When Your Propane Tank Catches Fire: Training at the Firefighters’ Weekend, April 3, 2005

There are large propane tanks next to many homes in Wolfskin and, at our borders, several propane tank farms and lots of traffic in this and other pressurized, flammable gasses on Highway 78. Hopefully, we will never see a tank on fire, but the Wolfskin Volunteer Fire Department trains for such an event.

During the last day of the Firefighters’ Weekend in Forsyth, GA, April 3, 2005, there was a course in Pressurized Container Fire Control. The objectives: preventing liquid propane/butane tanks from exploding from a BLEVE (Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion), and more importantly, knowing when it is safer for firefighters to back way off and let the tank explode. Better to be around to deal with the aftermath of an explosion than to be lost vainly trying to prevent it. Ed Frey, Jon Huff, and Ben Johnson came from Wolfskin to attend the class. The morning was lecture and exam and the afternoon was live practice. The objectives for the afternoon were not well defined in the morning class, but it was clear that teams of about 10-14 of the students were to advance in formation into a hell-fire with only their two water streams to protect them so that one of them could turn off a valve to stop the liquid propane from feeding the fire. The simulated tank could not BLEVE, but it would be frightful none-the-less. Virtually the same method was used by Red Adair decades ago in putting out oil-well and gas-well fires.

The twenty-five or so students were nervous in the afternoon, having to don full Personal Protective Equipment, including SCBA (Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus), and not knowing exactly what was going to happen. The instructors had told the students to check out each other’s equipment but they were each so involved in trying to get their own gear straight. I am not able to do all this physical activity, so I tried to help some other students getting into their gear and checking straps, air cylinder connections, and making sure that collars and gloves protected everything. Many firefighters were from small departments with hand-me-down equipment and turn-out gear with which they were not that familiar. There were at least six different models of SCBA equipment among them and there were the usual problems with face masks and air supplies, but there was someone who knew about each model and the problems were solved. I was also nervous, thinking the instructors were off the mark and that trouble was ahead.

The live fires went well, though. Team work immediately solidified and about nine cycles of burn and turnoff went without a problem as students each rotated through the several positions on the team. There was at least one safety officer, three staff on a safety water stream, three instructors shoulder to shoulder with the students and staff controlling the propane. Because of a strong wind, they started out with a small fire but were able to increase it until its flames were about 60 feet high. It was a spectacular affair and a great confidence-building experience.

As with many things for which we train, we hope never to have to do it for real.

(This was first published in different forms on Niches and in the Oglethorpe Echo)