Disaster Status Part 3/3

Another Real-Life Incident

I was on-shift the night an industrial hazardous waste plant burst into flames. I obviously have all the inside information, but it won’t be released to the public, so I’m sorry to say I can’t share most of it with you. What I can say – inside the facility, stored toxic material ignited. The fire quickly grew to a plume of smoke then the entire facility erupted into a fireball with several rapid fire explosions. This swift and extreme domino of events occurred simply because the burning toxic chemicals were stored right next to oxygen cylinders, and oxygen feeds fire. You guessed it, properly stored O2 is essential.

The reverse 911 system was activated – recorded messages called all nearby residents, warning them to evacuate. View the photos included here – it was an intense explosion and the burning toxic chemicals created a massive haz-mat situation. The chemicals involved in that explosion react negatively when mixed with water, so we were forced to allow the fire to burn itself out. Two days post the onset of the incident, a foam application extinguished the remaining flames.

Even though this makes for boring fiction, emergency agencies that night proved pre-planning and inter-agency training and execution results in excellent emergency incident response outcome. My crew along with many other emergency crews, successfully worked the potentially deadly incident – no loss of life and only minor exposure issues occurred. But think of the endless possible dramas that could’ve happened.

Thank you in advance for reading and for your participation and comments. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask. Photos are courtesy of Apex Fire Department.