Product Description

World events and the society we live in today have forced First Responders to deal with the threat and potential use of chemical or biological weapons. During those initial critical moments of an incident, it will be the local First Responders whose actions will mean the difference between life and death. The ability of the First Responder to assess the situation and take an immediate course of action is vital to the successful management of an incident and prevention of further injury. The First Responder Chem-Bio Handbook provides all the key information, which is necessary during those first few critical moments. It is presented in an easy to follow format, and is designed to provide the user with information he/she needs to know without being bogged down by complicated technical terminology. Contained within the First Responder Chem-Bio Handbook is information that provides immediate access to everything from initial event indicators of a chem-bio incident, characteristics of agents, PPE measures, treatment and decontamination procedures, dispersal techniques, and agent technical data. The First Responder Chem-Bio Handbook is designed so that a First Responder can systematically approach a suspected Chem-Bio incident and effectively manage the situation. It is a tool that no responder should be without.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1220671 in Books
• Published on: 1998-02
• Original language: English
• Binding: Spiral-bound
• 198 pages

National Military Intelligence Association (NMIA) Zgram - March 19, 1998
This is a super book! It doesn't drone on and on about the composition and history of Chemical and Biological Weapons - it is indeed a First Responder's Handbook providing initial assessment, signs and symptoms, diagnosis, treatment, decontamination and precautions. There is also a section devoted to the establishment of a decontaminization zone. Very fine work.

DERA International WMD Preparedness Director Bascombe J. Wilson, CEM, Former Commander, USAF Emergency Services Team
"I found this handbook to be authoritative, easily used in the field under adverse weather and light conditions, and excellent for classroom or exercise use."

Counterterrorism & Security Magazine - April 1998
This small format handbook (6.5 x 5, spiral bound) was designed as an easy-to-carry reference guide for police, fire, security and EMS personnel who may be in a position to respond to an incident involving chemical and/or biological warfare agents... The First Responder Chem-Bio Handbook does an admirable job of quickly and easily conveying essential information to those who would protect us from chemical and biological terrorism... it is a valuable reference work for the first responder.

Customer Reviews

Excellent
This book is an excellent tool. It is very easy to read and follow. I would recommend this for personal as well as professional use.
Other books seem to be too filled with complicated wording and they tend to be hard to follow. This book eliminates that and gets straight to the facts. It is excellent.

A useful refresher for emergency personnel
As the book's title indicates, it is intended to serve as a ready-reference for fire, police, and emergency medical personnel who may be first on the scene of a chemical or biological attack. It is less useful for anxious laypeople (including me!) because it presupposes detailed knowledge of (and presumably practice in) decontamination procedures, using specialized personal protective gear, and emergency medicine. At the very least, I recommend having a medical dictionary on hand as you read and noting definitions of unfamiliar terms on the page margins. Taking a comprehensive first-aid course would also be a good idea.

This book serves it's purpose admirably, but it is not the chem/bio equivalent of Cresson Kearny's "Nuclear War Survival Skills". I suggest that the publisher produce a civilian manual along the lines of Kearny's classic civil defense guide.

Breaking new ground
This is the first book I have encountered in this area that appears to have been designed from the ground up as a handbook for first responders, rather than being designed along the lines of, and with frequent lifting of sections from, various military field manuals. The result is a handbook that presents the "must know" information concisely and in a format that allows it to be rapidly found without having to sift through a lot of background information (Tempest appears to have decided to let form follow function and has put the background in a separate book). Even the printing is good - large letters with enough white space to let you read it easily even under low light conditions.

A minus - initial isolation distances aren't listed for the chemical agents (I wrote them in in the table of contents for Section C - Chemical). Of course, none of the other "Chem-Bio Handbooks" lists them, either - perhaps if they read their reviews...