When a property has hazardous materials on site, crews need that information before they arrive. The Chemicals tab on a property is where you record what is stored, how much, where it sits, and how dangerous it is.

Adding a chemical

  1. Open the property.
  2. Click the Chemicals tab.
  3. Click Add Chemical.
  4. Start typing the common name or CAS number in the search box. Fire looks up the chemical in CAMEO and offers suggestions.
  5. Pick a suggestion to auto-fill the NFPA 704 ratings, the ERG guide number, and the common name. If your chemical is not in the list, type it in manually.
  6. Fill in the quantity, the unit, and the storage location on the property.
  7. Add any notes.
  8. Click Save.

The fields

  • Common Name -- The name your crew would call it.
  • CAS Number -- The Chemical Abstracts Service number. Helpful when looking the chemical up against other references.
  • Quantity and Unit -- How much is stored on site, and in what unit (gallons, pounds, kilograms, and so on).
  • Storage Location -- A plain-language description of where the chemical is kept. Example: chemical storage room, rear of building, south wall.
  • NFPA 704 Health, Fire, Reactivity -- The three numbers from the NFPA 704 diamond, on a scale of 0 to 4.
  • NFPA 704 Special -- The white quadrant code (OX, W, SA, and so on).
  • ERG Guide Number -- The Emergency Response Guide page number for this chemical.

Tips

  • If the property has more than 30 chemicals, ask the property manager for the SDS list and start with the highest-hazard items first.
  • The CAMEO lookup pre-fills NFPA ratings only when CAMEO has them. For agency-specific or local chemicals, you may need to fill the ratings in by hand from the SDS.