In March of 2004, Wyoming House Bill 144 was passed by the Wyoming State Legislature and signed into law by the governor entitled the “Wyoming Emergency Response Act.”

This act allows the state homeland security director to create Regional Emergency Response Teams (RERT) within multiple county areas for the purpose of organizing, equipping, training and responding to hazardous materials, weapons of mass destruction (terrorism) and/or any all-hazards incident impacting a community. Regional teams receive federal homeland security grant funds through the Wyoming Office of Homeland Security,

These regional teams are available to supplement local resources when an incident is beyond the first responders’ capabilities. Teams are responding in a state capacity. There are eight regional teams located around the state within the host communities of Cheyenne, Casper, Jackson, Laramie, Rock Springs, Riverton, Worland and Gillette.

The RERT, once deployed, will integrate within the local Incident Command System and will function as a component under the operations section of the local on-scene command structure when established.

The State of Wyoming is served by seven nationally certified bomb squads hosted by local law enforcement agencies. Each bomb squad technician is nationally certified through the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Hazardous Device School (HDS) at the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. Each team member must recertify every three years.

There are sixExplosive Detection Canine (EDC) handlers located across the state. All law enforcement officers/handlers are nationally certified and attend refresher training with their canines every two years.