TRIPLE THREAT
RESCUE/EMS
- Truck-Car Accident
- Person Trapped in a Creek
- Toxic Chemical Escaping…
It was a situation that fire service personnel fear: A truck carrying hazardous material is involved in a traffic accident, people are trapped and a toxic chemical is escaping from its container. This was the problem that confronted the members of the Pottsville, Pa., Bureau of Fire.
At 5:55 p.m. last Sept. 20, the city dispatcher was notified by telephone of a vehicle accident at the intersection of Route 200 and Westwood Rd. The accident involved a compact car and a tractor trailer loaded with 200 steel cylinders. The impact carried both vehicles off the highway and into the West branch of the Schuylkill River.
A city police officer arrived shortly after the collision and confirmed the accident to the dispatcher, adding that the truck was displaying poison placards. Knowing persons were trapped, the officer requested the response of the city’s rescue company. At 6 p.m. Rescue 63, a heavy rescue, and Engine 52, a 750-gpm pumper, were toned out Assistant Chief William Horning also responded to the incident. The dispatc her informed the responding units of the possibility of a poisonous gas leak.
Upon arrival, first-in Rescue 63 found the tractor trailer over an embankment and on its side. The tractor and the front portion of the trailer were in 2 feet of water. Approximately 60 cylinders were scattered in the water, having ripped through the front of the trailer The car was lying on its roof in the water just a few feet from the tractor. The uninjured truck driver had pulled himself free prior to Rescue 63’s arrival.
Rescue 63 personnel immediately donned positive-pressure self-contained breathing apparatus and descended the bank into the shallow river, foined by the crew from Engine 52, some personnel attempted forcible entry into the car with hydraulic and pneumatic tools while others attempted identification of the product being transported.
The chemical was identified as fluorine by the label on the cylinders and the truck’s bill of lading. Rescue personnel also observed a violent bubbling action and a haze coming from a pile of submerged cylinders. The chemical’s name was relayed back to company officers who consulted the United States Department of Transportation’s Emergency Response Guidebook.
The guidebook revealed that fluorine was “poisonous, if inhaled it may be fatal, its vapor may cause dizziness or suffocation, and when mixed with fuels it may explode.” Another reference revealed that “fluorine, in its purest form, can cause severe burns to the skin in 0.2 seconds and thermal flash burns (comparable with those produced by an oxyacetylene flame) in 0.6 seconds. Exposure to high concentrations is usually fatal with respiratory damage and pulmonary edema being the cause of death.”
As the rescue operation continued, a nearby restaurant was evacuated and all traffic detoured. An initial isolation area of 500 feet was established and CHEMTREC was contacted for assistance. Fortunately, the accident had occurred in an unpopulated area near the western boundary of the city. The wind direction was another favorable factor. Coming from an unusual northeasternly direction, it carried the toxic fumes away from the city’s 19,000 residents.
Anticipating a need for more SCBA. Horning requested a box alarm. This action brought the city’s six other volunteer fire companies to the scene. While these companies were en route, Rescue 63 had gained access to the car and made the determination that the lone occupant was dead. Fearing the possibility of injury due to prolonged exposure and the threat of an explosion caused by the chemical mixing with leaking gasoline and diesel fuel, these personnel were withdrawn, leaving the victim, who was still pinned in the car, behind.
At 6:30 p.m. Pottsville Chief Todd March and Assistant Chief Cary Witmier arrived at the scene. They were returning from the International Association of Fire Chiefs conference in Philadelphia when they monitored the transmission of the box alarm.
Once at the scene, March was briefed on the incident by Horning and line officers He then communicated with CHEMTREC and received additional information on the chemical It was CHEMTREC who informed March about the possibility of the creation of toxic hydrofluoric acid as a resuit of any leak occurring underwater.
Pottsville, Pa. Republican photos
CHEMTREC advised March to keep everyone back since there was no life hazard If the fog from the hydrofluoric acid was a problem, the chief was instructed to disperse it with a water fog pattern. CHEMTREC also provided first-aid information and a telephone hookup with the manufacturer of the chemical, Air Products and Chemical, Inc., Hometown, Pa. The Air Products representative suggested that the fire fighters do nothing until their cleanup crew arrived. This contact also informed March that if there was a leak it would not take long for the cylinders to empty.
At 7:30 p.m. March released all of the companies except Rescue 63, Engines 52 and 42, and Truck 61, a 1000-gpm quad. He also requested that a cascade truck from nearby Cressona be placed on standby in the event an additional air system was needed. As a precaution, March ordered all personnel and equipment that were within the isolation area washed down before leaving the scene.
The Air Products crew arrived at 8:30 p.m. and immediately began to assess the situation. They assured March that at the present time there were no leaks and that the recovery operation for the driver and his car could resume. Rescue 6.3 removed the body at 9:30; the car was pulled from the river shortly thereafter.
While the body recovery operation was proceeding, Air Products and the truck line personnel planned the removal of the fluorine cylinders. Their plan was to use two wreckers, one to retrieve the cylinders in the river, the other to pull the cylinders remaining in the trailer up the steep incline of its floor and onto another trailer. The cylinders would be examined for damage and leaks before being secured. The project got underway at 10 p.m. and concluded at 2 a.m. The demolished tractor and trailer were pulled from the river at 5:30 that morning. Two units remained at the scene until this time as a precaution.
The inspection of the cylinders by the Air Products team revealed that six cylinders had damaged valves but only one had released its toxic contents It could have been much worse. The only person who received burns from the fluorine was a restaurant employee whose immediate reaction to the collision was to run to the aid of the victim. He received seconddegree burns to the back of the neck. In addition, 12 emergency personnel were treated for eye and nose irritations at city hospitals
Lessons learned
In critiquing the accident, March stated that there were several problems. First, some of the initial response personnel, who arrived before the apparatus, failed to observe the poison placards and entered the river, coming dangerously close to the escaping fluorine.
Another problem was the failure of the units responding to the box alarm to report to a staging area. “Most of the equipment came right into the scene,” March said, “because the dispatcher failed to hear Assistant Chief Hornings request to have these units report to a specific staging area.”
March emphasized that both of these incidents could have been tragic mistakes if the leak had involved more cylinders March continued, saying, “These problems illustrated a need for additional hazardous materials training in our department and I am glad to report that one has already been contracted for early 1983.”
Added March: “In the past 10 years the city has had four hazardous material incidents and each was unique in its own way. This recent incident was only similar to the others in that it was a learning experience, not only for the department but also for me. It demonstratecJ the need to be prepared for the unexpected.”
