The City of Salisbury, NC
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The City of Salisbury, NC |
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| P.O. Box 479, Salisbury, NC 28145-0479 | ||
| Salisbury Fire Department |
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elcome to the 2000 annual report for the Rowan Salisbury Hazardous Materials Team. This report contains information about the team and its activities over the last 12 months.We have learned from our past that the future will be full of challenges that we must prepare for to better serve the citizens of Rowan County.
Our Mission
To remove endangered people, conduct emergency rescue operations and act as technical advisors to the incident commander at scenes of hazardous materials releases.
Training
We began the year with training for Mass Decontamination. With the growing concern of an incident that exposes a large number of citizens to a biological or chemical weapon, the need is present to develop a plan to perform Mass Decontamination of the victims. A training class was set up with Charlotte Fire Department’s Bart Massey and Tony Bateman on how to perform decon and the lessons that Charlotte has learned from an exercise that they had conducted.
Team training also included in-service sessions on Explosives incidents and Poisons.
During the year 2000, Haz Mat Team members completed 432 hours of hazardous materials based training. This included breathing apparatus, researching materials, using various plugging kits, and protective clothing.
Responses
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A Level 2 response was dispatched in January for a vehicle accident with an unknown spill in the cargo area of a single axle delivery truck. The product was determined to be paint residue that leaked out.
In February 3 Level 2 responses were made. The team stood by at Liberty Fire Dept. while a drug lab bust was made. The team members researched the chemicals that were being used to develop a plan should a spill occur. A calcium hydroxide spill occurred at the Salisbury Water Treatment Plant. The team installed an underflow dam to contain the material but allow the water to continue to flow. Follow up readings were taken over the course of a few days to determine pH readings. A fuel spill occurred as the result of a tractor-trailer accident on I-85 near China Grove. The team confined the fuel spill and applied absorbent.
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In April, the team was dispatched to Buck Steam Station with Miller’s Ferry Fire Dept. on what was to be the worst call the team was involved in this year. A transformed exploded while two workers were working on it. Due to the explosion, one worker was unable to escape and was lying in the diked area under the burning transformer. Duke Power fire brigade members were able to remove the worker under the protection of their foam lines. The haz mat team assisted with manning the foam lines and extinguishing the burning liquid. Initially, the liquid was identified as mineral oil but a later identification was made that the transformer contained PCB. The injured worker later died from his injuries.
July proved to be an active month for the team. Several fuel spills were handled by the team with applying absorbents and pads. A tractor-trailer accident on I-85 sent Millers Ferry responding with a report that the vehicle was on fire. The truck’s fuel tanks were ripped open as the truck struck the guardrail. The fuel then ignited and was burning on the bridge. Some fuel was draining off of the bridge causing ground contamination. The team again placed pads and absorbents down to limit the spread and checked for run off to the creek.
Another traffic accident later in the year resulted in the team’s response to assist Miller’s Ferry with another tractor-trailer truck. The fuel tanks were damaged but the leak was stopped due to the fuel being below the tear.
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A strong storm passed through Rowan County on August 18th that resulted in a response by Locke Fire Dept. and the Haz Mat team to the Rowan County Airport. Several planes were damaged and one flipped over when high winds blew through. The team was requested to off load the fuel from the two severely damaged planes. The planes were grounded and bonded to eliminate sparks, the fuel offloaded into pools then pumped into over pack drums for disposal.
The team responded to assist Union Volunteer Fire Department with an accident involving a 3000-gallon gasoline delivery vehicle that was on its side. In assessing the incident and the potential for a large spill, a team entered into the hot zone and applied a dome clamp. This lessened the spill potential until the truck could be off loaded.
Task Force Meetings
The four quarterly Task Force Meetings were held at Fire Station 52. Members of both the Salisbury Fire Department and Rowan County Fire Marshal’s Office attended the meetings. The meetings are used to discuss the issues related to responding to incidents, training issues and planning
Equipment
In May, the county received a grant from the NC Dept. of Crime Control and Public Safety for equipment purchases. The Haz Mat team purchased new breathing apparatus and cool vests. The cool vests were later switched for a PID monitor. Two Phd monitors were removed from service due to malfunctions related to exposure to diesel exhaust.
Also this month, the team received a donated laptop computer from Kay Dover Realty. The computer was a used model that needed a new battery but was in better condition than our current laptop.
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The main focus for equipment concerns continues to be a better response vehicle. It is crucial to the operation of the team to acquire a newer vehicle. Equipment damage is still an issue due to equipment being stacked on top of other equipment. There is equipment that can’t be carried due to a lack of space to carry it.
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Interior conditions of the response truck show clutter due to the amount of equipment that is carried and gives an appearance of being unorganized. To operate off of the truck, a considerable amount of time must be spent to remove all of the equipment from the floor area so that equipment can be accessed.
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Replacement Level A suits were purchased due to spare suits failing the annual pressure test. Each year, the suits are pressurized to detect any leakage that could indicate a tear or other weak spot in the suit material. Several suits failed and the manufacturer would not replace them even though they had not been used. This prompted the team to look at other suits. The Tychem 10,000 Level A suit was purchased to replace the Kappler brand suits. The advantage that the Tychem suit gives us over the Kappler Responder is that they are also suitable for use against some nerve agent gases such at Sarin, Tubin, and Sulfur Mustard, which are often associated with terrorist attacks.
Planning
The end of the year 2000 presented the Haz Mat team with an incident potential that could go beyond the boundaries of a facility and enters a navigable waterway and impact residents downstream.
North Carolina Finishing Company abruptly closed its doors and shut down its operation. The plant stores and uses a large quantity of solid and liquid chemicals in its processes. Some containers were left open with the expectancy that they would be used the following day.
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The situation worsened when utilities to the building were shut down. This meant that fire protection systems froze and ruptured inside of the building leaving the systems unreliable. Representatives from the Haz Mat Team and Fire Marshal’s Office toured the facility to get a look at the magnitude of the problem. The good news was that the bulk of the chemicals were stored in containers that were in good condition and simply needed to be removed from the building. The bad news was that there were containers left open that are water reactive or could be easily contaminated by other substances.
A special meeting of the Rowan County LEPC was held on January 3, 2001 to discuss the situation. At this point, some of the chemicals are being removed by the vendors to reduce the amount of stored material.
Looking at the numbers………………………
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Level 1 response are responses that, based on information received, can generally by handled by a single company or department trained to first responder competencies.
Level 2 response are responses that involve a greater hazard and response of the haz mat team trained to the technician level.
Level 3 responses are responses that are major in scale that will require response of resources outside of Rowan County.
Haz Mat Team Members
Salisbury Fire Dept.
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A Shift |
B Shift |
C Shift |
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Capt. Todd Overcash |
Capt. Alan Eudy |
Capt. Ron Herion |
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FE. Rick Fleming |
FE. Bobby Fox |
FE. Monte Quillman |
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FCS. Doug Carter |
FCS. Matt Ridenhour |
FCS. Colin Simpson |
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FE. Mike Spry |
FE. Brad White |
FE. Darrell Nichols |
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FCS. Chris Smith |
FCS. Chris Eagle |
FCS. Ken Keller |
Staff Members
Asst. Chief Rick Fesperman
Batt. Chief Bob Parnell
Captain Marshall Moore
Rowan County Fire Marshal’s Office
Fire Marshal Art Delaney Asst. Fire Marshal Dan Peters
Asst. Fire Marshal Chris Lyerly
Asst. Fire Marshal Johnny Thomason
Conclusion
As the year ends and a new one begins, we can look back at the beginning of this service provided to the citizens of Rowan County and see how we have progressed in making citizens safer. We are continually reminded of the potential for an incident, either accidental or intentional, that we are exposed to from events that take place through out the world. We’ve seen terrorist activity being acted out on our own and the concern and focus is toward biological weapons to cause harm.
The challenge for the future will be to continue to improve the quality of the haz mat team to be able to respond to the varying types of incidents. Accidental spills caused by transportation accidents continue to be the main cause for responses of the team due to major transportation and shipping routes criss-crossing the county. We must continue to train with county fire fighters to develop a coordinated response to safely handle incidents.
Prevent Harm, Survive, Be Nice!
Prepared by: Capt. Todd Overcash
Appendix 1
January
13th 72000 I-85, traffic accident with spill/ leak Level 2 response
February
10th Liberty Fire Department, standby for drug bust Level 2 response
22nd 4711 Mooresville Rd., monitor residence Level 1 response
28th 7000 N. I-85, traffic accident with fuel spill Level 1 response
April
4th Buck Steam Station, explosion and fire Level 2 response
July
22nd I-85 & Union Ch. Rd. , traffic accident with fuel spill Level 2 response
28th 230 Prospect Trail, CO alarm activations Level 1 response
28th 400 Cornelius Rd., unknown substance in barrels Level 2 response
August
18th Rowan County Airport, fuel spill from air plane Level 2 response
September
20th 411 E. Henderson St. E. Spencer, natural gas leak Level 2 response
October
1st 2121 Heilig Rd.-Draftex, natural gas leak Level 2 response
13th 3900 Stokes Ferry Rd. , gasoline tanker accident Level 2 response
15th 100 E. 17th St. Spencer, natural gas leak Level 2 response
November
15th 1510 Airport Rd., traffic accident with injury & spill Level 2 response