The SAFETRAN-CSRS Hazmat-Rescue Team joined forces during 2003 as a squadron of local firefighters/hazmat/rescue responders.  United by the common goal to serve and protect the community, the team assisted municipal government agencies with confined space and hazmat rescue services. Historically, when facilities required a rescue team, a simple phone call to the local fire department was all that was needed. The station would dispatch a team of Firefighters and work would continue.  It was comforting to know that at a specified time the “Red Fire Truck” would pull up with equipment and know how. As government funding for city fire departments waned over the past decade, fire departments were forced to streamline operations.  Years of special services including standby had effectively become a distant memory. This dilemma forced many operations to postpone projects, until an onsite team could be trained.  A local fire chief recently commented on this problem by explaining, “Today’s Fire Departments can no longer afford to tie-up an Engine Company for outside service.”   SAFETRAN responded to the call by organizing a specialized team of confined space, hazmat, high-angle rescue and emergency medical technicians.    In 2006 the team purchased an emergency response vehicle and began amassing the cache of rescue, hazmat and medical-triage response gear.   The first major test of our emergency capacity came during the 2004 Holiday Season, during a harrowing 24 hour deployment to a local water district. We provided confined space standby, as district mechanics worked furiously repairing damaged water control valves threatening community water. SAFETRAN-CSRS Rescue-Hazmat also conducts safety, rescue and hazmat training.  Team members retain Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), Confined Space Rescue Ops, and Hazardous Materials Responder Certification by Pro-Board, Cal EMA, and the California Specialized Training Institute (CSTI).