By Bob Downing
The Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio
 Photo Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program |
APPLE CREEK, Ohio — The 30 firefighters cautiously approached the 100-barrel oil tank where roaring flames shot 30 feet skyward.
Working in small companies, they hosed a steady stream of water from three pump trucks onto the blaze.
Then they attacked burning crude oil with foam.
Finally, they again used water to extinguish a burning plume of natural gas.
The flames, the heat and smoke on an early November day were real. The pump derrick and gas and oil tanks, however, were props -- training devices at the Wayne County Fire & Rescue Regional Fire School.
As part of a two-day training workshop sponsored by the Ohio Oil & Gas Energy Education Program, an industry-backed initiative, firefighters from across the state got experience in dealing with natural gas and oil fires.
Rhonda Reda, the program’s executive director, said the idea is to have fire personnel better prepared to handle fires, leaks, spills and other problems associated with oil and gas wells.
“The program is designed to train local firefighters in effective emergency-response practices at typical crude oil and natural gas drilling and production sites,” she said.
For example, oil tanks must be surrounded by earthen banks to contain spills, she said, and firefighters need to realize that pumping water onto burning oil could spread the blaze outside those banks and create a bigger problem.
There are more than 63,000 oil and gas wells in Ohio. No agency in the state keeps track of well fires, leaks, spills or other such problems, said Scott Kell of the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Mineral Resources Management.
He said his agency is aware of 16 gas-oil fires across the state since 2004.
“They’re not that frequent,” he said of such fires.
Lightning strikes and vandalism are the most common causes of well fires, Reda said.
The Ohio fire-training program, which was started in 2001, was reportedly the first of its kind in the United States.
To date, more than 350 fire departments from 33 Ohio counties and seven other states have participated in the program, which is funded by the state’s gas and oil industry.
The classes were offered three times this year at the Wayne County firefighting complex on the grounds of the former Apple Creek State Hospital.
More than $90,000 was spent by the oil and gas industry on the 2008 fire training, Reda said.
“While there has been very few crude oil and natural gas emergencies in Ohio,” she said, “oftentimes fire departments also have to respond to non-emergency incidents simply because there is a lack of knowledge or unfamiliarity with equipment, standard practices and advanced technologies used by Ohio’s crude and natural gas industry.
“The fact is that not all these incidents reported are emergencies, and we are hopeful that this program will also mitigate those types of reported incidents that could tie up community resources that may be needed elsewhere.”
North Dakota modeled its fire training on the Ohio program, she said, and Pennsylvania will kick off its Ohio-inspired training next spring.
Lois Welch, an assistant fire chief with the West Salem-based Town & Country Fire District, attended the recent training with five other members of her department.
“The hands-on training was really good and the props help make the training be more real,” she said.
Another trainee, Derek Day, an assistant chief with the Damascus Township Fire Department in Columbiana and Mahoning counties, said a natural gas or oil fire is very different from a house fire.
“They . . . require more care and attention to detail,” he said. “It’s best to slow down and pay attention so people don’t get hurt.”
Day said there is a growing need in Ohio for such training. His department responds to perhaps 10 calls a year concerning gas-oil wells and tanks.
David R. Hill, a Byesville-based driller with 250 wells in Ohio who is involved in the fire-training program, said the gas and oil industry is proud to be proactive by supporting such training.
“It’s really a service we are providing to the emergency responders,” he said, “but it also significantly benefits local communities. . . . It’s been a great partnership and allows our industry to continue to be responsible corporate, community and environmental stewards.”
The program was spawned in 2000 after growing concerns in Ohio over oil and gas well safety.
An Erie County natural gas well began leaking hydrogen sulfide gas and firefighters were unable to identify and contact the person responsible for the well’s security. At the same time, thousands of cubic feet of natural gas leaked from a line in Portage County because emergency responders could not identify the person responsible for operating the well that was feeding the line.
Those problems led the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, armed with a $100,000 federal grant, to work with the Ohio Oil and Gas Association and other agencies to develop a Web site to help emergency crews determine ownership and contact information on gas and oil wells in the state.
Such information is required, but the posted signs are often missing or vandalized, officials said.
Copyright 2008 Akron Beacon Journal