The ethanol blues in VA and across the country
Read today’s Washington Post story
Look at our June 12, 2008 coverage
In June we told you about Alexandria, Virginia’s efforts to play catch up with an ethanol transloading facility that suddenly appeared at a city rail yard. Alexandria officials are still fighting with Norfolk Southern over the operation near a school and residential development.
The citizens are also still fighting with Alexandria leaders for not sounding the alarm sooner.
The Washington Post’s Michael Laris looks at Alexandria’s experience as an example of what communities and fire departments are dealing with across the country. From the need for alcohol-resistant foam (eventually supplied to Alexandria by the railroad) to the inability to make railroads follow local zoning rules, the article looks at some important issues for the fire service. Here is an excerpt:
Last year, a tanker traveling from Baltimore to a processing facility in Virginia flipped in Maryland and spilled 6,800 gallons of flaming ethanol, killing the truck’s driver and torching a half-dozen cars. The Baltimore City Fire Department did not have the right foam and struggled to put out the fire, which burned for hours. Crews from Baltimore-Washington International Marshall Airport eventually helped smother the flames.
“We did not have the appropriate foam on hand to quickly extinguish this fire,” said department spokesman Kevin Cartwright.
Elsewhere, many responders face the same problem, fire experts said. Gas in much of the country is blended with ethanol, often in concentrations of 5 to 15 percent.
“I don’t think they really understand the whole issue of the blended fuels and how they have to be ready to deal with it,” said Timothy Butters, chairman of the International Association of Fire Chiefs’ Hazardous Materials Committee and an assistant fire chief in Fairfax City.
Because ethanol mixes easily with water, firefighters must methodically apply a special alcohol-resistant foam to suffocate flames. Traditional foams on many trucks won’t do. “You don’t want to find that out on game day,” Butters said.
