The raging industrial fire that shut down Valley Center shows again that disasters, whether natural or man-made, can strike without warning. When they do, it’s important to have emergency response plans ready to go.
The fire will be, at minimum, a major inconvenience for the residents who were evacuated Tuesday to the Kansas Coliseum, as well as for residents who stayed behind and were told to “shelter in place” by turning off air conditioners and sealing their homes — not easy on a 90-plus degree day.
It appears that the Barton Solvents plant and the town were evacuated safely and speedily, and without major incident or injuries. It was also a good sign that police and fire crews from Sedgwick County, Valley Center and Wichita were promptly on the scene, working together to control the blaze and maintain order.
Here’s hoping all residents can return to their homes soon.
Posted by Randy Scholfield
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21 Comments
Local News Coverage was very good. Any photos of this going to be in the paper?
Lets hope the Equus Beds aquifer which underlies that area and is one of the sources of Wichita and other cities water supplies is not affected by this conflaguration in Valley Center.
HURRAH for all persons involved that spared injury and death!
Emergency Preparedness WORKS…and we should all appreciate that company’s ability to prepare for this as well.
My concern is that they didn’t have the right resources to fight this fire without going out of the county to aquire it. If these chemicals are going to be stored here, our firefighters should have what they need on hand to fight such an accident.
Well, that’s a good point, however. It would be mightily expensive to have all the equipment for every single incident in every city. That’s not the only place it could be needed- such as transport of the same substances throughout the interstate and highway systems.That’s why we have regions to keep these kind of things. Near enough to use quickly, but available for all within a reasonable amount of time.
I watched several hours of coverage of the “explosions” that rocked Valley Center.
With all the Bushco talk of imminent terrorist attacks on American soil , not once did I hear anyone say that the explosions were or were not such attacks.
Apparently, the talk of such attacks is BS. No one even thought for a moment that it had happened in VC.
Waiting over an hour does not seem like a reasonable time when an entire city is at risk. Even when the correct foam arrived, they didn’t have the means to apply it where needed. What if the whole tank farm went up rather than the few that did? What if the wind was out of the north and they had to evacuate parts of Wichita? This was only an accident. It makes me wonder how prepared we are if a terrorist was to blow a train tanker car as it passes through town.
The WHOLE tank farm DID go up, all 36 of them Tron. It was far longer than an hour before the correct AFFF arrived from El Dorado. I evacuated well before it got there. When I saw the Boeing foam truck arrive at about 10:30, I thought we were saved. Unfortunately it was the wrong type of foam. A second batch of AFFF was what finally knocked the fire down, about 7:00 PM.
BTW, if I were a Boeing firefighter, I’d be looking for a big raise today. They couldn’t pay me enough as a civilian to go fight someone else’s fire.
Damn SOCIALIST firefighters, sucking at the gov’t teat.
People should just have enough sense not to live near a chemical plant.
They should live in a gated community next to a golf course like God intended.
It’s there own damn fault for choosing to live where they live.
Let ‘em die I say.
Limbaugh Listener
their, not there
oops
jwink – I don’t think there should be a major problem with the Equus Beds; at least not long term. From what I saw of the list they seem to be biodegradable.
The WHOLE tank farm DID go up, all 36 of them Tron.==================================================Sorry Charles, the last I heard they were still cooling down some of the tanks. I didn’t know they all blew. Regardless, they should still have the necessary resources closer than the next county.
Some comments:
In many cases it is better to let it burn while cooling adjacent tanks. The reasons have to do with the liquids spreading and possibly becoming an even bigger problem. Foam sometimes can give a false sense of security – I saw graphic pictures of a refinery fire in Philadelphia where they had it almost out when the foam broke up. There was a large amount of product floating on water. A large number of firefighters died when the whole thing flashed.
Alcohols and other oxygenates can present unique fire-fighting problems. As they are water-soluable at least to some extent they will interact with the foam differently than regular hydrocarbons. So, the fire-fighters were properly cautious.
At least there were not (at least as I understand it) chlorinated colvents involved. That would present other problems.
Ben: Good comments. I agree, it was probably better to let that liquid burn rather than soak into the soil and create a long-time hazardous waste area. Of course, it would depend on the chemicals involved.
But sounds like the situation was handled right, whether by accident or not. Now we will see what Monday morning quarterbacks have to say.
JWink – we have some damned good firefighters in Wichita, Sedgwick County, and elsewhere across the area.
They have sprinkler systems inside buildings for in case of fire but do they not have a prevention system even for outdoors for volatile chemicals storage facilities?You would have to ask your state about codes as to why the lack of safety and why is it that petroleum and chemical companies are record breaking on profits but do not invest in safety systems for in case of fire?
“It makes me wonder how prepared we are if a terrorist was to blow a train tanker car as it passes through town.” (make that downtown at the lunch hour)
Not prepared in the least.
“JWink – we have some damned good firefighters in Wichita, Sedgwick County, and elsewhere across the area.”
Some of the best in the country and recognized as such. Like the county firefighters that went in after the big silo explosion to search for the injured with the full knowledge that another explosion was quite probable and that they might not ever see their own family ever again. They did a show about them on one of the cable channels about disasters. Yes they are worth whatever they are paid.
It’s SOCIALISM, I tell you.
It’s everybody paying having to pay for fire protection whether they want it or not.
Maybe I’d rather save the 50 dollars a year for a subscription to The Weekly Standard, what about that!
But no, the government makes ME pay them for a fire department I don’t even want.
This is COMMUNIST RUSSIA, I tell you.
Limbaugh Listener
What do I care if my neighbor’s house goes up in smoke? What do I care if THEY are left homeless?
It’s not MY house or MY family.
If you want womb to tomb SOCIALISM, move to Russia, you Commie b*st*rds.
Limbaugh Listener
Greenpeace Urges Testing Following N.C. Chemical Fire
http://southernstudies.org/facingsouth/2006/10/greenpeace-urges-testing-following-nc.asp
Residents evacuated from a North Carolina town following last week’s major fire at a chemical handling facility were allowed to return home Saturday. But an environmental watchdog group warns that the proper testing has not been done to ensure their safety — and that instructions given by officials could in fact jeopardize the ongoing investigation and any legal action.
Greenpeace yesterday faxed letters to federal and state regulators calling for comprehensive testing of homes, schools and daycare centers following last week’s major fire at the Environmental Quality Co. facility in Apex, N.C. The letters were addressed to federal Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen Johnson and N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources Secretary William Ross. (For a copy of the EPA letter, click here. For a copy of the N.C. DENR letter, click here.)
“Although there have been numerous announcements that it is safe for residents … to return to their community, these assurances are being made without information being made available to the public, ” according to a statement issued yesterday by the group. “No information is yet available regarding what chemicals were emitted at the fire. It is of grave concern that initial reports of chemicals onsite such as chlorine can form toxic gases that can become trapped in basements and low-lying areas without proper ventilation.”
EPA and DENR have declared the town safe following testing of air and surface water. However, the agencies have not tested swipe samples from homes or schools or analyzed sediments deposited in yards from the massive fire and subsequent rains. Greenpeace points out that after a 2004 fire at a chemical facility in Illinois, regulators tested homes and schools for dioxin, a carcinogen sometimes produced in chemical fires.
EPA and DENR officials were meeting today to discuss future testing, DENR spokesperson Diana Kees reports.
As of this morning, regulators were still unsure exactly what materials were present at the Apex facility when the fire broke out Thursday night. Kees says the company had a comprehensive list of materials onsite in its Apex administrative offices, which were not damaged in the incident. The blaze burned out of control until early Saturday, when firefighters began using special chemicals to quell the flames. The cause of the fire has not yet been determined.
Eyewitness reports described what appeared to be a yellowish cloud of chlorine gas hovering over downtown Apex late Thursday and early Friday. The facility was permitted by the state to handle a long list of extremely toxic compounds including heavy metals such as arsenic and lead, solvents like trichloroethylene and methylene chloride, pesticides including 2,4-D and aldicarb, and numerous benzene compounds.
Greenpeace is concerned that Apex residents may have been getting problematic information from authorities. The group notes that Wake County’s Web site advised residents to clean their homes and discard items such as medicines that had been left open, and news reports have showed residents throwing away potentially contaminated property.
“There may be serious legal implications that could put victims at a disadvantage if they wash or throw away property that is contaminated,” the group’s statement says. “Contaminated property may well be evidence that will indicate what chemicals entered their home or yard and to what extent EQ is responsible for clean up and compensation.”
A lawsuit has already been filed on behalf of Apex residents. Meanwhile, EQ is still facing lawsuits related to a fire at one of its Michigan plants last year.
The Michigan-based EQ was fined $32,000 by North Carolina regulators earlier this year for a number of problems at the Apex facility. They included the failure to “maintain and operate the facility to minimize the possibility of a sudden or non-sudden release of hazardous waste constituents to air, soil or surface water which could threaten human health or the environment.”
———————————18 hours after blast, couple sues
http://www.newsobserver.com/267/story/495527.html
Cindy George, Staff WriterRALEIGH – The spectacular chemical fire that consumed an Apex hazardous waste plant prompted a lawsuit just 18 hours after the first explosion.An Apex couple Friday sued Environmental Quality under its various names in Wake County Superior Court. The suit, filed by a top environmental lawyer, seeks financial compensation for those affected by potentially toxic fumes and seeks class-action status.
Environmental Quality, or EQ, owns and runs the plant. About half the residents of the western Wake County town of about 28,000 were displaced Thursday night. As of late Friday, those within a one-mile radius of the plant at 1005 Investment Blvd. had not been allowed to return home.
The couple filing suit, Michael and Betsy Borden, live in the Surrey Meadows subdivision, which is about three-fourths of a mile from the EQ plant.
The environmental negligence and liability lawsuit names EQIS North Carolina, EQ Industrial Services and The Environmental Quality Co. — three related Michigan corporations doing business in Apex. The EQ plant in Apex processes and stores hazardous waste.
The lawsuit was filed by Raleigh lawyer J. Michael Malone and Richard S. Lewis, an environmental lawyer in Washington with the law firm of Cohen, Milstein, Hausfeld and Toll. The firm, whose lawyers have won several billion-dollar settlements in class-action suits, successfully represented plaintiffs in the $5 billion jury verdict in the Exxon Valdez oil spill lawsuit — the largest environmental case in U.S. history.
“There’s clearly a loss of use and enjoyment as a result of the evacuation,” Lewis said late Friday. “To the extent that there are property values that are affected, impacted and diminished, we’ll be studying that with experts over the next few months and if there is a loss, we’ll pursue it.”
EQ spokesman Robert Doyle said Friday afternoon that he had not heard about the suit, which was filed at 4:26 p.m. “I can’t comment,” Doyle said.
Class-action suits are filed when separate similar cases against one defendant would unduly burden the court system. Class-action status must be approved by a judge.