Bomb Disposal Team

The Martin County Sheriff's Bomb Disposal Team is comprised of highly trained hazardous devices technicians, also known as bomb technicians.

Training

Members of the Bomb Disposal Team are required to attend the Hazardous Devices School (HDS) in Huntsville, Alabama held at the U.S. Army Redstone Arsenal. HDS is the only school in the country that trains and certifies bomb technicians. HDS is run jointly by the Department of Defense, U.S. Army and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). In addition, each Bomb Technician is required to be certified in Hazardous Materials.

In order to maintain and demonstrate proficiency in these fields, all FBI Certified Bomb Techs are required to return to HDS every three years for 40 hours of advanced training to be recertified as Bomb Technicians. Bomb technicians are also required to complete monthly training, 40 hours of school per year and maintain their HazMat certification, which includes an annual physical.

The team is fully trained in Explosive Breaching and can be utilized in conjunction with Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) and Fire-Rescue. In the event of an incident, bomb technicians can work jointly with the FBI and other federal agencies anywhere in the country.

Missions

Bomb Technicians are on call 24/7. A typical call out mission for the team may include:

• Demolition
• Disruption of a suspicious package
• Investigations
• Military Explosive Ordinance disposal
• Rendering safe a device
• Robots
• X-Ray