U.S. Army Chemical Corps Soldiers recently worked with joint and interagency partners to support the wildfire response mission in Southern California, Feb. 12-17, 2025.
Highly trained Soldiers from the 172nd Chemical Company (Hazard Response) and the 21st Chemical Company (Hazard Response) joined together with Sailors, Marines and Airmen under the command of U.S. Northern Command’s Joint Task Force-Civil Support to remove hazardous waste from debris ridden homesites in California.
The Fort Riley, Kansas-based 172nd Chemical Company (Hazard Response) “Gladiators” are part of the 2nd Chemical Battalion and the Fort Bragg, North Carolina-based 21st Chemical Company (Hazard Response) “Blackjacks” are part of the 83rd Chemical Battalion. Both units are part of the 48th Chemical Brigade, under the Army’s 20th Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, Explosives Command — the U.S. military’s premier multifunctional and deployable CBRNE formation.
Capt. Addison M. Love, the commander of the 172nd Chemical Company (Hazard Response), said the Soldiers were selected for the mission based on their readiness.
“Fifty-three Soldiers from 172d Chemical Company and 12 Soldiers from 21st Chemical Company combined under my command activated in response to the Southern California wildfires to assist FEMA and support the Environmental Protection Agency hazardous material collection and removal effort in the Los Angeles, California area,” said Love.
“Soldiers were selected due to their unique CBRN certifications and high level of readiness, and each Soldier was certified at the hazardous materials operations Level and hazardous materials technician level and had extensive field training in hazardous waste packaging and removal,” he said.
Love said the Soldiers worked 12-hour days in the Pacific Palisades area of Los Angeles County to mark, collect, package and remove hazardous waste from the debris ridden homesites impacted by the California wildfires.
The team cleared more than a thousand burned homesites of more than 5,000 articles of hazardous material.
“We removed potentially dangerous everyday household products like paints, automotive oils, herbicides, pesticides, propane tanks and other pressurized gas containers. After a fire, these products require special handling, especially if their containers are damaged,” said Love.
In addition to the everyday products, the troops safely packaged potential hazardous batteries from the homesites.
“We also removed lithium-ion batteries from vehicles, homes and other products,” said Love. “The fires damaged or destroyed lithium-ion batteries, lithium-ion battery energy storage systems and electric and hybrid vehicles. Lithium-ion batteries can spontaneously re-ignite, explode and emit toxic gases and particulates into the atmosphere even after the fire is out.”
Love said the Chemical Corps Soldiers welcomed the opportunity to help their fellow citizens in California. He added that they exchanged knowledge and shared ideas with their partner organizations to make the hazardous materials removal process as efficient as possible.
“Our Soldiers remain ready to deploy in a moment’s notice while on prepare to deploy orders,” said Love. “The Soldiers conducted certification training with the EPA to ensure they could perform under the EPA’s systems and processes.”
Love said the biggest challenge of the mission was maintaining contact with the teams that were operating miles apart and working on numerous homesites at the same time.
Love said the solution came from the bottom up with junior Soldiers keeping their platoon leaders informed throughout the mission.
“The two platoon leaders, 1st Lt. Tyesha Fields and 1st Lt. Wesley Hacker staged themselves at a centralized location in relation to their teams to receive reports over the radio from their teams on specifics such as personal protective equipment consumption and other needs,” said Love. “They also circulated between teams as necessary.”
The 172nd Chemical Company command team also coordinated with the Joint Task Force-Civil Support Forward Tactical Action Center and the EPA deputy operations section chief throughout the operation.
A native of Springfield, Ohio, Love earned his bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Cedarville University and earned his master’s degree in homeland security from Liberty University. Love previously deployed to Europe with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) where his unit conducted training operations with Poland, Lithuania, Germany and Greece.
Since taking command of the 172nd Chemical Company, Love said his most interesting mission was conducting joint training with the Mexican Armed Forces and supporting U.S. Army North during Exercise Fuerzas Amigas in June 2024.
The Chemical Company Soldiers were among the approximately 220 U.S. troops and 300 troops from the Mexican Armed Forces who participated in the annual exercise.
The Theater Security Cooperation exercise was designed to strengthen the military-to-military partnership between the U.S. and Mexico.
Love became a Chemical Corps officer because he was drawn to the unique lifesaving and mission-enabling mission.
“I originally became a CBRN officer because of the vast amount of leadership qualities I knew the Army instills in its officers,” said Love. “But I’ve stayed a CBRN officer because I enjoy working with Soldiers from so many different backgrounds and being able to develop each Soldier’s unique strengths that they bring to the fight and then use those strengths to create cohesive teams that foster a resilient culture.”
From 19 bases in 16 states, Soldiers and Army civilians from the 20th CBRNE Command take on the world’s most dangerous hazards in support of joint, interagency and multinational operations across the nation and around the world.
Headquartered on Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, in Northeast Maryland’s science, technology and security corridor, the 20th CBRNE Command is home to 75 percent of the U.S. Army’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) technicians and Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear (CBRN) specialists, as well as the 1st Global Field Medical Laboratory, CBRNE Analytical and Remediation Activity, Weapons of Mass Destruction Coordination Teams and Nuclear Disablement Teams (Infrastructure).
U.S. Army Hazardous Response companies conduct Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear (CBRN) reconnaissance, surveillance and decontamination operations with conventional and Special Operations forces and provide support to civil authorities.
