hazmat level A suits

All posts tagged hazmat level A suits

Prince Georges County Fire Department (MD) units responded to the Level III HazMat at the Laboratory for Physical Sciences (http://www.lps.umd.edu/) on the campus of the University of Maryland Friday afternoon.  Units discovered a release of what is being reported as hydrogen bromide in a “Lab Clean Room”.

HazMat units worked to contain the release and also performed a three stage decontamination of the firefighters and HazMat technicians who were involved in the operation.

Units from the Prince Georges County HazMat team were on the scene as well as support units including Squad 14 (Berwyn Heights), Engine 12 (College Park), Truck 34 (Chillum-Adelphi), Engine 1 (Hyattsville), the PGFD Command Unit and various other engine companies, battalion chief units and support teams.

Thanks to Mark Brady, Chief PIO of PGFD for supplying info on the incident via his Twitter feed https://twitter.com/PGFDPIO.

At this time, no one was reported to be injured from the incident.  The incident was ongoing as of 6 p.m. on Friday but units were working to complete the decon process.

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Trevor James

fire department rescue squad

Trevor James photo

Prince George's County mobile command post

Trevor James photo

Prince George;'s County Fire Department air truck

Trevor James photo

firefighters at hazardous materials incident

Trevor James photo

firefighters at hazardous materials incident

Trevor James photo

firefighters at hazardous materials incident

Trevor James photo

firefighters at hazardous materials incident

Trevor James photo

firefighters at hazardous materials incident

Trevor James photo

fire engine and fire hydrant

Trevor James photo

firefighters at hazardous materials incident

Trevor James photo

More photos are up on my Flickr account:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/59625319@N02/

 

Images from Tim Olk of a Level II Haz Mat in Chicago for a leak of about 500 gallons of muriatic acid from a truck

Chicago FD Haz Mat unit HIT

Tim Olk photo

Chicago FD mobile command post

Tim Olk photo

firemen at a haz mat scene

Tim Olk photo

firemen at a haz mat scene

Tim Olk photo

firemen at a haz mat scene

Tim Olk photo

Chicago fire engine hooked to a hydrant

Tim Olk photo

haz mat techs in protective suits

Tim Olk photo

Chicago FD command board

Tim Olk photo

hazardous materials incident in Chicago

Tim Olk photo

May 13 2014, Kitchener P1, P3, R1, Haz Mat 1, A2, and Car 23 were dispatched to 321 Courtland Ave E for an ammonia leak in the office tower. P1 arrived on-scene and reported evacuation of the building and a light odor of  ammonia in the air. Command requested police and had P3 block the road at Borden, and A2 blocked the road at Kent.

Command conferred with the plant manager and safety coordinator who reported they had just turned on the office air conditioning system at 11:25 and they smelled ammonia in the office minutes later. The in-house emergency team was paged and two members went to roof in Level 1 Haz Mat suits. They determined the system had a leak at one of the valves and the system needed to be shut down.

P2 was added to the call at this time. Firefighters set up for full haz mat operations and command ordered the manufacturing side of the building evacuated. Five hundred employees were evacuated and staged on Kent Ave. Two firefighters entered the building with two plant personnel (full Level 1 suits) to assess the area and to do a primary search of the office building. Crews confirmed the office was evacuated and there was still a leak in the system.

The system is charged from a central boiler house at the rear of the plant. There is approximately 80,000 lbs of ammonia in the system. After consultation between command and plant staff, crews reentered the building and successfully closed a valve near the AC unit. This was a very warm humid day which necessitated rotating crews. Once the leak was stopped, the next plan was to clean up the ammonia and air out the office. The office tower had 400 ppm of ammonia, and the seventh floor was considerably higher where the unit was located. This scenario played out throughout the afternoon. KFD cleared the scene at 18:00.

As an aside to the call, I work in the office. I evacuated the building as soon as I knew the leak was getting stronger, a few minutes before the building was evacuated at 11:40. I went to the parking lot and turned on my FD radio. The parking lot was down wind of the office and I could still smell ammonia. I left the area and waited to see if the plant needed KFD for assistance. Our emergency team is very well trained in dealing with ammonia leaks. The plant has five floors (over a million square feet) and minor ammonia leaks are fixed quickly in-house without having to call KFD for help. Once KFD was called I headed upwind, back to the plant to drop off a cooler with Gatorade and water that I carry in my van. I then headed to the station to pick up our truck as I knew this was going to be a long afternoon. Six hours on-scene, we served 171 drinks, 20 burgers, 20 wraps, 47 snack items, and lots of freezies.

All photos

Gary Dinkel

Box 690

fire trucks along the road

Gary Dinkel, Box 690 photo

tent for shelter at haz mat scene

Staging set up in court yard beside main entrance to building. Back up team ready to go in if needed. Gary Dinkel, Box 690 photo

firefighters decon in Level A suits

Kitchener firefighters are in the blue suits. Gary Dinkel, Box 690 photo

tent for shelter at haz mat scene

Gary Dinkel, Box 690 photo