Bomb Squad Technicians Train at ESTC

ASHEBORO (March 27, 2008)

Angie Swaim of the Winston-Salem Police Department prepares to use a disrupter on a pipe bomb during a Confined Space Course for Bomb Technicians at the Emergency Services Training Center on
March 27.

An 18-hour Confined Space Entry Operations course for Bomb Squad Technicians was offered at the Randolph Community College Emergency Services Training Center on March 25, 26, and 27.

Joe Johnson, with the Winston-Salem Police Department, assisted by Kevin Murphy (left), Gaston County Police Department, and Billy Williams (right), also with Winston-Salem, prepares to be lowered into a confined space to locate a bomb.

The course was requested by SBI bomb technician B. W. Collier after he read an article in a trade magazine about a police department in Florida that was fined by OSHA after a bomb technician was injured in a response that involved a confined space.

A total of 14 bomb technicians from the North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation, Winston-Salem Police Department, Gaston County Police Department, Wilkes County Sheriff’s Office and the Concord Police Department participated in the training.

Instructors for the program were Joe Mancos, assistant chief of EMS and quality education officer for Moore County Emergency Services, Rick Hetzel, assistant special agent in charge, N.C. SBI Special Operations, and Tommy McNeill, deputy chief of operations for Ash-Rand Rescue & N.C. USAR Task Force 7. Agents B.W. Collier and Tim Luper from the N.C. SBI Bomb Team assigned in Raleigh assisted with logistics for the program.

North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation agent Steve Modlon dons a hazard suit for training at RCC’s Emergency Services Training Center on March 27.

North Carolina State Bureau of Investigation agent Steve Modlon dons a hazard suit for training at RCC’s Emergency Services Training Center on March 27.

These instructors have trained about 50 other responders in similar training with the biggest difference being that it involved illegal Clandestine Methamphetamine Laboratories.

Students in both programs learn about the different classifications of hazards found in confined spaces as well as hazards that are there because of the nature of their response. Students also learn knot tying, rigging, and use of respiratory protection. Other aspects that were covered in the program were responding to conventional explosives and well as weapons of mass destruction or WMD incidents.

Nine bomb technicians from the Greensboro Police Department were scheduled to attend but were called back due to the presidential candidate’s visit in Greensboro.

Brian Bolick of the Gaston County Police Department uses a disrupter, which is designed to fire a counter charge at a bomb in a confined space.

Brian Bolick of the Gaston County Police Department uses a disrupter, which is designed to fire a counter charge at a bomb in a confined space.