LA CROSSE, WIS. (WKBT)
The use of a dangerous drug is becoming more noticeable
among first responders.
The La Crosse Fire Department presented Thursday some
troubling findings about meth use in the community to La Crosse County's Heroin
and Illicit Drug Task Force.
The report showed over the last two years, 20 percent of the
fire department's hazmat calls involved meth labs.
The department says the biggest problem is portable meth
labs or what's better known as a shake and bake.
"It's kind of a moving target so to speak, literally
because of the probability of the small bottles, they can make it in cars, they
can make it in hotel rooms, they can be transients, go from apartment to
apartment," said LCFD Capt. Jeff Schott.
The department says the chemicals used to make meth are
highly explosive and often times put them at risk when responding to calls.
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Polk County police were dispatched to Benedict School Road
shortly after 3 p.m. today after a female called 911 reporting that her child
found a backpack filled with possible drug related items.
The responding officer contacted 911 and requested that the
Polk County Police Drug Task Force respond to the scene. He advised that the
backpack discovered by the child contained the remains of a meth lab.
This method for manufacturing methamphetamine is often
referred to as the "shake and bake” method. Users have found that this
method is a way to get around the restricted sale of the ingredients needs to
make meth.
With the shake and bake method, a few cold pills mixed with
common, yet highly toxic household chemicals are mixed in a two-liter plastic
bottle to make enough meth for the user to get high.
Meth addicts have no regards for the safety of others,
including children. The shake and bake method is extremely dangerous. If the
bottle is shaken the wrong way, of if any oxygen gets inside of the bottle it
can quickly explode into a giant fireball.
Police departments all over Georgia have linked dozens of
flash fires, including some that were fatal to methamphetamine manufacturing.