ADEQ's Hazardous Air Emergency Response (HAER) is on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week to respond to air quality related emergencies such as heavy smoke from fires or toxic releases that threaten air quality. The team responds to emergencies throughout the state and along the Mexican border.

HAER objectives are to monitor for public exposure of air pollutant contaminants; provide supportive information about the characteristic, identity and ambient air concentration of hazardous air pollutants; and provide meteorological support to aid in decisions about pollutant dispersion, direction and protection of populated areas.

Equipment and Procedures

In responding to emergencies, HAER has a wide variety of specialized equipment to assess air quality and meteorological conditions. These include a large van equipped with several small portable monitors to measure particulate matter from smoke and dust, canisters and bags to gather samples of gas for toxics analysis, and a portable gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer to measure volatile organic carbon air toxics. Portable meteorological stations and a portable acoustic SODAR (sonic detection and ranging) provide information regarding plume transport. Internet cameras linked with cellular modems provide real-time images of fires to assist with forecasting of transport behavior, especially from wild land fires. Most of HAER's responses each year are during the wild land fire season (May-July) when fires threaten the air quality in communities throughout Arizona.

HAER personnel are trained for hazardous materials and emergency response based on EPA and OSHA-approved health and safety guidelines. Team members are required to meet OSHA medical monitoring and have training as required by EPA's 40 CFR 1910.120. Members remain current through recertification.