Chlorine is a widely used chemical with many practical applications and a variety of life safety hazards. Fire service personnel should have a clear understanding of where chlorine is stored in their district and how to manage a leak from one of the three types of pressurized chlorine storage vessels. The Rochester (NY) Fire Department (RFD) has taken some important steps toward developing a training program that addresses these concerns.
The RFD’s Special Operations Office maintains an excellent working relationship with a chemical manufacturing company that stores a large quantity of chlorine at its Rochester facility. This relationship, which involves regular monthly meetings, has led to a significant improvement in the region’s hands-on chlorine training capabilities. With the help of a corporate donation and some recently awarded grant funding, the RFD purchased a portable 150-pound upright training cylinder; a portable one-ton training cylinder end; a portable training valve set identical to those found on chlorine railroad tank cars; and a custom-fabricated training valve set that will be permanently mounted to the top of a stationary, retired railroad tank car located at the Rochester/Monroe County Public Safety Training Facility’s (PSTF) outdoor training grounds. The custom-fabricated valve set is nearly identical to its portable counterpart, except that it has a weatherproof lid to more closely resemble what is found on chlorine tank cars. All of these props were purchased from Indian Springs Specialty Products, Inc. in Baldwinsville, New York (photos 1, 2).
Chlorine A, B, and C kits were also purchased so they could be stored with the props and used exclusively for training. These kits ensure the availability of the most complete, up-to-date kit at the PSTF for training at all times and also eliminate the need for a haz-mat team to remove such kits from their rig and haul the heavy boxes into the facility for every class. However, part of the training does require team members to open and inspect the kits carried on their rig to ensure that all the parts are in place and in working order (photo 3).
 (3) Chlorine A, B, and C kits |
When supplied with water from a simple garden hose, the props can be operated to simulate leaks from valves, pressure-relief devices, and a number of other areas, depending on the training scenario. The classroom training is designed to cover chlorine characteristics and reactivity hazards, consequences of chlorine exposure, chlorine labels and containers, methods of stopping chlorine leaks, and a discussion of where each of the three types of chlorine vessels can be found within the city and county boundaries. Videos from the Chlorine Institute are used to demonstrate the application of each of the three kits prior to any hands-on instruction.
This type of training is essential for this region’s hazardous-materials response teams, based on the high volume of railroad freight traffic that travels through Rochester and the relatively large number of facilities in Rochester and Monroe County that store and use pressurized chlorine regularly. The RFD’s primary goal is to make the training readily available to city and county hazardous-materials response team personnel. Storing the equipment at the PSTF also makes chlorine training available to industrial emergency response teams in the region, as well as to chlorine leak response team personnel from surrounding upstate New York communities. ■
■ PATRICK AGOSTINELLI is an eight-year member of the Rochester (NY) Fire Department and a lieutenant assigned to the Special Operations Office. A New York state-certified hazardous-materials specialist, he has a bachelor’s degree in technical education with a fire protection and safety specialty from Oklahoma State University and an associate’s degree in fire protection technology from Monroe Community College in Rochester, New York.
