Chemical fire risks ‘par for the course’

Press, 4 March 1987, Page 28

Chemical fire risks ‘par for the course’

PA Wellington Donning a protective suit that sends the body temperature soaring and risking permanent ill health by plunging into a chemical fire is not everyone’s idea of a great job. But according to American fire-fighter, and fire chief of Fairfax Country, Virginia, Warren Isman, it’s par for the course for fire-fighters called to hazardous chemical spills and fires. Mr Isman, keynote speaker at the United Fire Brigade’s Association Conference, in Lower Hutt, specialises in dealing with hazardous chemical incidents. He said that in the United States, about 10 per cent of fires now involved some release of chemicals. They included

leaks, spills, overfilling of drums, road accidents, and fires in chemical factories, such as the recent fires at the ICI factory in Auckland.

Mr Isman said in fighting such fires there was always the possibility of poisoning or contracting cancer from the chemicals.

There were also extreme physical stresses. The protective £Uits caused the body temperature to rise to 39 degrees, and the heart rate rose, rapidly. After about 20 to 25 minutes, the firefighter found it difficult to function properly.

Mr Isman said one of the difficulties with chemical incidents was that it was often impossible to find the properties of the chemical involved. There

were about two million chemicals currently in use, and in many cases the particular substance being dealt with could not be identified.

In that case, firefighters had to treat the situation as a “worst case scenario,” evacuating the area, and possibly building dams to stop run-off.

“We have no choice if we’re going to protect the public,” Mr Isman said. “Whether they realise it or not we have to do those things on the off-chance that the unknown product is extremely hazardous.”

He said he believed New Zealand was developing good techniques to cope with hazardous chemical incidents, and compared favourably with other countries he had visited.