Entanglement Technologies has been in the field across the United States, using its cutting-edge sensing technology to provide trusted information to those who need it most, whether emergency responders or industry workers.
Our technology provides the data needed for groups to make informed decisions across a variety of communities and industries.
Hurricane Harvey brought as much as 60 inches of rain on Houston and neighboring areas, leading to widespread flooding, facility damage, and massive releases of chemicals into the environment. Companies reported (likely an underestimate) that 8.3 million pounds of pollutants were released during the hurricane; this occurred during a period when the state temporarily suspended mandatory reporting requirements. In the immediate aftermath of this disaster, Entanglement Technologies was deployed to Houston, Port Arthur, and other nearby communities to provide rapid screening and source identification. We also coordinated with the Houston Health Department to direct their resources and responses toward protecting communities potentially at risk. Working with Air Alliance Houston and the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), our team used a vehicle-mounted AROMA instrument to monitor storm-damaged areas.
The summer and fall of 2018 saw multiple devastating wildfires in California, including the Camp Fire, which was the deadliest wildfire in the United States since 1918. Entanglement Technologies was honored to help cities during the recovery of these disasters by testing for benzene contamination of municipal drinking water supplies. We provided data collection and analysis for the most devastated areas of Redding (in particular the areas hit by the “fire tornado”) and are part of the selected proposal to help the City of Paradise rebuild after the disaster.
Industrial accidents, such as major leaks and fires, require rapid-response analytical tools in order to protect first responders, mitigate fire and explosion risks, ensure community safety, and collect data that will enable forensic evaluation of the causes and magnitude of chemical releases due to the accident. AROMA-VOC can quickly and accurately identify sites with elevated chemical concentrations across a wide area, while providing laboratory grade, multi-chemical analysis of each identified plume to quantify toxicological risk, even while traveling at highway speeds. AROMA has repeatedly proven extremely valuable in rapid-response situations.
Entanglement’s AROMA technology is a powerful tool in contaminated site characterization where rapid results and high sensitivity can accelerate and reduce the cost of field campaigns, detect and monitor pollutants that can leak into the ground and groundwater, and infiltrate indoor air spaces. One chemical pollutant that can occur across these different environments is trichloroethylene (TCE), which has been linked to several adverse health effects and can cause birth defects in the first six weeks of pregnancy. TCE is used in many industrial processes, but when not properly disposed of, it can enter surface water and pass through the soil to contaminate underground water sources.