Cass County responders complete propane response training
Last Updated on September 7, 2024 by Cass County Communication Network
SOURCE: News release from Cass County Emergency Management Agency
LOGANSPORT, INDIANA – Cass County public safety personnel spent Saturday preparing for propane emergencies thanks to funding from a Hazardous Materials Emergency Preparedness Grant. The all-day training was held at the Cass County 4H Fairgrounds. This is the second time this training has been held in Cass County in the past three years.
Ron Huffman of Responder Training Enterprises, LLC delivered instruction on advanced equipment acquired by the emergency management agency over the past two years. Huffman is a retired emergency management agency director and fire battalion chief from the New Castle area. He has been a first responder and propane industry worker since 1989.
In the absence of these newer additions to the EMA HAZMAT Equipment arsenal, areas could need to be evacuated for many hours or in some cases days while flammability and explosion hazards dissipate or are vented off thru other means. With the newer equipment personnel can use techniques such as water injection to convert a hydrocarbon fire or leak into a water leak, stabilizing the situation and eliminating life safety hazards. Personnel also trained on techniques such as flaring to reduce flammable product in overfilled or damaged tanks as well as a variety of patching techniques.
The need for this training and equipment was inspired by a number of propane related incidents which occurred in Cass County where damaged tanks were involved in fire situations. Without the new mitigation options in place yet, responders spent a great deal of time standing by while product burnt off. Today those incidents, which at the time took many emergency resources out of service for the better part of a day, can be resolved in minutes to a couple hours.
Equipment was acquired from a variety of sources including grants, Local Emergency Planning Committee funds, other community support and revenue from billing for hazardous materials responses. No increase in taxpayer funding was needed to facilitate purchase of these items.
Participating agencies included Cass County Emergency Management Agency Emergency Response Team, Cass County Fire District 1, Harrison Township Fire Department (Lucurne), Royal Center Fire Department, New Waverly Fire Department and Waterloo Fire Department.
The Emergency Management Agency extends its appreciation to the Cass County 4H Fairgrounds for use of their facility, King Oil for providing the propane used in today’s training and Cass County Fire District 1 for equipment and manpower support.
