Even though dredging crews are working on and off during the month of May, there's still a lot of work being done, some behind the scenes. Firefighters and emergency squads are making sure they're prepared in case disaster strikes. Our North Country Bureau Reporter Kim Lengle attended one of training events in South Glens Falls.

SOUTH GLENS FALLS, N.Y. -- The kind of disaster we're talking about would be a river rescue, if someone falls off a barge or a dredge. But along with knowing rescue techniques, the squads need to know what types of protective gear to wear and how to decontaminate those who come in contact with PCBs.

And according to this safety expert, a lot of the decontamination can be done with just water. This exercise was meant to simulate how long the process would take and teach everyone how thorough they should be. It's not easy to get some of this equipment on and when time is of the essence, it can get stressful.

"For the last couple of years, we've been working both the Moreau and Fort Edward Rescue squads and the South Glens Falls and Fort Edward Fire Departments to ensure that the fire fighters are trained and that our crews are trained to know how to respond to any kind of emergency that might develop during dredging. Our goal, here is to keep both the community safe and the dredging crew safe," said Mark Behan, a spokesman for General Electric.

General Electric says that in the two years it took to construct all the facilities for the dredging project, they haven't had a single incident where someone was seriously hurt.