Ethanol, what is the worry?
- On May 14, 2007, a tanker carrying 8,000 gallons of ethanol overturned and burst into flames on an interstate in Baltimore, Maryland, killing the driver and sending a burning stream of ethanol into the street below, igniting a row of parked vehicles.
- On October 22, 2006, an eighty-six-car train carrying ethanol derailed, sending some of the tank cars into a river while others burst into flames.
- On June 19, 2006, five tank cars derailed and leaked approximately 12,000 gallons of ethanol before emergency crews were able to stop the leaks.
Ethanol and ethanol-blended fuels are in use in growing quantities in the United States, and volumes have become substantial. Consumers in the United States use more than 140 billion gallons of gasoline per year. Today, there are more than 8 billion gallons of fuel ethanol produced in the United States. The addition of ethanol to gasoline presents some unique firefighting challenges. Traditional methods of fire fighting against hydrocarbon (gasoline) fires have been found to be ineffective against these polar solvent-type (ethanol-blended) fuels. While gasoline will tend to float on top of water, ethanol fuels are water soluble and will tend to blend with the water. For this reason, the use of Alcohol-Resistant (AR) foam as a means of extinguishing an ethanol fire is recommended.
Since the beginning of the twentieth century, the United States and the world has become a motorized society. Most families either own an automobile or rely on motorized transportation on a daily basis. For the past 100 years, the primary automotive fuel has been a byproduct of crude oil, a limited natural resource. Opposite from the European community, who focused on diesel engines for light-duty and passenger vehicles, the United States automobile industry has predominantly produced gasoline-powered vehicles. The heavy-duty or off-road larger vehicles and equipment are generally being powered by diesel power plants. Both gasoline and diesel are hydrocarbons (composed of hydrogen and carbon) derived from crude oil. The nature and characteristics of hydrocarbon fuels are familiar to virtually everyone involved in fire protection today since gasoline and diesel are so widely used and incidents are common occurrences.
CLICK HERE (pdf) for IAFC’s Instructor Manual “Responding to Ethanol Incidents”
CLICK HERE (pdf) for IAFC’s Particpant Manual “Responding to Ethanol Incidents”
CLICK HERE (pdf) for IAFC’s Ethanol Fixed Facilities: Assessment and Guide