The work of Lake County's Hazardous Materials and Special Operations Team isn't all train wrecks and acid spills.

Sometimes it's a suspicious letter, sometimes just cat litter.

The team was called in earlier this month when a letter and boxes, suspected of containing a biohazard, were delivered to the county government center. The letter held nothing but a rambling protest from a man who sent cat waste to a local judge.

The boxes, now suspected to be another delivery of cat feces, remain locked up in the team's evidence room. Why not just open and dump them in the garbage?

"We had heard the (suspect) had hepatitis," said Ron Svetic, team coordinator. "Biologically we are still at a disadvantage. ... We will have it sterilized."

Overkill?

Not so, said Svetic, who has spent 22 years in firefighting and emergency medical work.

"Everything is speed except hazardous material work. Firemen have been killed or injured rushing into a hazmat situation. People may see a hazmat teammate sitting in his truck and think he's lazy, but we have to do a lot of detective work and preparation.
"We will take the extra 20 minutes," Svetic said.

The team, formed a decade ago, is a collection of veteran fire and rescue workers from across the county certified in hazardous material identification and handling. The unpaid volunteers spend eight to 20 hours a month to maintain their training.

"They are quite special people," Svetic said.

While Gary, Hammond, East Chicago and Ross Township have their own hazardous materials teams, smaller communities may have little equipment, which can cost thousands of dollars per person.

The team answered 89 calls in 2005, a quarter of which required protective suits.

He said sometimes the work has been as simple as a two-hour job plugging a punctured tank with putty or as extreme as a three-day job of stopping an ammonia spill in December 2002 that forced the evacuation of 300 families west of Cedar Lake.

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