The 83rd WMD-Civil Support Team of the Montana National Guard was training in Great Falls this week.

The Helena based team is made up of five Air Guard and 17 Army Guard members that would respond to incidents with suspected chemical, biological or radiological threats.

Lt. Col. Jason Steichen, 83rd commander, said they’d been in Great Falls this week for training and used Centene Stadium and the former Children’s Museum space for their scenario based training.

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They’re available as a hazmat response when local agencies request through the established military process and with their equipment, can detect and sample a wide variety of threats with their mobile lab.

Some local emergency response agencies have similar equipment, but often not as sophisticated as the 83rd’s capabilities and “that’s why we’re here” to support local agencies when needed, Steichen said.

This week, the 83rd was training, but also being evaluated by a team from Army North at Fort Sam Houston in Texas.

Their scenario this was a suspect making things he shouldn’t, in this case chemical and/or biological weapons, at the stadium.

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He was arrested but got sick and was hospitalized, and a secondary location at the museum was found.

On April 25, they were at the museum, making entry into the building, observing the makeshift lab on on the second floor, flagging things that look suspect, mitigating any immediate risks to the team and determining what needed to be sampled and whether there’s a risk to the public.

They were in their full suits of protective gear with a decontamination tent just outside the main doors of the building, which is city owned.

Teams swept the building for immediate threats and found a makeshift lab on the second floor of the building. The lab contains various equipment such as a centrifuge, beakers on hot plates, container distilling alcohol from corn, and fake dead rats in the room.

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In the scenario, they’re working with aflatoxins, which are a family of toxins produced by certain fungi found on agricultural crops and are carcinogenic to humans and animals.

They can be scene under a blacklight, and in the exercise scenario, the suspect was working to separate them from corn and create a biological weapon.

Paul Condon, an evaluator from Army North, said that the teams train by observing the makeshift lab scene to think logically through what processes are in place to determine what hazard might exist.

A medical team was on site checking vitals of anyone going into the building and again when they exit to monitor for any signs of contamination, Steichen said, which would be the case in a real world event.

The 83rd does similar training exercises statewide and around the country.

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In this case, Great Falls Fire Rescue helped them secure the training locations and coordinate with the evaluators. Several GFFR firefighters and their hazmat truck were on scene for the April 25 iteration of training.

Steichen said that the team is comprised of full-time Guard members and they’re on call at all times.

Team members are assigned to the DES districts throughout the state to talk to agencies, coordinate and be aware of needs.

The training, he said, is about building relationships.

“We don’t want to ever show up to an emergency situation and it’s the first time we’ve met,” Steichen said.