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Updated – Third Alarm Pulled at Munitions Plant Fire in Pennsylvania

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Updated Report

SEVERAL FIRE DEPARTMENTS ARE on the scene of a major fire at a security munitions plant in Jamestown, Pennsylvania.   The Erie Times-News is reporting:

The fire at Combined Tactical Systems, 388 Kinsman Road, near Jamestown, was dispatched at 7:23 a.m., according to Mercer County emergency dispatchers. Responding departments included four from Crawford County, which were dispatched shortly before 7:30 a.m.

Products sold by Combined Tactical Systems include chemical munitions, impact munitions and flash-bang devices, according to information on the company's website.

Additional stock includes tear gas devices and door breaching charges.

The third alarm was struck just before 8 am.  The facility is safely isolated in a rural area.  No further information has been released yet.

Google Satellite View of the complex

Update, 4 pm Eastern:
A total of 14 fire departments were dispatched to the fire that was located in a building at the rear of the complex where smoke products are made.  According to the company CEO Don Smith, there were no injuries to the seven employees that were working in the building at the time, nor to any of the 170 other employees at the complex.

North Shenango FD photo (used with permission)

Read the smoke on this one….
North Shenango FD photo

The building, known as the "gas house," has a sprinkler system, but it did not extinguish the fire, according to the Jamestown FD spokesman.  The fire department had the blaze extinguished in about an hour, he said. 

The fire was extinguished in about an hour.  Fourteen
FD's responded to the call.  (Erie Times-News photo)

 Sources:
Meadville Tribune.
Erie Times-News.

Combined Tactical Systems WEBSITE.

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Posted by on November 15, 2011 • Filed under: fire, Fire Rescue Topics, Fires, Haz-mat, HazMat • Tagged: , , ,

Paint Factory Goes Up in France

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Nobody Inside When It Started

FIRE BROKE OUT IN A PAINT FACTORY in Lusigny, France, Sunday evening resulting in a complete destruction of the facility.  The fire was discovered around 5 pm and advanced into storage areas where solvents and other flammable liquids were stored, creating a series of explosions.

Le JDC

Fifty firefighters of the SDIS 03 were dispatched to the blaze where they immediately went into defensive and containment operations.  The fire was marked under control at 8 pm by Colonel Buraud, director of the departmental fire and rescue agency.

SDIS 03

Throughout the operation there were several air samplings taken by aircraft to check the toxicity of the atmosphere, but no alerts were needed.  However several homes in the immediate area were evacuated as a precaution.

France3 TV posted this video report from the scene:

 
Incendie d'entrepot de produits chimiques à… by spmoulins

The plant does not operate on Sundays, so there were no employees inside at the time.

La Semaine de l'Allier has the STORY.
SDIS 03 has more plus a photo gallery and an excellent video HERE.

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Posted by on November 8, 2011 • Filed under: fire, Fires, HazMat, Videos • Tagged: , ,

The day after… turns out zombies get bored and hungry

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Scenes from the Delaware County Ohio Zombie drill

 

Delaware County Office of Homeland Security and Emergency Management zombie outbreak exercise.

 

Delaware Gazette video by Andrew Tobias.

 

Bored and Hungry

Dave Tobias, a Delaware Gazette reporter, was imbedded with the zombie horde and provided a first person account of the event.

They were also a lit­tle bored. Emer­gency per­son­nel, run­ning the event fea­tur­ing roughly 200 zom­bie vol­un­teers, had been stag­ing for nearly half an hour.

Besides an occa­sional reminder, deliv­ered through a bull­horn, for infected indi­vid­u­als to remain inside the Selby Field fence, the zom­bies received lit­tle com­mu­ni­ca­tion from emer­gency per­son­nel.

Fire­fight­ers and para­medics were them­selves busy strate­giz­ing over what mys­te­ri­ous chem­i­cal agent had afflicted the zom­bies, and how to best address it.

Emer­gency per­son­nel, which included 10 area fire depart­ments, Delaware County EMS, Delaware Police Depart­ment and the Delaware County Sheriff’s Office, began accept­ing large quan­ti­ties of zom­bies for decon­t­a­m­i­na­tion 40 min­utes after they arrived on scene.

click on headline for entire story: Zombie-themed County EMA exercise draws more than 200 volunteers

I remember when the Level A chemical suits came out, the incident went from quick to campaign.

Wonder if there is a way to reduce the waiting-around time for role players.

Mike "FossilMedic" Ward

Posted by on November 1, 2011 • Filed under: EMS Topics, Fire Rescue Topics, HazMat, Mass Casualty Incident, News, Patient Management, Training & Development, Urban Commander, Videos • Tagged: , , , , , ,

Meanwhile, in Chicago

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Urban Zombies!

Chicago Mayor's Office:

In case of a zombie apocalypse, remember to stay calm like Rahm.

Have a happy and safe Halloween, Chicago!

Meanwhile, in London:

World Zombie Day

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike "FossilMedic" Ward

Posted by on October 31, 2011 • Filed under: EMS Topics, Fire Rescue Topics, HazMat, News, Technology & Communications, Training & Development, Urban Commander • Tagged: , , , ,

Zombie HazMat Incident in Ohio

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Delaware County Emergency Management Agency wants you to die this Halloween.

Ok, not really.

But we would like you to come out and play one of the 250 "living dead" that we need for our Zombie Hazardous Materials Exercise.

There will be a contest for Best Make-Up, Best Costume, and even Best Zombie Walk.

This is your opportunity to help our first responders be prepared.

Being a Zombie this halloween may save a life in the future.

Delaware County, Ohio Zombie recruitment page

Creative approach to a mass casualty staffing issue

Kantele Franko files this report for the Associated Press:

Emergency responders will test their capabilities as they use standard decontamination procedures to “treat” the zombies and make them “human” again during the exercise at Ohio Wesleyan University.

“People got zombie fever here in Delaware,” said Jesse Carter, a spokesman for the local health district.

The exercise and dozens more outreach efforts across the country were inspired by an online post from the CDC.

It attempted to spice up the usual emergency preparedness advice — have a plan, make an emergency kit with water and food, and so on — by tapping into the cultural popularity of the zombie theme.

The May blog posting got 30,000 hits in one day, and it continues to draw thousands of visitors daily, said Maggie Smith of the CDC’s public health preparedness office.

Ohio and Kansas hold mock zombie outbreaks

Selby Stadium event as explained by Delaware County EMA

This will be a “Zombie Exercise” happening on Halloween. The victims once exposed to a chemical will be turned into a zombie. Zombies will have to go through decontamination to be turned back to normal.

We will be testing our first responders with approximately 250 Zombie Victims versus the 20-25 volunteers that assist for normal hazardous materials exercises.

To add to the fun (and the reality), if a First Responder comes in contact with the spilled chemical or a zombie while not wearing proper Personal Protective Equipment, they too will be turned into a zombie and will have to go through decontamination.

This exercise will run from 1:00 PM until 3:00 PM and we plan to have everything wrapped up by 4:00 PM.

Click HERE to see the CDC Zombie Preparedness guidelines.

Mike "FossilMedic" Ward

Posted by on October 31, 2011 • Filed under: EMS Topics, Fire Rescue Topics, HazMat, Mass Casualty Incident, News, Patient Management, Training & Development • Tagged: , , , , , , , , ,

Real Flames at Phony Fingernail Factory

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Acetone Fire Leads to Evacuations

A FIRE IN A SMALL FACTORY that manufactures artificial fingernails and fingernail polish remover caused major damage Thursday.  The Onyx Corporation plant which is located in North Little Rock, Arkansas, was occupied at the time when a malfunction occurred on a conveyor belt in a small building where the polish remover bottles are filled..

The main ingredient is acetone and some had puddled under the belt when it sparked and ignited the vapors.  The employees saw the fire blaze up and immediately evacuated the main building.  The fire soon involved a 4,000 gallon acetone storage tank and the fire department then evacuated several more businesses in the industrial park.

KLRT-TV image

Using a combination of foam and water, the firefighters were able to control the fire and prevent any spread beyond the area involved.

KLRT-TV provided this video report:

 

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Posted by on October 21, 2011 • Filed under: fire, Fires, HazMat, Videos • Tagged: , , ,

Bug Bomb Fells 12 FF’s in New Jersey

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A Case of Not Reading the Directions on the Can

TWELVE JERSEY CITY, NEW JERSEY, FIREFIGHTERS required transportation to the hospital Sunday morning after entering an apartment filled with poison aerosol from a "bug bomb."  The call was dispatched at 10:20 am when several phone calls were received reporting an explosion in an apartment.

129 Magnolia Ave.  (Google Street View)

When the first engine arrived at the large, 5-story apartment building, there was no answer at the door, so forced entry was made into the unit.  After entering the apartment they all soon started becoming sick and suffering some respiratory distress. Investigation found that the resident had discharged the extermination bomb and left the premises without shutting off the pilot lights.  The open flame ignited the flammable vapors and caused the ka-boom that generated the response.

The Jersey Journal reports:

The firefighters were all taken to the Jersey City Medical Center for observation, Fire Director Armando Roman said.

"The vapors from these insect bombs are heavier than air and highly flammable, and people forget to shut off the pilots on their stoves when they use them", Roman said.

"The instructions on the back of those cans are microscopic so people don't read them," Roman said. "I am going to start a public education campaign on this issue …. These manufacturers need to put bigger warnings."

All of the firefighters were released back to work by Sunday evening.

Hat tip:  Mark Donovan

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Posted by on October 16, 2011 • Filed under: explosion, Fire Rescue Topics, HazMat • Tagged: , ,

Fiery Train Wreck in Illinois – Working

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Ethanol Explosions Lead to Evacuations

Updated:  Scroll down.

A FREIGHT TRAIN CONTAINING TANK CARS OF ETHANOL derailed around 1:45 am Central near the small town of Tiskilwa, Illinois.  The wreck resulted in a major fire breaking out followed by explosions as the tank cars became involved.

WGN-TV

The entire village of 800 in Bureau County has been evacuated as the fire continues to burn out of control at the time of this posting.  NBC News has posted this raw video of the burning railroad cars:

 

View more videos at: http://nbcchicago.com.

The Associated Press is reporting early:

The train had 126 cars and more than 60 carried ethanol, said Aaron Whittington, a dispatcher for Oglesby's police and fire departments. The railroad company planned to bring another engine to the scene to move some of the cars and open up some of the railroad crossings so fire trucks could pass, he said.

Capt. Steve Haywood of the Ottawa Fire Department said the train's tanker cars were shipping ethanol for Decatur-based corn processor Archer Daniels Midland, and possibly other materials and chemicals. At least six tanker cars are burning, Haywood said.

The train was operated by Iowa Interstate Railroad. A dispatcher with the railroad said company officials were headed to the scene Friday.

Several fire departments have been dispatched to the scene, but since water cannot be used on the ethanol they are not making any attempt to extinguish the flames.

Update, 7:45 am Central:
All residents have been evacuate safely and there are no reports of any injuries so far.  A local high school is being used as the evacuation center and the Red Cross is providing cots and meals for the evacuees.

WGN-TV

Residents nearby say that they have heard at least three tank cars explode so far.
The fire department has decided to allow the fire to burn itself out.  It is still burning out of control at this hour.

Firegeezer will  be updating this report as more information is made available.

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Posted by on October 7, 2011 • Filed under: explosion, fire, Fire Rescue Topics, Fires, Haz-mat, HazMat, Videos • Tagged: , , , , , ,

Huge Chemical Plant Fire in Texas

2 comments

Continuous updates.  Scroll down.
Tower-ladder overrun by fire….scroll down for video.
Update, 4:40 pm Central:  Fire 80% contained.  Scroll down.

Live Streaming Video

A MASSIVE FIRE AT A CUSTOM CHEMICAL BLENDING plant in Waxahachie, Texas, is now being allowed to burn out after being contained.

(all live streaming has been discontinued)

CLICK HERE FOR LIVE STREAMING VIDEO from KDFW-TV

KTVT is also Live Streaming HERE.

KXAS-TV is Live Streaming HERE.

WFAA-TV is Live Streaming HERE.

The fire started just before 11 am Central and brought a series of explosions that are continuing.  The fire quickly engulfed the entire plant of four buildings and multiple storage tanks and cannisters.  The fire became so intense and spreading so rapidly that the FD was immediately overwhelmed and have pulled back for now while the fire burns out of control.

Several other fire departments are responding to assist once an effective attack can be organized.

A railroad siding holding a locomotive and at least 10 tank cars has also been enveloped by the flames.

WFAA-TV

The plant is located in an industrial area and there are no homes nearby that could be threatened.  An elementary school that is a half-mile from the fire has been evacuated and all the students transported to another school.

There are six fire departments on the scene at 12:30 pm Central attempting to establish a containment line.  Several more FD's have been called to respond to the fire.

Tower Ladder Overrun, Lost

Watch the Video below:

 

2:15 pm Central:  Ellis County has declared a Civil Emergency.

WFAA

WFAA-TV has more updated information and an extensive photo gallery HERE.

Update, 4:30 pm Central:
KTXA-TV  is reporting that at 2:30 pm Central:

Waxahachie Fire Chief David Hudgins said despite not being able to reach parts of the fire and having lost one ladder truck, fire crews were still making progress battling the blaze.

"We believe that the fire, right now, is about 80 percent contained. We just got a small area right there where you see the flames coming up that we’re not able to get lines in there because weren’t able to get apparatus over there,"

When CBS 11′s Jack Fink asked the chief when the fire would be extinguished he responded, "We think within a couple hours we’ll be able to. We’ll be letting people back into neighborhoods before 5 o’clock."

Flames and fumes from the blaze were so intense that fire crews ultimately decided to let the fire burn itself out. "All firefighters have been pulled back because of the severity of the situation," explained Amy Hollywood, a spokeswoman for the City of Waxahachie.

During the afternoon press conference Chief Hudgins gave some indication how the blaze got out of control. "We had a [chemical] reaction and a fast-moving fire. The building was sprinkled. We do believe that the fire overran the sprinkler system, and before we [fire crews] could get hooked up to it, it had already spread throughout the whole back of the building," explained Hudgins.

KTXA-TV also posted some impressive video of the fire taken earlier as it was still spreading:

 

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Posted by on October 3, 2011 • Filed under: explosion, fire, Fire Rescue Topics, Haz-mat, HazMat, Major Incidents, Videos

Another exploding ambulance

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El Cajon Mall

SDRastaVibez provides colorful "adult" commentary.

His "audition tape for Channel 8" includes dropping the camera when the oxygen tank explodes at the 1:48 mark.

Fox 5 San Diego posted some pictures and a story with a glaring typo:

Ambulance explodes outside shopping center

… since Statter retired the fire and explosion beat is crumbling!

picture by Shaun Richardson FF/PM ECFD / September 29, 2011 and posted by Fox 5 San Diego

LiToVNese video, farther away, post explosion. Shows initial fire department effort:

Not sure if this is the start of a trend, like the Dollar Store arsons, but we will be watching!

Mike "FossilMedic" Ward

Posted by on September 30, 2011 • Filed under: ambulances, EMS Health & Safety, EMS Topics, Fire Rescue Topics, HazMat, News, Vehicle Operation & Ambulances • Tagged: , , , , , , ,

Fireworks Factory Ka-Boom in Italy – Several Dead

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Family-Run Business Totally Destroyed

AT LEAST SIX PEOPLE WERE KILLED Monday afternoon in Frosinone Province, Italy, when a family-run fireworks factory suffered a massive explosion.  The owners of the firm, Claudio Cancelli, 65, and his two sons John, 42, and Joseph, 45, were also killed as the blast leveled two of the three buildings in the mountain complex.  Killed also were at least three other employees and a seventh person is missing, but was known to have been on the premises.

La Stampa

None of the victims had any chance of survival as they were blown to pieces.  "Machinery curled, cracked walls, blocks of tufa and concrete hundreds of feet from the building. The factory was almost completely razed to the ground." – described another witness, the commissioner of Arpino Anthony Venditti.  Everybody in the region knew the Cancellis.

La Stampa

The blast also started a good-sized woods fire in the surrounding area.  Initial firefighting efforts were slowed by a continuing series of small explosions in the storehouses.

La Stampa

Investigation is underway to find the cause for the blast.

La Stampa has the STORY.
Il Tempo has a photo gallery HERE.

A neighbor captured some home video from a distance shortly after the explosion:

 

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Posted by on September 13, 2011 • Filed under: explosion, Fires, HazMat, Videos

Another Suffolk County NY responder needs media training

9 comments

Sussex County (NY) HazMat Incident

From the YouTube post:

A WNBC Cameraman was attacked by a Suffolk County EMS officer at a Haz-Mat seen in Bohemia New York.

The cameraman was filming the aftermath of a chemical spill inside a commercial building that unleashed fumes. The accidental mixing of chemicals sickened 54 workers at a cellphone refurbishing plant in Bohemia.

The cameraman did not cross any police lines and was within his rights to film.

The EMS Person is yelling at the cameraman that he will have him arrested and is trying to rip the camera out of the cameraman's hands. The camera was damaged during the confrontation.

Suffolk police can be sean in the video and took no action agains the EMS office who attacked the cameraman. Police escorted the cameraman down the block and erected police lines to keep the media back.

Scmuck Alert

Stewart Pittman, in his Viewfinder Blues blog, commented on the situation in today's post Schmuck Alert: Dumb and Dumber:

… a clip has surfaced of an EMS official accosting a WNBC photojournalist. " I told you to stop!" the medical technician yells, mistaking his dangling walkie-talkie for the Sword of Grayskull.

The photog appears as perplexed as we the audience, but that's a natural expression when an otherwise mild-mannered first responder tries to wrestle your livelihood from your grip.  

Hey, you don't see us media types snatching stethoscopes from the necks of unsuspecting medics, do you? Do you? 

Hyperbole aside, I'm most troubled by this last clip, as we news shooters have great respect for emergency medical technicians and work hard to stay out of their way.

I mean, we expect longshoremen to go ape-shit when the big words start to fly, but an EMT? Must be more to that story and we here at the Lenslinger Institute are anxious to hear it.

Kirsten Berg, writing for The Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press issued a news media update:

Just weeks after the arrest of a freelance videographer by a Suffolk County police officer was recorded and posted on YouTube, yet another cameraman’s confrontation with authorities over filming in a public place was caught on video in the same Long Island town.

In the most recent incident, an emergency services official responding to the scene of a chemical spill in Bohemia, N.Y., was filmed attempting to wrestle a camera away from a WNBC journalist.

The string of occurrences has raised concerns among civil liberties advocates and journalists over what they said are repeated violations of the right to film in public places.

click on Journalists worried after second interference incident to read the rest of the update.

Mike "FossilMedic" Ward

Related stories from Dave Statter

August 30, 2011: The First Amendment lives. U.S. Court of Appeals in Boston says there is nothing illegal about shooting video of police doing their jobs.

July 31, 2011: What country is this? A look at some recent incidents where the police become news editors & decide what is & isn’t okay for us to see.

Posted by on September 13, 2011 • Filed under: Administration & Leadership, Command & Leadership, culture, EMS Topics, HazMat, News, Videos • Tagged: , , , , , , , , ,

Postal Workers Get Sick at the Post Office

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At Least 17 Transported and Treated

WHAT COULD BE CLASSIFIED AS A HAZ-MAT incident at the Exeter, New Hampshire, post office sickened 20 workers to the point where they had to flee outside and await medical help.  Six area ambulances responded to the rear of the main post office at 9:30 am Thursday where they found the victims suffering from nausea, dizziness, and chest pains.  The ambulances shuttled 17 of the stricken workers to the hospital for treatment.

Exeter, New Hampshire, Post Office

The fire department went into the front lobby where there seemed to be the focal point of the hazard and their gas detectors found an "elevated volatile organic compound" which created a large quantitiy of carbon monoxide.  Queries discovered that during the night an asbestos cleanup crew had used a solvent to remove the asbestos floor tiles and the solvent had seeped down into the plywood subflooring.  The solvent then went into a contiuous dissipation of the vapors that caused everyone to get sick.

WHDH-TV prepared this good video report on the incident:

 

None of the victims were in there long enough to suffer any serious illness, but the entire building has been closed until all the contaminated plywood has been removed.  All of the people who had been transported to the hospital were released later after being checked over and no lingering problems are expected.

Thanks to Mark Donovan.

Firegeezer can't help but notice the irony that the asbestos tiles were on the floor for unknown number of decades and never made anybody sick.  But the crew removing them for "health" reasons ended up making everyone sick.

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Posted by on September 2, 2011 • Filed under: EMS Topics, Haz-mat, HazMat, Videos • Tagged: , ,

Haz-Mat Called For Bull Semen

1 comment

Foul Odor and Strange Vapor Trigger Response

EARLY TUESDAY MORNING AROUND 5 AM a Greyhound bus was taking a curve on a ramp to I-65 in Nashville, Tennessee, when the cargo door flew open and a few strange-looking cannisters flew out.  Passers-by who saw the accident stopped to see what it was as the Greyhound motored on, unaware of the lost cargo.

WKRN-TV

They found four compressed gas cylinders leaking some kind of terrible-smelling vapor and called the Nashville Fire Department.  When the engine company arrived on the scene and saw the dangerous-looking cannisters giving off vapor, they closed down the highway ramp and called in the Haz-Mat squad.  WKRN-TV picks up the story:

Officials traced the containers to Greyhound after finding bus tickets on the ground. The bus did not know it lost its load and had continued on.

Authorities called Greyhound, who, after speaking with the driver of the bus, determined the canisters to be filled with straws of frozen bull semen packed in liquid nitrogen.  The load originated in Columbus, Ohio and was en route to a breeding facility in Laredo, Texas.

WKRN-TV also filed this video report with footage from the scene:

 

WKRN-TV has the full story online including more than you ever wanted to know about how frozen bull sperm is packed and transported HERE.

Nashville Fire Department WEBSITE.

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Posted by on August 23, 2011 • Filed under: Fire Rescue Topics, Haz-mat, HazMat, Videos • Tagged: , , ,

Florida Gas Station Ka-Boom

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Series of Explosions Precede Massive Fire

THE LAST GASOLINE STATION IN ST. JOHN COUNTY, Florida, with above-ground tanks is no more following a devastating explosion and fire that began around 4:30 pm Friday afternoon.

iShot News

A gasoline tank truck was delivering product to the gas station when the first of a series of explosions blew the place apart and started a fire that quickly involved the storage tanks.  Something happened that is not yet known that caused a propane tank next to the convenience store to explode.  That blast in turn caused another propane tank next to it to blow also and the fires spread to the tanker truck and started it burning.  Before long the fires had caused outdoor gasoline storage tanks to also begin burning.  It was said that there were several explosions over the first hour of the incident.

A neighbor was using his cell phone to record this video in the early stages of the fire.  Notice the camera shake when the first tank blows at the 1:00 mark:

 

The truck driver was injured by the first blast and some bystanders including an off-duty Jacksonville firefighter ran in and dragged him to safety before the second explosion rocked the entire area.  The gas station and several other nearby buildings on the property were all destroyed by the fire.

The firefighting effort called for two foam trucks from the St. Augustine airport
to attack the burning storage tanks.  (Ch. 4 News)

The Channel 12 helicopter recorded this aerial view of the fire:

 

With the assistance of units from Jacksonville and the airport crash trucks, the fire was knocked down and under control by 7 pm.  It will be several days before the cause and susbsequent actions will be known.  The 61-yr.-old truck driver was flown to a burn unit in Gainesville with severe burns but is expected to survive.

The Forida Times-Union has the STORY.
FirstCoast News has a collection of 15 video clips of the fire HERE.

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Posted by on August 20, 2011 • Filed under: explosion, fire, Fires, HazMat, Videos • Tagged: , , ,

Catastrophe Narrowly Averted

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Near-Miss at Propane Dealer

EARLY LAST WEEK ON AUGUST 2, an explosion rocked a propane filling station in Butler County, Kansas.  The blast led to a fire that caused an additional 200 small propane tanks to explode over a period of an hour and killed one worker while two others were injured.  The fire started a grass fire and burned out a nearby gasoline filling station along with three homes in the neighborhood.

Wichita Eagle

Yesterday, Friday August 12, the fire marshal released more information including video tapes from the surveillance cameras that show the fire and just how close the area came to being completely blown off the map as the flames impinged on an 18,000 gal. propane tank.

The Wichita Eagle reported on August 3:

Fire Chief Jim Woydziak said the fire at Global Propane sent several of the 33-pound cylinders flying up to 400 feet through the air. It damaged or destroyed 11 vehicles parked at the business and destroyed three nearby homes. Jeffrey S. Burnham, 40, of Wichita, died after being taken to a Wichita hospital, and two other workers were injured.

Shortly before the explosion, Burnham was working around a truck carrying 200 cylinders that are typically used to power forklifts, Woydziak said. The truck was backed into an enclosure that had three walls and a canopy. The enclosure was used to fill the cylinders from a nearby 18,000-gallon tank.

As Burnham was filling one of the cylinders, Woydziak said, something caused the coupling to come loose from the cylinder. The hose immediately began flailing around as propane spewed from the end.

The blast sent flames up to 60 feet in the air and damaged pipes under the large tank, and those pipes also began leaking propane. The large tank burned well into the night before finally burning itself out around 11 p.m.

KSN-TV image

Woydziak said a nearby delivery truck that uses a 3,000-gallon tank to deliver propane to homes also caught fire. That tank burned throughout the night and finally went out at about 8:30 the next morning.

After responding to the scene and seeing what they had, the FD pulled back and ordered a full evacuation for a 1-mile radius.

The Wichita Eagle also has a good in-depth report plus an account of a genuine heroic act by one of the workers HERE.

The latest information released by the fire mashal says that the victim who perished was filling one of the forklift cylinders when the hose separated from the cylinder for an unknown reason and started whipping around, eventually causing a spark that triggered the first explosion and started the chain of events.  They also released some video showing how close to catastrophe the incident came as an open flame impinged on the large tank.

KSN-TV Ch. 3 filed this report that includes the mentioned video and more about the beginning of the incident:

 

It is an understatement to say that the area was fortunate.  That one would have been visible to the crew at the space station.

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Posted by on August 13, 2011 • Filed under: explosion, Fire Rescue Topics, Fires, Haz-mat, HazMat, Videos • Tagged: , ,

Haz-Mat Incident / Fire in Sacramento Exposes Budget-Cutting Deficiencies

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City Shifting Burden of Haz-Mat Protection Onto Neighboring City

THE SACRAMENTO (California) FIRE DEPARTMENT along with the Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District responded to a call for smoke coming from a parked trailer in an industrial truck repair yard Wednesday morning.  When they arrived on the scene they found chemical fumes coming from a truck trailer that contained about ten different chemicals stored inside it.

KCRA-TV

Not knowing which chemicals had mixed and reacted inside the trailer, the IC elevated the call to a Level 3 Haz-Mat incident, calling for evacuation of about 50 nearby businesses and full HM response including decontamination team.  Unfortunately, one of Sacramento's two haz-mat units was sidelined less than a week ago due to recent budget cuts and they had to special-call the haz-mat unit from the City of Roseville.

The Sacramento Bee picks up the STORY:

Crews ventilated the trailer and evacuated more than 50 nearby businesses, Ogan said.
It was determined that oil containing refrigerant had leaked from a container in the trailer and likely mixed with another chemical to create the fumes, said Sacramento Fire Department Assistant Chief Niko King. Three people were transported to a hospital for some "inhalation irritation," King said.

The situation seemed to be resolved around 1 p.m., when fire officials turned the cleanup over to Clean Harbors, a hazardous chemicals disposal company based in Massachusetts that was storing the trailer at Mike & Son's, Rexroad said.

However, Ogan said, officials believe that before the truck could be unloaded, two non-compatible chemicals came into contact and ignited a fire around 5 p.m.

The fire was contained using hose streams and several units were held on the scene through the entire night.

KCRA-TV Ch. 3 was on the scene also and filed this video report:

 

Sacramento's fire chief has been very outspoken while informing the citizens on how their fire and rescue services have been degraded since the city council began cutting back the resources over a year ago.  His policy of being upfront with it is quite evident in the video interviews with the chief-level officers.

NewsChannel 10 strongly hammered that point home in this video report that also includes some fire footage:

 

This morning the FD announced that the situation has been mitigated and the property was turned over to the truck repair company.

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Posted by on July 7, 2011 • Filed under: fire, Fire Rescue Topics, Fires, Funding & Staffing, HazMat, Videos • Tagged: , ,

“Melons Bursting In Air”

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A FireEMS blogger "team-building" event?

Rachel Emma Silverman, writing for The Wall Street Journal posted a fascinating article with video about Steve Wolf's Stunt Ranch.

(2011 July 02) Melons Bursting in Air (probably need a Wall Street Journal subscription to access entire article)

Silverman notes the changes required due to the severe drought:

The five-hour, $250 class offers a glimpse of the secrets behind fireballs, squibs, other cinematic explosions and holiday fireworks.

But with a severe drought here, and a ban on most open fires, Mr. Wolf's Special FX International classes this summer feature "aquatechnic" effects.

Cue the exploding watermelons. The class rigs the melons with blasting caps, small explosives that typically help to trigger larger explosions but are quite potent in their own right.

Oops, we may have a snag ..

Students must be willing to submit to a federal background check before enrolling.

They have to fill out a questionnaire from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives including such queries as "Are you a fugitive from justice? "

Mr. Wolf requires that they wear safety goggles, hearing protection, closed-toe shoes and natural fibers, such as cotton, rather than flammable synthetics.

Big finale

Capping off the class is another aquatechnic effect, using high-energy liquid explosive, or Helix. The agent, a reactive powder mixed with a liquid catalyst, is rigged to the bottom of a large ditch that is then filled with about 500 gallons of water.

Students stand about 150 feet away and detonate the explosive with the Holatron, sending a 100-foot plume of water into the air and a rumbling shock wave beneath the class's feet.

Cool!

Stunt Discovery Day promotion:

Stunt Ranch on FaceBook

Mike "FossilMedic" Ward

Posted by on July 4, 2011 • Filed under: current events, explosion, Fire Rescue Topics, fun, HazMat, News, Special Operations, Training & Development • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,

Your Independence Day moment of Zen … with an Arizona Bonus

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What 5000 pounds of confiscated fireworks do when ignited.

More than 5,000 pounds of fireworks were detonated in one big pile at the New York Police Department firing range in the Bronx on Friday, July 1, 2011.

What it used to look like on FDNY's busiest day:

Rescue 3 July 4th, 1991, an Alan Simmons/Firestorm HD Production

Vintage footage of Rescue 3 shot during the week of July 4th, 1991. Featured are station scenes, receiving alarms, responding, and working at numerous fires in the Bronx and Manhattan.

This seven minute presentation contains selected scenes from the one hour feature available at www.firestormvideos.com

Picked up from Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/FirestormHD

1990 was busier!

R1SmokeEater has posted FDNY audio from July 1, 1990. Has about 11 YouTube posts, can start HERE with Brooklyn dispatch at 9 pm.

1989 had Rescue 911 and Bill Shatner!

UPDATE 1!

How could I forget! 

Dave Statter buffed FDNY July 4th in 1993.

Here is his compelling video …. or you can skip down to his self-deprecating remarks.

A lot of sitting and waiting and listening to M-80s exploding during a relatively slow Fourth of July weekend in 1993.

Vito Maggiolo can be heard blaming me for the lack of activity. Though we did take in a couple of fires and a blimp crash.

The blimp incident can be found on this clip – http://tinyurl.com/kv2xpg .

UPDATE 2:  ARIZONA BONUS!

Fireworks are legal in Arizona this year. 

Adele Hampton, writing for Phoenix New Times, provide YouTube video examples of "Five Best Ways to Ruin Your 4th of July"

  • The Sledgehammer Technique
  • In a bathtub
  • Lighting fire with fire
  • Know when enough is enough
  • Don't be a Jackass (may look familar to our Maryland readers)

Go HERE to enjoy.

Hope that your 4th is great!

Mike "FossilMedic" Ward

Posted by on July 3, 2011 • Filed under: arson, Fire Prevention & Education, Fire Rescue Topics, HazMat, Major Incidents, News, Urban Commander, Videos • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Quick Success On Refinery Fire

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This report was submitted by Firefighter Nenad Ilisic in Croatia.
The story is told in his words:

Refinery Fire in Croatia

MONDAY MORNING AT 10:30 A MAJOR FIRE started in the Sisak oil refinery in Sisak, Croatia.

All photos via Jutarnji

The fire was up to 20 meters high, and the smoke was visible in 60 km area. In the action were engaged FF from the Sisak refinery, the cities of Sisak, Ivanić-grad, Zagreb, Velika Gorica, and Čazma.

About 160 FF with 60 vehicles fought the fire. First information says that more than 50 000 liters of foam solution and 2000 kg of powder were spent in this action. 6 FF asked medical help, 5 of them for light smoke inhalation and one of them for light burns on his hands.

People living near the refinery were evacuated, and the crisis center was formed. 2 helicopters and 3 firefighting airplanes (Airtractor – Fire Boss) were on alert, ready to fly.

Reuters posted some good, yet brief, raw video of the fire:

 

The fire was under control at 13:00, and extiguished at 15:00 hours.

Today is the start of investigation to find the reason of fire and explosions in the refinery.

Jutarnji has a 57-image photo gallery HERE.
Vecernji has a good video HERE.

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Posted by on June 21, 2011 • Filed under: fire, Fires, HazMat, Major Incidents, Videos • Tagged: , ,

Haz-Mat at Sea Training in Italy

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Water Rescues and Chemical Spill Mitigation

On 15 June, the Vigili del Fuoco (Italian Fire Service) carried out the exercise of Venice "Pollex 2011" organized by the Harbour – Venice Maritime Directorate.

The haz-mat team boards the fireboat to respond to the "chemical spill."
(all photos courtesy of the National Vigili del Fuoco)

The scenario presented the simulation of an accident between a merchant ship and a vessel engaged in transportation of chemicals, resulting in the leaking of pyrolysis gasoline (the substance is highly toxic – harmful and flammable), on board the ship  about 4 miles from the Port of Malamocco.

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Part of the exercise was the rescue of shipwrecked crewmen from the chemical ship. The other evolution was the containment and cleanup of the pyrolysis gasoline,

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They participated with the operations of the Motobarcapompa Detachment Port carrying personal conduct teams CBRN (Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear), SAF (Alpine cave and river rescue) and firefighters.  Also the Divers Unit 81 Dragon and the helicopter recovery team.

The entire operation was completed in about four hours.

The National Vigili del Fuoco has a photo gallery of the exercise HERE. (Click on Successive for the next page.)

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Posted by on June 19, 2011 • Filed under: Fire Rescue Topics, HazMat, rescue, Rescues, Training, training-fire-rescue-topics

Intel Chip Plant Ka-Boom Injures Seven

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Production Line Not Affected

A FLASH-FIRE IN A SOLVENT COLLECTION FACILITY injured seven people, one severely, Tuesday afternoon at Intel Corp.'s Chandler, Arizona, chip plant.

KSAZ-TV image

The Arizona Republic tells us:

Several hundred people were evacuated from Building OC-10, said Chandler Fire Battalion Chief Scott Wall.

One employee suffered second- or third-degree burns and was transported to Maricopa Medical Center, Wall said. The worker was "severely injured" but the burns are not life-threatening, Wall said.

Two were taken to Chandler Regional Medical Center and one to Mercy Gilbert Medical Center, he said. Three others were treated and released on site.

More than 70 firefighters from several departments including three haz-mat squads responded to the fire that was out on arrival.  The solvent recovery section stores four different types of chemicals in 55-gal. drums.  The accident took place in an area designed to handle the products and able to resist the type of event that occurred.

"We're starting up a new technology and as we do that we have a number of chemistries that we use, and this particular chemistry, we were collecting waste and starting up the abatement system which will basically burn the outgassing of this chemical before it goes through our exhaust system," Intel Vice President John Pemberton told reporters.  The accident did not affect the two assembly buildings where the chip production takes place.

The site is being investigated today to determine if the accident was caused by human error or from a mechanical malfunction.

KSAZ-TV has more HERE.

KSAZ-TV Ch. 10 has some raw aerial footage of the accident site:

 

Intel's Chandler facility is the chip-maker's second-largest plant and employs 9,700 people.  The Chandler Fire Department inspects the complex twice a year.

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Posted by on June 8, 2011 • Filed under: explosion, fire, Fires, Haz-mat, HazMat, Videos • Tagged: , , ,

Industrial Explosion, Fire in North Carolina

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AN EXPLOSION AT A NORTH CAROLINA FACTORY Saturday afternoon started a major fire that destroyed the plant and caused 750 people to be evacuated from their homes.

WBTV

The alarm was sent to Caldwell County fire departments shortly after 3 pm for the Chemical Coatings plant near Hudson.  The Charlotte Observer writes:

What caused the explosion and fire was unclear Saturday night. But a Hudson fire official said firefighters were especially concerned about the presence of nitrocellulose, a highly flammable compound that the official compared to gunpowder.

The fire involved three buildings, said spokesman B.J. Fore of the Caldwell County Sheriff's Office. One belonged to Chemical Coatings and the other two were nearby furniture upholstery plants.

The fire was contained around 6 p.m., Fore said, although crews continued to battle hot spots.

The area's air quality was tested, and the evacuation order was lifted around 9 p.m., Fore said. HazMat crews were performing a cleanup by around 10 p.m.

The plant was not operating at the time, but an unconfirmed report stated that one person had to be taken to the hospital.

WBTV Ch. 3 Charlotte filed this video report from the scene:

 

The general alarm fire brought units from seven counties and the city of Charlotte to the scene.

Chemical Coatings makes dyes, lacquers, and other coatings for furniture.

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Posted by on May 29, 2011 • Filed under: explosion, fire, Fires, Haz-mat, HazMat, Videos • Tagged: , , ,

Grimsvotn eruption previews Rapture?

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END OF DAYS?

From my source of breaking business travel information:

Saturday, May 21, 6:45ET

Dear JoeSentMe member:

Just a brief note to let you know that Iceland's Grimsvotn volcano began erupting today for the first time since 2004.

AP photo

As you'll recall, eruptions from Iceland's Eyjafjallajokul volcano last year spread volcanic ash across the North Atlantic and much of Europe.

Thousands of flights were cancelled last spring and millions of travelers were stranded, delayed, rerouted and generally inconvenienced. (including Medic 999)

It's too early to tell whether this new volcanic action will affect air-travel patterns. According to scientists, it'll all depend on how long the eruption continues and where the winds blow the ash in the coming days.

So do watch for developments.

On the other hand, that Harold Camping fellow did say volcanoes and earthquakes (and there have been some smaller quakes in Iceland after the eruption) were the first sign of the end of days, which was scheduled for today.

However, like the airlines, Camping's Rapture has been late in arriving. And, just like the airlines, Camping's Web site has gone down and neither he nor his people are available to explain the delay.

I'll update you via E-mail if the volcanic ash begins to affect transatlantic or other flights. Unless, of course, it is The Rapture and then your own your own. …

Tremblingly yours, Joe Brancatelli // JoeSentMe.com //

CNN: Grimsvotn volcano erupts in Iceland

Mike "FossilMedic" Ward

Posted by on May 21, 2011 • Filed under: HazMat, Major Incidents, Mass Casualty Incident, News, Special Operations • Tagged: , , , , , , , , , ,

General Alarm Working in Erie

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Industrial Fire in Biodiesel Plant
Haz-Mat Challenge as Explosions Continue

A MASSIVE FIRE IN AN INDUSTRIAL center just outside Erie, Pennsylvania, in Harborcreek Township and is still burning this morning and occupying every fire company in the area.

Erie Times-News

The fire was reported at 8:15 Saturday night at Thermoclad, a company that makes plastic powders used in plastic piping.  But when the first units arrived they found a sizeable fire in progress at the nearby American Biodiesel Energy Co. building.

The entire western side of the building was ablaze and spreading, triggering multiple explosions that continued through the night.  Twelve area fire departments worked the fire with mutual aid assistence from the City of Erie and the Erie County Haz-Mat team.

This morning the entire 56,000-sq.-ft. building has been destroyed with what the owner says several million dollars worth of processing equipment that was inside.  The Erie Times-News is quoting the business owner Lee Akerly as saying that the building wasn't insured. "We take such stringent care of the safety policy here, we didn't think anything could happen," he said.

The early reports are still conflicting on whether the Thermoclad  plant was involved in the fire or not.  Firegeezer will try to update the story later.  Currently the units are still on the scene.

Read the early report from the Times-News HERE.

Update, 10:00 am
The fire is out now and investigators are preparing to enter the ruins.  Three firefighters had minor injuries and authorities say that there were no known people inside at the time of the blaze.

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Posted by on May 15, 2011 • Filed under: fire, Fires, Haz-mat, HazMat • Tagged: , , ,