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Firefighters practice for chlorine leaks
Published February 17, 2010
An accident occurs, maybe at a water plant or maybe on a freight train streaming through town in the middle of the night, and several tanker cars derail.
One ruptures, and a pungent, poisonous green gas that smells a lot like bleach settles over the neighborhood around the tracks, killing nearby residents in their beds.
Sound farfetched — like a disaster not likely to occur in Seguin?
It happened in San Antonio on July 5, 2004, when two trains collided, derailing 40 cars — one of which was a chlorine car. A railroad engineer and two residents died in their nearby home. Another 50 people were hospitalized because of their exposure to the gas before emergency responders were able to evacuate them.
How does a fire department respond?
Local firefighters are finding out this week.
Seguin Fire/EMS is hosting a course offered by the Texas Engineering Extension Service, TEEX, in responding to a chlorine leak and, if possible, capping it off. Tuesday’s training included firefighters from Geronimo and New Braunfels as well as workers with the city’s utilities, who handle chlorine in water treatment plants.
Seguin Fire Department Battalion Chief Rusty Krueger said the firefighters were taught how to use an emergency kit to seal off and shut down the valve on a 150-pound chlorine tank, and were training Tuesday afternoon in how to apply it in field conditions.
The training takes place in a large utility trailer, and firefighters have to don their self-contained breathing apparatuses with a special hazardous materials protective suit and heavy gloves. Just as they would likely have to do in a real emergency, they do the exercise in the dark with smoke instead of poisonous gas.
“They’re going in and applying a patch,” Krueger said. “There’s zero visibility in there, and you have to work with the tools.”
The tank firefighters were working to seal was similar to several used here in town at water and sewage treatment plants, Krueger said. None have caused a problem in Krueger’s recollection, but it doesn’t hurt to be ready, he said.
TEEX Instructor Eddie Bartlett goes around the state, teaching fire departments about how to respond to chlorine leaks or other “hazmat” problems.
The water treatment plants are relatively safe, he noted, because of the measures used to protect the tanks and because they don’t move around much, once they’ve been delivered.
But plenty of chlorine rolls through town on its way to other places, Bartlett said.
“You have it traveling in flatbed trucks on the highways and also by rail,” Bartlett explained.
By far, the biggest problem with chlorine storage or transport is leaky or broken tank valves, Bartlett said. That’s what firefighters were learning to deal with in this training cycle, he said.
“They place a cap over the leaking valve, put a heavy steel yoke around it and clamp it down,” he said. “They have to be able to do it without being able to see it, and in full protective gear.”
For training purposes, Bartlett said, the firefighters were using non-toxic, theatrical smoke.
“It’s the same thing you’d see at a play or a concert,” he said. “If it was a real chlorine leak, it would look something like what they’re dealing with in there.”
The green suits the firefighters were using were training clothes that provide moderate vapor protection. The breathing equipment was the same as they use in fighting any fire, Bartlett said.
The firefighters are taught to work in teams of two — just as they would going into a burning building.
Seguin Fire Lt. Mark Kublank and Firefighter Antonio Gonzales were paired together, and they could be heard inside the trailer, slapping the cover and the cuff around a tank, just before they came out — letting a load of smoke out with them.
Gonzales gave a “thumbs-up” gesture on his way out of the trailer.
“That wasn’t that bad!” he said.
“It was very realistic,” Kublank said. “You have basically no visibility, the gloves made it tough to feel what you’re doing, and it’s tough to work.”
“It’s hot in there,” Gonzales agreed. “But it’s good training. And we capped it — we put a clamp on it, and tightened the clamp down over the valve.”
It can’t be worse than working in a burning building, where the superheated gasses created by a fire are just as deadly as chlorine, should a firefighter make a mistake.
Do they think they’re ready when the time comes? No problems?
“The stress level will be higher if it’s a real event, but the training makes us feel more comfortable that we’re prepared to deal with it,” Gonzales said.
Still cautious, though, Kublank was quick to add.
“You can’t say ‘no problem,’” the fire lieutenant said. “With poisonous gas, there’s always going to be a problem.”
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