Imagine this: teams of firefighters and Hazmat responders have just arrived at the scene of an incident. There, they find a city bus. Thirty-five passengers have been rushed to the hospital and seven are deceased.

In another situation, they arrive to find a sidelined delivery truck carrying hazardous cargo.

Their job: identify and neutralize the threats.

The safety & security (S&S) landscape is constantly evolving. With new threats arising each day, staying at the top of your game as a first responder is no easy task. It’s the job of these men and women to be prepared for the unexpected. As such, first responders look to opportunities like Urban Shield to hone their skills and ready them for what could be encountered in the field.

Known as a highly revered and credible training exercise within the S&S industry, Urban Shield is a two-day, multi-discipline intensive program that pits 12 teams against one another in a competition that could be consider the HazMat Olympics. Judged on their performance across a series of mission-critical situations, each team’s prevention, protection, response, and recovery skills are put to the ultimate test. Over the course of the two days, each team has to adapt to new treats, new technologies, and unknown scenarios to claim first place.

For the first time, this year M908™ was utilized in the competition. Providing fast threat detection in an easy-to-use and robust form factor, M908 met the demands of the competition. In fact, our device was involved in several of the chemical threat scenarios – a true testament to its versatility.

Check out the slideshow below for highlights from the event and to find out which team took home the gold!