Contamination is the defilement of persons, objects, spaces or the environment with radioactive (A) and/or biological (B) and/or chemical substances (C).
Decontamination is understood as the minimization or removal of a hazardous substance from surfaces (from protective clothing and company equipment takes priority). Every firefighting operation results in contamination to some degree. Decontamination measures must, therefore, be implemented after every operation!
Decontamination can be classified into three levels, depending on the scope and intensity: