The Butte County Inter-Agency Bomb Squad is a regional response team. Participating agencies include the Butte County Sheriff's Office, the Chico Police Department and California State University-Chico State Police Department. The four member team is administered through the Sheriff's Office.

The team is recognized by the FBI as one of the approximately 471 accredited bomb squads across the USA. Each team member is a graduate from the Hazardous Devices School located at the US Army base (Redstone Arsenal) in Huntsville Alabama.

Their initial training consists of six weeks of intensive hands-on training in the identification, use and safe handling of explosives, operating in Chemical biological radiation and nuclear environments, robotics and disposal. They are responsible for responding to anything related to explosives in the surrounding 5 county regions including the identification and rendering safe of hazardous devices, improvised explosive devices (IED's), and suspicious packages. They also provide education for law enforcement and public groups in the local area.

They are required to keep proficient with their skills during monthly training and re-certification every three years.

* PERSONAL MESSAGE *

EXPLOSIVES ARE VERY DANGEROUS AND SHOULD NOT BE TOUCHED OR PLAYED WITH. NO ENVIRONMENT IS SAFE FOR EXPERIMENTING WITH EXPLOSIVE MATERIALS.