What Have We Learnt? Based on Incidents Involving First Responders in Process Industries

Firefighters are first responders who may be categorized as volunteer or paid. While it may be more cost-effective to have volunteer firefighters, they may not have the experience which full time paid firefighters have. Several incidents resulted in large number of fire fighter fatalities. One such incident occurred in April 2013, where twelve fire fighters lost their lives in West, Texas due to an explosion in a fertilizer facility. This is just one of the many incidents where first responders trying to help their communities ended up losing their own lives. Based on data from the NFPA, in the US, about 40 percent of the fires taking lives of 8 or more firefighters occur in the process industry. Therefore, it is not only crucial to study existing incidents, understand their root causes and make sure appropriate mitigation measures are in place, but also properly regulate protective equipment and use appropriate strategies to ensure the safety of first responders. Minimizing fatal incidents prevents monetary loss for the company and raises community goodwill, both of which affect the growth of the company.

There are significant differences in the training between municipal and industrial firefighters. This needs to be properly looked at before using them in case of industrial fires. Municipal firefighters tend to have experience fighting fires in interior structures while industrial firefighters may be more capable in handling jet and pool fires and using larger equipment employed industrially. In this paper, best practices and strategies for identifying hazards, close coordination, team work along with a proper chain of command in properly executing firefighting strategies and preventing any mishaps are discussed. A discussion on how observing training sessions and performing joint activities can potentially increase the competency of non-industrial fire fighters is also included. Through case studies and interviews, it may be concluded that the presence of plant operators who are aware of the plant layout and can provide relevant technical information in the case of an incident, as well as effective communication between local firefighters can significantly alter the strategy to fight a fire. These firefighting strategies are often affected by regulations which may vary from place to place, and therefore, it is important to continuously observe and adopt best protocols from around the world. While the US model focuses on preventing the fire in the first place, it places lesser emphasis on how to mitigate the fire if it occurs. Hence, European and other international standards on firefighting techniques are presented to determine the best practices which could help to lower firefighter fatality.