Hazardous materials response, mitigation and clean-up for San Mateo County is managed by the Belmont Fire Protection District's Hazardous Materials Team through a contractual agreement between the County of San Mateo, the Emergency Services Council and the Belmont Fire Protection District.
The San Mateo County Hazardous Materials Team is a partnership between Belmont Fire Protection District, San Mateo County Environmental Health and the San Mateo County Office of Emergency Services through the San Mateo County Emergency Services Council. It has been providing service to all areas of San Mateo County since 1984. The Response Team is staffed 24/7/365 with seven cross-trained firefighters from Belmont, as well as an Environmental Health and an OES Officer.
The Team's primary response vehicle is a grant funded, state-of-the-art vehicle that transports most of the Team and its equipment. There are other assorted trailers with additional capability used by the Team, as well.
The Team is currently working with OES to acquire additional equipment necessary to become a "Type II" Team in the CalEMA (California Emergency Management Agency) State system.
Resource typing enhances emergency readiness and response at all levels of government through a system that allows an already overwhelmed jurisdiction to augment its response resources during an incident.