Welcome to the 1st Aid Site!
Everything First Aid Related...

duties and responsibilities of the HazMat Group functions within the Incident Command System of this incident?

At 11:30 PM, a 36-inch natural gas transmission pipeline operating at 900 psi ruptured near an apartment complex with 1,500 residents. The escaping gas ignited and created a fireball 500 feet in the air and ripped a crater in the ground 50 feet deep. A section of the pipeline was propelled 250 feet from the blast into an apartment building, injuring an adult and two children.

Within minutes, the Fire Department 911 Center was flooded with emergency calls reporting an explosion, broken glass, and numerous injuries. Additional emergency calls to the local police reported auto and burglar alarms going off in the neighborhood. Due to the size of the fire which could be seen from many vantage points in the night sky, many of the initial 911 calls reported different and incorrect locations of the incident. Consequently, there was a delayed Fire Department response as various fire companies were dispatched to incorrect locations. Due to the large volume of emergency calls from different locations, the Chief of the Fire Department ordered a general recall of all off-duty firefighters. In addition, the regional mutual aid plan was activated.

Meanwhile, instrumentation at the Pipeline Control Center located approximately 40 miles away indicated to operators that there was a low suction pressure and compressor problem at an unmanned compressor station about 12 miles west of the ruptured pipeline. Maintenance personnel were alerted and were sent to the compressor station to determine the problem.

An engine company that was dispatched to a report of injuries at the apartment complex eventually identified the correct location of the incident and established that a pipeline had ruptured Through pre-incident planning and training provided by the pipeline company, the Engine Company Officer quickly determined that an underground gas transmission line was involved. He immediately requested a simultaneous first and second alarm response and requested the second alarm response to report to a staging area one mile away. The Hazardous Materials Response Team was requested to report to the incident scene.

Public Comments