During a training drill at Crestwood, Redding Township Fire Chief Matt Roy oversees operations to rescue a victim after an explosion and preparing to send in firefighters to extinguish a fire and close a leaking valve to a propane main line; Hamilton Fire Chief Cody Hercamp mans a 500 gallon-per-minute master stream to cool down propane tanks and help disperse the heat; and firefighters from Seymour, Redding, Crothersville, Hamilton and Spencer don SCBAs to enter the “hot zone” to rescue the victim and shut off the leaking propane valve.
Submitted photo
Redding Township Rescue 7 is used as the primary pumping apparatus to flow high volumes of water to contain the fire and cool down the propane tanks. Tanker trunks are used in rural areas without fire hydrants or significant water supplies during emergencies requiring a lot of water. During this scenario, the departments brought in nearly 8,000 gallons of water.
Submitted photo
Seymour, Redding, Crothersville, Hamilton and Spencer firefighters gather for a debriefing after last week’s drill out at Energy Transfer.
Jared Reedy | For The Tribune
Jackson County firefighters and emergency medical personnel take extra precautions to ensure the safety of their community.
Multiple county departments and agencies recently participated in a training exercise last week at Energy Transfer near Reddington.
Seymour Fire Department, Hamilton Fire Department, Redding Fire Department, Spencer Fire Department, Crothersville-Vernon Fire Department, and Jackson County EMS, Jackson County Sheriff’s Department and Jackson County Emergency Management Agency were involved.
Redding Twp. Fire Chief Matthew Roy said the drill was a large-scale simulated scenario in which firefighters were sent in to rescue a victim, extinguish a fire and close a leaking valve to a propane main line.
“There was an explosion while they were filling one of their trucks, so we wanted to simulate a fire here with propane release, and also victim recovery,” said Roy.
At Energy Transfer, most valves have an electronic safety feature that automatically shuts them off if a release is detected. While this is true — as well as the fact that most valve leaks are very small and do not require a response from a fire department — is it still necessary for departments to be prepared for situations like this, Roy said.
“These are worst-case scenarios that you typically don’t see happen, but you want to be prepared when they do,” Roy said.
During the drill, Hamilton Township Fire Chief Cody Hercamp manned a 500-gallon-per-minute master stream to cool down propane tanks and help disperse the heat, while firefighters donned an SCBA (self-contained breathing apparatus) and entered the “hot zone” to rescue the victim and shut off the leaking propane valve.
How threatening a leak or release is depends on a number of variables such as where the leak is, the pressure in the line, wind direction and speed, outside temperature, etc., Roy said.
Working along with county departments and agencies were Energy Transfer employees Timothy Kilburn, supervisor of operations, Eric Jackson, operations, Isaac Diaz, process safety management specialist and Paul Mueller, manager.
“We try to hold training, usually with Crestwood and Energy Transfer, about every two years,” Roy said. “It’s to get that repetition, to get people in the mind set of what to do [and] what could happen. It’s low-frequency, high-risk — that’s what we call it.”
Energy Transfer regularly hosts training with Redding Township Fire Department, consisting of facility tours, special concerns, changes made to the facility and special projects that may be occurring.
Energy Transfer also hosts the department every two years for a large-scale training scenario which focuses on different emergencies that could occur. Redding Township Fire Department invites other departments to participate in the drills, primarily their first due mutual aid fire departments which consist of Hamilton Township, Jackson-Washington and Seymour.
“As a county, we try to hold joint training with multiple departments to get familiar with the members, equipment and expertise of each department,” Roy said. “Each part of the county has something special that that department deals with that another part of the county or department does not have.”