The Durango Fire & Rescue Authority houses the only hazardous materials technician response team in the five-county, two-tribe Colorado Southwest Homeland Security Region. The Haz Mat Team is made up of Technicians from Durango Fire and Rescue Authority (12), Colorado State Patrol (2) and Pagosa Springs Fire Protection District (2). The team has worked to co-found the Colorado Western Slope Hazardous Materials Consortium which is working towards common protocols, interoperable response equipment, and a Mutual Aid Agreement for all Western Slope response teams. The Consortium organizes one full-scale Haz Mat exercise annually.

The Haz Mat team members provide awareness and operations level response training to any requesting emergency response organization in the region through the support of the Colorado Division of Fire Safety Hazardous Materials Training program. The technician team members from the Colorado State Patrol provide Motor Carrier Safety Enforcement in addition to responding with the team.

The team is in the process of working with neighboring Montezuma County Fire Chiefs and Los Pinos Fire Protection District (Southern Ute Indian Tribe) to provide Operations level hazardous materials response capability in the more remote locations of this region. The process is on-going and at present time, both satellite groups have decontamination and defensive control capability to support the Haz Mat Team response.