MANY emergency responders across the United States lack the tools and training needed to effectively deal with ethanol and ethanol/gasoline fires and spills. Failure to address this issue could result in a major catastrophe.
This sobering assessment came from Chief Bob Royal, Harris County (Texas) fire marshal. He and David White, president of Fire & Safety Specialists Inc, addressed ethanol emergency response during the ILTA's International Operating Conference June 11-13 in Houston, Texas.
“With more ethanol being transported throughout the United States, we're increasingly concerned about the potential for fires and spills,” Royal said. “Fires are particularly troubling. Fire departments across the country are ill equipped and ill trained to deal with these fires. Most have only limited supplies of fire fighting foam. Comprehensive regional response plans for major ethanol fires are non-existent or have not been effectively tested.
“Most fire departments definitely are not prepared for a major ethanol fire at a bulk storage facility. Ethanol fires in large storage tanks could be very challenging and very dangerous.”
Royal added that ethanol spills pose serious issues even if no fire results. “Ethanol is water soluble, and it goes into the ground faster than gasoline,” he said.
Since 2000, there have been 26 major ethanol fires in the United States, according to White. This includes 14 at ethanol production plants and three involving tank trucks. Four tankcar derailments resulted in fires.
In battling those blazes, fire fighters have learned that they must use different techniques to achieve success, according to White. What has worked in the past on gasoline can be ineffective on ethanol, a water-soluble polar solvent. This is especially true for firefighting foams.
White described a two-week blind test that was conducted in February at the Ansul Fire Technology Center in Marinette, Wisconsin. Testers concluded at the end of the test that foams without an alcohol resistant polymer were unsuccessful in extinguishing fires involving E95, a blend of 95% ethanol and 5% gasoline. E95 is the typical blend shipped to storage terminals by rail tankcar, barge, and tank truck.
Only two foam formulations (AR-AFFF and AR-AFFP) proved effective with ethanol blends from E10 through E95. However, AR-AFFP was successful on E95 only at higher application rates and it failed a burn-back test. Only AR-AFFF passed a sprinkler application, which is typical of the fire suppression systems at many tank trailer loading racks.