12-04-2025
Responders train for radiological emergencies in Lancaster County
LANCASTER COUNTY, Pa. (WHTM) — Emergency responders and residents in Lancaster County are staying prepared in the event of a radiological incident.
'The last incident that we primarily had was a vehicle fire on the Pennsylvania Turnpike in Lancaster County,' said Chris Haldeman, Captain of the Lancaster County Special Operations Team. 'There was radiological pharmaceuticals inside the vehicle and when the vehicle caught fire basically the led things that were holding the radiological medicine inside melted and released the radiation into the air.'
It's a very dangerous situation which could cause health issues.
'We had to contain the vehicle for a certain amount of days to make sure that it was clean,' he added. 'We had to make sure that everything was completely safe for everyone around the vehicle.'
Haldeman told abc27 News, no injuries or fatalities stemmed from this incident — a reason why Lancaster County officials believe nuclear disaster trainings are so important.
'Over 100 people from the community have volunteered to come out on a Saturday to help us make this as realistic as possible, not only for our folks who are going to have to do this in a real world situation, but also the community that they now know that, hey, we've got this,' said Ray D'Agostino, Vice Chairman of the Lancaster County board of commissioners.
Volunteers took part in a screening process — where officials would check them for contamination using radiological meters.
'As we find sources on them, we remove them either with that ends tape or we remove the clothing items that are affected and get them cleaned up so that they are no longer affected,' Haldeman said.
D'Agostino says federally required trainings like this have been successful.
'Part of success looks at the idea of, well, how did we do it? What can we do better? What are the things that we can be looking at to know when something would actually happen,' D'Agostino added.
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The next training session like this will take place in October.
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