Article

Success stories

If there ever was a question about the value of the Propane Education & Research Council (PERC) assessment revenue providing safety value to the propane industry, the development, implementation and successful use of PERC’s Propane Emergencies program should lay such questions to rest.

Prior to the development and distribution of Propane Emergencies, firefighters and emergency personnel had little information about propane. In fact, firefighters interviewed after a propane incident were gregarious in their concerns and attitude about propane. Ignorance fosters negativity, and those concerns fanned the flame of an attitude that propane is a dangerous product and can be unpredictable. While such generalizations are untrue, they were founded in experience.

An example of such problems was learned from the 1998 explosion and fire near Albert City, Iowa, in which two firefighters were killed. The fire chief, five firefighters and a sheriff’s deputy were injured in the blast.

As the LP storage tank burned, gas venting from the pressure relief valves on the tank created a loud noise similar to a jet engine, making communications difficult, according to the report. The fire chief indicated the plan was to allow the tank to burn itself out and to protect exposures.

The lack of an adequate and reliable water supply near the site and the decision to protect the exposed buildings and not to relocate all personnel to a safe location contributed to the deaths and injuries when the BLEVE occurred.

This was just one example of a greater need for training emergency personnel in handling propane incidents.

Responding to the need
In December of 1998, the chairman of the National Propane Gas Association’s Education, Training and Safety Committee approached PERC to develop a textbook on how to safely handle propane emergencies. A year later, PERC distributed the initial textbook to more than 29,000 fire departments, state fire agencies, state fire marshals and hazardous material teams across the country – free of charge.

Since that time, Propane Emergencies has evolved from a single text into a comprehensive curriculum of training, instruction and outreach to the fire service and propane industries. Eight years later, the PERC Propane Emergencies team decided to create a third edition textbook rewrite, which currently provides greater detail, examples and upgraded information.

Successful outreach
Greg Noll, executive vice president of the Propane Marketers Association of Kansas, shares his successful outreach story:

“In 2009, numerous states were awarded a $5,000 grant from national PERC to be used for the Propane Emergencies program. Rather than conduct a few training sessions around the state to promote the Propane Emergencies training, we chose to purchase the training materials and distributed the training materials to each county’s emergency preparedness director. We urged them to work closely with the propane marketers as well as fire departments and first responders in their respective county to gain a better knowledge of propane safety and to plan in advance of what would need to be done if firefighters and emergency responders were faced with an actual propane emergency.”
Noll observes, “Being prepared to respond to a propane emergency is the most important item of all. A good working relationship between fire protection agencies, first responders and propane companies is vital to all involved. By using the Propane Emergencies training materials, a better understanding is achieved of what needs to be done to properly respond to a propane emergency.”

According to Neal Kanel, president of the Nebraska Propane Gas Association, “Many states, including Nebraska, also offer fire simulation training, which affords fire personnel the opportunity to become familiar with hands-on experience.”

In many cases, PERC grants paid for costs of propane and water.

Tragedy averted
On Dec. 10, 2009, the community of Norfolk, Neb., dodged a potentially dangerous bullet, when piping under a propane storage tank at a milk processing plant caught fire. The 30,000-gallon tank had recently been filled.

Law enforcement immediately evacuated a mile radius around the plant, including three elementary schools, hotels, apartments and homes.

After accurately assessing the situation, Shane Weidner, Norfolk fire chief, informed his crew: “You guys are trained for this; we’ve done this before. It’s a propane scenario, propane evolution. We train for that. Go out there, be safe, shut the valves and Godspeed.”

His crew responded, “We’ll get ’er done, chief.”

As the team sprayed water on the tank to keep it cool, firefighter Scott Bonsall crouched down and turned off a single valve. The procedure was repeated until all three valves were off and the situation was under control. No one was hurt.

After the incident, Bonsall said: “It came down to everybody had certain jobs, and I knew what the tank looked like and I knew where the valves were.”

In recognition of the Norfolk success story, Bob Herron, propane operations manager of Ohio-based The Energy Cooperative, was quoted as saying, “This is why we do live fire training. Thanks to our firefighter instructors and our employees who help with this training. May we never need the training, but always be ready.”

Now that truly is a Propane Emergencies success story.