What is the purpose of a decontamination corridor and where is it located?

• A. It serves as a command post for incident management, located in the warm zone.
• B. It functions as a storage area for contaminated gear, located near the cold zone.
• C. It is located between hot and cold zones and provides a pathway to remove contaminants from people and equipment.
• D. It is used to isolate the scene and located in the hot zone.

Answer: (C)

Decontamination corridors are used to safely remove contaminants from people and equipment and to keep clean areas uncontaminated. They are placed at the boundary between the hot (contaminated) zone and the cold (clean) zone, usually bridging the hot area to the cold area with the warm zone serving as the decon staging space. This setup provides a controlled pathway for decontamination processes—such as gross decon and, if needed, secondary decon—and for orderly doffing of PPE, so contaminants don’t spread into the clean zone. The corridor’s location at the boundary helps contain contamination and protects responders and the public.