Members of the Military Emergency Unit (UME) continue on the island of La Palma carrying out air quality measurements and monitoring the lava flows of the volcano Cumbre Vieja.
The UME teams periodically measure the released potentially hazardous gases. From the “OP. La Palma. Colada Carretera San Nicolás” video footage it is possible to observe they utilize chemical detection equipment combining several different technologies, for enhancing the chances of detecting any possible hazardous chemical present in the air.
The operators are detecting and classifying chemical vapours with ChemPro handheld chemical detectors – based on Environics in-house patented modified aspiration type of IMS technology – and using other technologies as supportive method.
ChemPro detectors’ trend view is particularly useful in this emergency context, since it can warn the operator for the presence of hazardous chemical compounds, even before these reach alarm triggering levels, when surveying inside an area with high temperatures and very dangerous gases.
The Military Emergency Unit work is supporting the National Geographic Institute.
The Cumbre Vieja volcano eruption in La Palma (Canary Islands, Spain) started on 19 September and has caused the evacuation of over 6,000 people, and destroyed more than 1,100 buildings.
