Dynegy Edwards Power Station donated six top level hazmat suits to the Peoria Fire Department for training purposes. The suits are valued at about $9000.
Ted Lindenbusch is the managing director of the Dynegy Edwards Power Station. He says they had the suits and weren’t using any more.
Dynegy purchased the Edwards Power Station about four years ago.
Lindenbusch says the company doesn’t require the power plant to maintain a certified hazardous materials response team so they didn’t need to keep all of them. "We had a couple of choices. We could try to use them ourselves for continuous training. We decided we rely more on our Fire Departments in the event we do have an emergency. So we thought they would be able to use them.”
The vapor proof hazmat suits are worn with oxygen tanks and have a 10 year life span from the their manufacture date. The donated suits are more than 10 years old. That means they are good only for training purposes.
Edwards Power Station also invites the local mutual aid fire departments into their facilities for hazmat training exercises.