West Ghent - Structure Fire with HAZMAT - 8/2/12

[SageVigiles 1,194]

Link to original IA:

http://www.emtbravo....896#entry268896

New York has issued a 15 Mile Shelter-In-Place for this incident as a result of the possible HAZMAT releases. The facility handles a lot of PCBs, hence the concern.

Litchfield County, CT is 20 miles from the incident site (and likely downwind,) so Governor Malloy has partially activated the State Emergency Operations Center at the Hartford Armory. The following Connecticut agencies are monitoring the incident from there:

-Dept. of Emergency Services and Public Protection (DESPP)

-Division of Emergency Management and Homeland Security (DEMHS)

-Division of State Police

-Commission on Fire Prevention and Control (State Fire Coordinators)

-Dept. of Energy and Environmental Protection

-Dept. of Public Health

-Dept. of Transportation

-Military Department

I don't believe that Region 5 HAZMAT (Northwest CT) has been activated at this time, but some unmarked CT assets have been spotted headed out that way under CSP escort.

Nasty stuff, definitely one of those incidents where documentation is important, the long term effects of a fire like this can be terrible.

Edited August 2, 2012 by SageVigiles

[JetPhoto 626]

Some towns in Massachusetts have experienced smoke from that incident and some have declared a partial states of emergency

[201/65 94]

Per the Columbia County 911 and Columbia County Emergency Management Office's facebooks the 15 mile shelter in place has been lifted. EPA air monitoring shows no unsafe levels of any contaminates in the air.

Edited August 2, 2012 by 201/65

[firedude 985]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPUxGFgi1dk&feature=youtu.be

[firedude 985]

A letter from the WGVFD Chief regarding this fire:

West Ghent Vol. Fire Co.

425 Rt. 20

Ghent, NY 12075

By: Fire Chief Jim Cesternino West Ghent Vol. Fire Co.

Incident Commander - TCI Fire 8/1/2012

First of all, I would like to thank Assemblywoman Didi Barrett for her comments printed on 8/22 under My View in the Register Star. I don’t think I could have said it any better. I do apologize to the community for not attending the meeting myself, but as I stated to meeting organizers, I had conflicting plans that had me out of town that evening.

I again would like to thank all who responded to the incident, but a special thank you to our community and local businesses that had shown their support and concerns for our responders. We are very thankful for your donations of food, ice, beverages, and facilities that were used for firefighter rehab during this extended incident. Just to name a few: Shop-Rite, Wal-Mart, Scali’s Pizza, Angela’s Pizza, Pizza Hut, Hannaford, Dairy Queen, Garelick Farms, Kinderhook Toyota, BAC Sales, Amanda’s Fireplace, Mobil Mart and Dunkin Donuts at Rt 9H and 66, Price Chopper, and a special thank you to Ralph and Patti Hoag and Tina Hasbrouck. Thanks to Cantele’s for your quick response with the tents and lets not forget the fellows from D. A. Hamilton Fire Co. from Coxsackie, who were at the station the next day cleaning equipment and racking hose. Thanks to all other Fire Departments that pretty much offered us anything we needed to get our station back into service.

I would like to give comment and try to answer some of the questions that have been posted in news articles, the internet, and made to myself personally. As assemblywoman Barrett stated there is a lot of conflicting information out there. Due to some of the comments and questions I feel that some of the general public feels that they are not receiving adequate protection from emergency services. I keep reading and hearing comments on what a great job we did but on the other hand how people feel we were not prepared to provide fire protection to TCI. Here are some of the facts: TCI has operated in the existing building since 1987. Prior to that, they were in Greenport. Is the fire company responsible to conduct fire inspections? No. We are not code enforcement. We as a fire company try to visit businesses, nursing homes, and other buildings of interest within our protection area annually to review building layout, preplans, and special needs. The fire company was last in the TCI building after the outdoor semi-trailer fire earlier in the year. The fire company had also received TCI’s Hazardous Chemical Inventory earlier in the year. Questions have been asked about foam. Do we have foam? Yes. The Columbia County Foam bank is stored in a trailer at the West Ghent station. The rumor that we needed to bring in special foam from outside the county are not true. The next day foam from Rensselaer County, along with a foam truck and additional foam from Stratton Air Force Base, were called in and used, in conjunction with Columbia County’s, to extinguish the remaining fire after the area was deemed safe for the firefighters. We needed the additional resources as planned. We prepare as much as possible but you can’t prepare for the unknowns. Its been stated we need to prepare for worst case scenario. We do with what we can, with what we have. Unfortunately this isn’t a perfect world and plans have to change. They sure did that night. Without getting into a lot of firefighting tactics, here is a quick scenario of what happened the night of 8/1.

Normal protocol on first arrival of a building fire such as what we found would be to set up hose lines and make entry into the building and find the seat of the fire and identify what is burning, “general contacts, a vehicle stored inside or in this case oil”. Fortunately, we were being watched over by a guardian angel or in my eyes a hero himself. TCI employee, Tim Coons, saw us setting up the hose lines and informed us that there was sodium in the building and it reacts violently with water. It becomes explosive and produces hydrogen gas. Just imagine if the attack teams got on top of that stuff and it was compromised. That man saved lives. Well, anyway, there you go, plans change due to unknowns. Water - No Good, Foam-contains water - No Good. Have to do something, and lets face it, this isn’t the movie Backdraft where you can throw a 20lb dry chemical fire extinguisher into the middle of a warehouse fire to snuff the fire out. Several attempts were made to try and control the fire before it turned for the worst. Water and Foam both were used with the hope that the sodium was not yet compromised. Things did in fact, turn for the worst. The fire was starting to burn beyond our control and the area unsafe for responders. It was time to pull back and get everyone to safety. Even though I was the overall Incident Commander, I can’t be thankful enough for the unified command system. Due to the advice of my fellow fire chiefs, fire coordinators, Haz-Mat team and information from the firefighters, some very important decisions were made just minutes apart. The call to pull back was made none to soon. Personnel were still disconnecting hose lines at the main entrance when the first tank blevied. They had to abandon the apparatus and run for their lives. A few more minutes of being up close, trying to battle the blaze would have easily led to 50 or more casualties. We had later found out that the sodium was brought on site and used by a company called PSS or Power Sub-Station Services, which was operating within the TCI building. The sodium was used in the process of recycling the oil from the transformers. The fire company never received any Haz-Mat inventories from PSS nor was the sodium ever mentioned to us at our last building tour. In a nut shell, I hope this gives some answers and puts the community at ease as far as fire protection is concerned.

Once again, I ask, how can we be prepared for the unknowns. Also keep in mind that none of the products within the TCI building were produced there. Everything had to be trucked in. Look around during your everyday travels. Take notice to all the warehouses and stores full of cleaning chemicals, disinfectants, fertilizers, pest control and so on. Plus, fuel and oil storage facilities and automotive repair shops, tire shops, and just the chemicals under your kitchen sink. Mix them, burn them, whatever. My point is, this is not an isolated situation. Something could happen anytime, anywhere, that could pose some of the same concerns as the TCI fire.

One final thing that needs to be said. This goes out to all the firefighting “experts” out there that have a lot to say. Now after my 25 years in the fire service, I’ve learned that some people just love to sit back and try to fight someone else’s fire. Normally this criticism is usually accepted. But the one thing I could not stomach were the comments made on u-tube. How dare you criticize those firefighters and not consider them heroes! Those men and women showed the utmost bravery and professionalism. Even faced with the unknowns and the knowns of what they were up against, they stuck with their incident commander and followed orders to the greatest extent trying to bring that blaze under control and protect others from harm. I know if I called upon them again they would be there. So needless to say, their all hero’s, from those who were manning the hose lines to the support personnel. You’re the bravest. As for you critics and “experts”, I have applications waiting for you if you have the guts.

Most important, everyone went home safe. Thank you all. If any other questions should arise I have been invited to attend the next Town of Ghent board meeting in September.

Respectfully submitted,

Jim Cesternino

Chief - West Ghent Vol. Fire Co.

Bustin’ Ours - Savin’ Yours

From: https://www.facebook...248487025172901

Edited August 29, 2012 by firedude

[SageVigiles 1,194]

Well said.