.

“Probably 99 percent of the workload will fall on the Level A counties will the 38-foot trailers,” he said.

The other six counties will have 24-foot tagalong trailers containing smaller decontamination tents and less specialized gear, he said. Those trailers will be used primarily to deal with emergency scenes until the larger trailers arrive, he added.

All nine counties will have basic decontamination capabilities, allowing for persons contaminated by chemical, biological or radiological agents to be cleaned before they are transported to emergency rooms.

The larger tents feature heated air and water and are capable of decontaminating 120 people an hour, Francis said.

Monitoring and detection devices, communication gear, specialized protective suits and airpacks and other gear add to the team’s arsenal.

Trucks were also purchased to handle those three large trailers.

By participating in the team and receiving equipment, each county’s responders agree to respond to any other scene in the nine-county area as needed, and possibly some locations outside the Pennyrile region.

The equipment, though, does belong to the individual counties, and not the team itself, he said. That fact will prevent confusion over ownership should the team be disbanded.

Francis said the team was currently accepting applications for membership. They are available on the Pennyrile Area Development District Web site (www.peadd.org).

“We’re pretty much accepting the cream of the crop,” he said.

The team’s 60 or so members must be physically fit and able to handle the rigors of hazardous material/weapons of mass destruction response.

Those qualifications will be restrictive. Only seven or eight of the Princeton Fire/Rescue Department’s 35 responders, for instance, will meet the criteria for membership.

Francis said he hoped to begin a training program next month.

• Those on hand for Wednesday’s preparedness update included emergency management personnel, fire officials, hospital personnel, health department staff, EMS administrators and EMTs, coroners, water department officials, mental health personnel, road department staff, veterinary medicine agents and a military representative from Ft. Campbell.

Speakers updated their fellow planners on progress made in various aspects of emergency planning, including grants and trainings, bioterrorism, local emergency operations planning and disaster preparedness.

“The regional updates are part of a statewide effort to prepare communities for any disaster, whether a natural disaster or bioterrorism,” said Judy Rousseau, a public health preparedness planner with the Pennyrile District Health Department.

“There is a need for awareness of potential emergency situations and a need for planning activities to prepare for disasters.”

The meeting was sponsored by the health department.