Fire Service Fights Back Against the Opioid Epidemic
30 May 2018 - 1:14AM
Business Wire
Massachusetts Department of Fire Services
invests in Smiths Detection’s state-of-the-art technology to help
keep first responders and their communities safer
The Massachusetts Department of Fire Services (DFS) has joined
other government agencies in arming their hazardous materials
response teams with Smiths Detection HazMatID Elite hand-held
chemical identifiers to enhance their ability to protect the public
and themselves from exposure to dangerous illegal opioids. Smiths
Detection has provided DFS with leading chemical, radiation and
explosive-detection solutions for more than a decade.
HazMatID Elite has become a critical tool for first responders
fighting the opioid epidemic, including protection against the
powder form of illicit fentanyl and its analogues. It is a
next-generation, field-based solid and liquid analyzer that
identifies dangerous substances in one minute or less. HazMatID
Elite uses miniaturized and ruggedized Fourier Transform Infrared
(FTIR) spectroscopy, to enable tests to be conducted at the scene
of a crime or in the field. Its results are so reliable that they
may be used as court-admissible evidence and aid in medical
response cases where a suspected overdose has occurred.
Stephen Esposito, Vice President, Business Development for
Smiths Detection Inc., said, “The growing fentanyl exposure risk to
first responders is severe since inhalation of very small amounts
can be life-threatening. Our range of field-portable detection and
identification solutions will provide agencies like DFS with the
ability to make better decisions to keep responders, and their
communities, safer.”
HazMatID Elite is among four leading field-portable solutions
that Smiths Detection has adapted to detect and identify fentanyl.
Other solutions include:
- IONSCAN 600 – is used in airports,
corrections facilities and security checkpoints across the world.
It is a portable system that can be used to detect invisible
amounts of narcotics like fentanyl, and explosives, in
seconds.
- ACE-ID - utilizes laser Raman
technology to allow contactless testing of unknown substances
including through plastic and glass.
- Target-ID – hand-held FTIR narcotics
identifier with a robust library of illicit drugs and cutting
agents
The products were designed to complement each other in response
scenarios but can work independently. Smiths Detection also has
made sure that its ReachBackID 24/7 hotline will give first
responders, using these products, access to Ph.D. scientists to
support their field-based tests.
For more information about Smiths Detection’s work to protect
first responders from exposure to fentanyl, please visit
https://www.smithsdetection.com/preventfentanylexposure/.
Smiths Detection, part of Smiths Group, is a global leader in
threat detection and screening technologies for military, air
transportation, homeland security and emergency response markets.
Our experience and history across more than 40 years at the
frontline, enables us to provide unrivalled levels of expertise to
detect and identify constantly changing chemical, radiological,
nuclear and explosive threats, as well as weapons, dangerous goods,
contraband and narcotics.
Our goal is simple – to provide security, peace of mind and
freedom of movement upon which the world depends. For more
information visit www.smithsdetection.com.
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version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20180529005836/en/
Blueprint CommunicationsChad Kolton,
571-414-0730chad@blueprintcomms.comorSmiths DetectionDana
Knox-Gower, 203-482-6752Communications and Marketing -
Americasdana.gower@smiths-detection.com
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