The Porter County Hazardous Materials Response Team was founded in 1983 by Greg Phillips and a dedicated group of volunteers.  The HAZMAT TEAM volunteers came from the membership of the Porter County Hazardous Materials Advisory Council.  The Porter County Hazardous Materials Advisory Council was formed to address concerns about Porter County ’s preparedness to respond to a hazardous materials incident.  The mission of the Porter County Hazardous Materials Advisory Council was to collect information on all the chemicals that were stored and used within Porter County .  Additionally, information was gathered on the types and amounts of chemicals that were being transported through Porter County on a daily basis.  In the beginning, the Porter County Hazardous Materials Response Team was a “trunk” operation.   Team members relied extensively on the equipment that was carried in the “trunk” of the Founder and Team Leader, Greg Phillips’s Ford Escort.  Additional equipment was also carried in the “trunks” of other Team member’s vehicles.  From this modest beginning, the Porter County Hazardous Materials Response Team began to “grow”.  The number of hazardous materials incidents that the TEAM responded to began to increase each year.  In 1987, based upon the number of hazardous materials incidents the TEAM had responded to, the Porter County Board of Commissioners recognized the need for having a HAZMAT Team.  The Porter County Board of Commissioners, by formally adopting County Resolution 87-3, officially created the Porter County Hazardous Materials Response Team.  Two years later in 1989, citing a need to have a full time agency to handle  environmental problems, that occur daily, the Porter County Environmental Department was established, with Greg Phillips as the County’s 1^st Environmental Coordinator.  Greg Phillips served Porter County as the Environmental Coordinator and the Porter County HAZMAT Team’s Leader until his sudden death on August 22, 1996.  The Porter County Hazardous Materials Response Team maintains Team readiness through monthly training sessions and the Team’s participation in annual exercises that measure preparedness and response to chemical emergencies.  The Porter County Hazardous Materials Response Team is a vital and integral organization, ever changing to meet the challenges of tomorrow’s emergencies in Porter County .  The Porter County Hazardous Materials Response Team continues to          serve the citizens of Porter County and when requested, to assist other            Counties and State agencies in emergency situations.

For further information or if you have a question about the Porter County

Hazardous Materials Response Team, contact the Porter County Environmental Department, Monday to Friday, 8:30 to 4:30 , at 465-3593.

 The team is accepting applications for membership. (Click here to find out more.)