Ethanol fuels fire concerns
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) - February 26, 2008 Many fire departments around the country don't have the foam,
don't have enough of it, or are not well-trained in how to apply
it, firefighting experts say. It is also more expensive than
conventional foam.
"It is not unusual to find a fire department that is still just
prepared to deal with traditional flammable liquids," said Ed
Plaugher, director of national programs for the International
Association of Fire Chiefs.
The problem is that water doesn't put out ethanol fires, and the
foam that has been used since the 1960s to smother ordinary
gasoline blazes doesn't work well against the grain-alcohol fuel.
Wrecks involving ordinary cars and trucks are not the major
concern. They carry modest amounts of fuel, and it is typically a
low-concentration, 10 percent blend of ethanol and gasoline. A
large amount of conventional foam can usually extinguish such
fires.
Instead, the real danger involves the many tanker trucks and
railcars that are rolling out of the Corn Belt with huge quantities
of 85 or 95 percent ethanol and carrying it to parts of the country
unaccustomed to dealing with it.
"Now, the most common hazardous material has a new twist to
it," said Mike Schultz, a firefighter who manned a foam gun during
a recent blaze in Missouri.
The risk is more than theoretical. Over the past several years,
ethanol accidents on highways, along railroads and in storehouses
and refineries have triggered evacuations and fires from Texas to
Minnesota, injuring several people and killing at least one person.
Water is not used against gasoline fires, because it can spread
the blaze and cause the flames to run down into drains and sewers.
Instead, foam is used to form a blanket on top of the burning
gasoline and snuff out of the flames. But ethanol - a type of grain
alcohol often distilled from corn - eats through that foam and
continues to burn.
Such fires require a special alcohol-resistant foam that relies
on long-chain molecules known as polymers to smother the flames.
Industry officials say the special foam costs about 30 percent more
than the standard product, at around $90 to $115 for a five-gallon
container.
Fighting ethanol fires also requires a change in tactics. Brent
Gaspard, marketing director for Williams Fire & Hazard Control
Inc., an industrial firefighting company in Texas, said
firefighters cannot just charge ahead and attack an ethanol fire
with foam.
"If you just plunge the foam into the fuel, it's going to be
less effective. You have to let the foam gently run across the
surface so you create a shield," he said.
Industry officials said fire departments in just the past few
months are becoming more knowledgeable about ethanol blazes and the
special firefighting foam.
At the ethanol industry's annual conference in Orlando, Fla., a
member of a leading ethanol trade group is leading a session this
week on safety for ethanol employees, emergency workers and
communities. Fire officials in Iowa and Missouri also want to offer
firefighters there ethanol training.
"We're talking about a product that could become more widely
used with therefore more exposure to this chemical," said Randy
Novak, head of the training bureau for the Iowa fire marshal. "We
need to make sure folks understand what it is and how to deal with
it."
To help firefighters identify when high concentrations of
ethanol are burning, the U.S. Transportation Department has
approved a rule requiring signs on tanker trucks hauling fuel that
is more than 10 percent ethanol.
In the last three months of 2007, three major fires pointed up
the danger. In western Pennsylvania, nine ethanol tanker cars
derailed and triggered a blaze that tied up a busy rail line.
In Missouri, a tanker truck carrying several thousand gallons of
ethanol and gasoline crashed near the state Capitol, killing the
driver. The flames spurred the evacuation of two elementary schools
and forced the state to rebuild a badly damaged bridge.
And in Ohio, a train heading through the northeastern part of
the state to Buffalo, N.Y., derailed and burned, forcing more than
1,000 people from their homes.
Firefighters in Missouri and Pennsylvania each had some of the
special foam on hand. But John Ofman, chief of a volunteer fire
company in West Wheatfield Township, Pa., said his department did
not have enough and had to depend on outside help.
---
On the Net:
Renewable fuels: http://www.ethanolrfa.org