A three-day exercise today, Wednesday and Friday at King County’s South Treatment Plant in Renton will provide area firefighters and county employees with emergency response training involving hazardous materials.

Emergency responders, including from Renton, will conduct intensive training drills at the sewage-treatment plant on Monster Road Southwest near I-405. Training will take place between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m., and involve about 40 firefighters each day and treatment plant employees.

Training activities will focus on evacuation, leak containment and repair, chemical release response, communication coordination, decontamination drills, and a simulated mass casualty event response. None of the activities will involve the actual use of hazardous materials.

While many activities will take place indoors, passers-by may see several emergency response vehicles, firefighters, and haz-mat response crews at the treatment plant during the three-day exercise.

The Hazardous Material Response Coordination Response Training Exercise training is being conducted under the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (EPCRA), which establishes requirements for government and industry regarding emergency planning and “Community Right-to-Know” reporting on hazardous and toxic chemicals.