Personnel Decontamination Site NRW

The document describes the organisation of personal decontamination for fire-service personnel following incidents involving ABC/CBRN hazards in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. In addition to the immediate response to chemical, biological or radiological dangers, responders and equipment must be properly decontaminated before leaving the hazard zone. The concept is based on national guidance, particularly FwDV 500 and vfdb Guideline 10/04, and focuses on decontamination level III, which is required during larger or prolonged operations involving extensive personnel deployment, the use of warm-water showers, specialised decontamination agents and heated rest areas.

The “Personal Decontamination Site NRW (P-Dekon NRW)” provides a standardised, two-stage alarm and deployment model using existing resources such as federal Dekon-LKW P vehicles and state decontamination containers. When activated as P-Dekon 10 NRW, the system must enable the decontamination of at least 10 responders per hour; under P-Dekon 30 NRW this increases to at least 30 per hour. Because such operations require substantial staffing, the plan includes provisions for supra-regional mutual assistance and complements existing NRW concepts for casualty and equipment decontamination.