Fairfax County Fire & Rescue Department has their own mobile version of "CSI," or crime scene investigation. It's 35 feet long, just over 12 feet high, and almost eight feet wide.
Its retractable tower camera can survey a 360 degree area up to a mile with pinpoint clarity. It can handle bio/chemical decontamination on site. It can serve as a command center with laboratory analysis capabilities, multiple communications hook-ups, and has a self contained generating system.
Known as a "Mobile Lab," it went into service last August. It is housed at Pohick Fire Station, number 35, just off the Fairfax County Parkway, so that it has maximum flexibility to reach all quadrants of the County 24/7.
"Basically it's a work platform for hazardous materials and fire investigations," said its primary operator, W. Trice Burgess, Jr., code enforcement officer and assistant fire marshall for the county. As a hazardous materials and fire investigator, he is part of the department's Fire Prevention Division.
"It's a totally self contained unit so that it can work at the scene of an investigation without back up. This frees our front line equipment to get back on the road and fight fires," Burgess emphasized.
Identified as Mobile Lab 407, it is divided into three critical sections. Immediately behind the driver is the administrative and communications area.
IN THIS SECTION ARE facilities to conduct interviews, hold small meetings, and view the television screens that are used for surveillance of the surrounding landscape. This also contains the on-board electronic technology such as the computer network and both hard wired and wireless communications system.
Above the windshield, much as in the cockpit of military aircraft, is the multi-faceted control panel. It contains numerous switches for everything from the camera antenna to the self-contained lighting system that can turn night to midday in the area surrounding the unit.
"The camera is so sophisticated it can read a license plate at a substantial distance," said Lieutenant Raul G. Castillo, public information officer. It is located on top of a 33 foot extension poll that rises from the roof of the vehicle.
Even though the camera is sensitive enough to pick up images in a dimly lit area, it is accompanied by a second extension pole that holds a high powered light reaching a height of 15 feet from the lab's roof. Both devices telescope into the body of the truck when not in use.
THE REAR THIRD IS where the investigative analysis work takes place and where decontamination capabilities are located. It contains laboratory facilities, a decontamination shower, medical test instruments, and other specialized equipment used in both fire investigations and emergency situations, terrorist or otherwise.
"This area affords us the opportunity to collect and analyze evidence right at the scene," Burgess explained. "We carry a large variety of materials and monitors to analyze hazardous materials as well as conduct regular fire investigations."
Castillo noted, "This vehicle answers all two alarm calls. Although it is not staffed constantly it is on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week."
Burgess is the primary operator of the Mobile Lab. "It normally carries only one person to supplement the on-site investigators with its vast array of equipment and capabilities," Burgess said.
The center section of truck, behind tambour type doors, are all the tools necessary to conduct fire and haz mat investigations. Included in the array are a 65 gallon water tank for decontamination showers and the laboratory sinks, a generator to operate the 6,000 watt tower light and all electronic elements of the lab, and the business end of two GPS systems.
"One GPS system enable us to get calls while the other is handheld and expedites our evidence collection analysis," Burgess verified. This is supplemented by a total telephone system that allows the telephone company to attach six hard wired lines directly to the side of the truck.
THE COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK is part and parcel of the overall onboard computer system with its own server and plotter for doing GIS mapping, according to Burgess.
"Most of the calls have been for fires so far," he said. "But, we have been on a couple of haz mat calls, mainly for chemical spills."
Castillo pointed out, "This vehicle has the capability to meet any emergency preparedness situation. It is equipped with meters to detect and analyze a variety of gases, radiation detection devices, photo ionization detectors, and can test for four different types of freon."
At a base cost of $317,000, it's total value is placed at $500,000 as equipped. "We received a State grant three years ago for this equipment," Castillo acknowledged. "We also transferred some existing elements off some old equipment we had," Burgess added. It averages about one call a week and is on the scene about six to 12 hours per call.
Burgess, who lives in Fairfax City, has been with the Fairfax County department since 1990. But his fire service career began in 1979. "We have three people qualified to operate the lab at present. Two more are in training," Burgess said.
"The lab's capabilities are particularly essential to haz mat technicians as well as fire investigators and inspectors. To operate it a person must have been through hazardous materials and environmental crimes training," he emphasized.
"This [mobile unit] can provide all the tools fire administration has ever asked for. And, we can respond to multiple jurisdictions throughout Northern Virginia," Burgess said. "We also can respond anywhere in the state with proper authorization and coordination," Castillo noted.