A Descriptive Analysis of Prehospital Response to Hazardous Materials Events

The authors analyzed 2,527 unique activations involving HazMat response from 2012 National EMS Information System (NEMSIS) Public Release Research Data. Overall, the mass casualty incident code was used for 5.6% of activations, and the most common on-scene level of care was basic life support (only 2.1% required advanced life support response). Most common incident locations were the home (36.2%), streets or highways (26.3%), and health care facilities (11.6%). Pain (29.6%), breathing problems (12.2%) and changes in responsiveness (9.6%) were the main symptoms observed by pre-hospital medical professionals.