The Boston Fire Department's special operations unit held a demonstration event Tuesday at their Brighton warehouse, showing a group of area police and firefighters how to use the latest equipment in radiation detection, officials said.
First responders from several nearby communities -- like Chelsea, Everett, Somerville, and Brookline -- went to the demonstration and spoke with the equipment vendor, Thermo Fisher Scientific, Dennis Costin, the chief of the Boston fire department's special operations unit, said.
Representatives from Thermo Fisher Scientific were on hand to answer questions from the officials, Costin said.
The equipment addresses radiation detection, Costin said, and the event didn't include other technology that helps identify bombs or other dangerous items.
"The biggest concern with radiation is you can't see it, so if the bad guys" mix it with something like an ordinary explosive, Costin said, it augments the danger posed to citizens and is hard to detect without equipment.
The equipment featured at the event included items the Boston fire department already has, like "PRDs," or personal radiation detectors. The firefighters on Costin's special operations unit wear the detectors on their hips at all times. The devices let the firefighter know when there's noticeable radiation present.
"In any city, you're always going to get a certain amount of hits [of radiation]," Costin said. "So it's about learning what's natural, or what's already there, and what shouldn't be there."
There were also backpacks that the department uses to scan venues before large events.
Costin said the unit would use the backpacks a few days before an event like the Esplanade fireworks, so when a firefighter reports a hit in a certain location, Costin can tell him or her it's natural and was detected before the event started.