Not only did the local International Paper plant provide many people with jobs &045; it also serviced Adams County and Concordia Parish with its hazardous material team and equipment.

And although its Natchez plant closed at the end of July, IP is continuing to serve the area by donating some of its equipment to the region’s haz-mat team.

The plant had a team of up to 90 people serving the plant and county in some capacity with the haz-mat team, in what Civil Defense Director George Souderes called a &uot;strong supporter&uot; for the county in haz-mat response.

It was &uot;more or less a mutual agreement being that we had the material to respond to hazardous-type materials along with the training,&uot; Walter Mackel, IP fire chief said of the relationship between the IP haz-mat team and surrounding areas.

IP’s team would identify substances in emergencies or spills and help decontaminate the substances.

Steve Olsen, IP mill manager, said it is not unusual for IP plants to use their haz-mat teams in surrounding areas if the area does not have the capabilities.

Now, with IP’s closing in July, there is a lack of that response in the county.

&uot;We just lost a good neighbor in emergency response,&uot; Souderes said.

That need will soon be filled through the plant’s donation of some of its equipment to Adams County to help them start their own haz-mat team.

IP gave the county a 1994 Econoline van with response equipment for 12 individuals, including 12 Level A encapsulated suits, three emergency container kits, pumps, slicker suits, testing equipment and emergency response manuals.

&uot;We just felt it was the right thing to do to help this community build their team up,&uot; Olsen said.

In addition, the Vidalia Fire Department has been training to form its own hazardous materials team, training officer Tim Vanier said last week.

Through the Department of Homeland Security, Adams County received $258,000 to start a regional response team, according to Souderes.

Without their donations, Souderes said the county would have had to seek additional funding.

&uot;We cannot thank them enough for this donation,&uot; Souderes said. &uot;The donations from IP will give the county a head start on getting its response team started.

&uot;(It) gives us a beginning to work toward fulfilling that need since it no longer exists with IP’s closing,&uot; Souderes said.

The state is broken into five areas that have state regional response teams and within those five areas, four smaller regional response teams will form.

The state team in the southwest corner of Mississippi is in Hinds County but a smaller one will be located in Adams County.

Surrounding counties also will help serve on the team.

The team will try to utilize volunteers and government agencies on a need basis, Souderes said. It will be multi-agency and multi-jurisdictional.

Not only will the county use the equipment donated by IP, but Souderes said he will ask former IP employees with experience on the IP team who are still in the area to serve on the team.