THE LOCAL PHARMACY FIRE
The potential for hazardous material incident and deadly fire disasters is as close as your neighborhood drug store.
As fire professionals, we are all familiar with “special risk” fires. Training officers have a long running litany of what to do when confronted by a burning tanker of some exotic chemical substance. The analysis of toxic smoke plumes is becoming a fine science. Evacuation procedures are virtually a conditioned reflex in most fire departments.
The point that I’m trying to make is that the large scale special risk fire is well blanketed by several layers of information. But how long has it been since you read anything about the small size special risk right in your neighborhood? It’s a good bet that you’ve seen very little, and unless one of your old-timers has tangled with a pharmacy fire and has spread the word, it’s likely that you have no inkling of the pitfalls such a fire has as a built-in bonus.
Make no mistake, pharmacies are not the only type of occupancy in this small scale special risk category (see “Volunteers Corner,” FIRE ENGINEERING, December 1983 and February 1984). Hardware stores and clothing operations are also worthy of a very wary hard look; but I will concentrate primarily on pharmacies since I’m more familiar with them.
The next time you pass your neighborhood pharmacy, take a minute and go in and size up the situation. Don’t look around like you’re after a prescription refill and mouthwash. Look at the scene as a first-in firefighter.
The first thing you should notice is the amount of plastic. A high proportion of a pharmacy’s contents is plastic wrapped, plastic packaged, and plastic containered. The floor is most likely carpeted with a plastic material; synthetic paints and vinyl wall material surround you.
Now, pick a few bottles and look at the ingredient listings. A large number of them contain alcohol and/or oily hydrocarbon materials. Cough medicines are largely alcoholic to some degree and have sugar vehicles (syrup). Imagine what will happen to these bottles with even a small fire. The containers build up pressure, rupture, and the alcohol burns explosively. Enough heat is generated to convert the plastic into a mixture of noxious fumes in seconds. Perfumes and colognes are virtually pure alcohol. Hair preparations, especially permanent waves, have corrosives and penetrants that will tear your head off at room temperature— and what they will do at a couple of hundred degrees is beyond estimation. This is the easy stuff!
Ask the pharmacist what would happen if his drug stock burned. He will give you a puzzled look and then scare you to death. A whiff of digitalis smoke will have your heart doing snap rolls. I hesitate to guess what happens when tranquilizers burn, and the combustion products of the vasodilators should keep a team of chemists busy for a long time. And 90% of these are in plastic containers!
photo by Robert Athanas
As I write this, I can see gallon jugs of acetone, benzene, 100% ethyl alcohol and isopropyl alcohol, pints of carbolic acid, a bottle of cantharadin power (a violent blistering agent), a gallon of formaldehyde, and some collodion (a solution of nitrocellulose in ether). Think of what a fire that would make!
Now take all of this and consider the physical layout. There is a high density of merchandise in a small area with narrow aisles and limited access or exit. The rear of the occupancy is almost always protected with steel (faced) doors and barred windows for security. Entry and ventilation procedures are difficult at best.
There is usually a room where shipments are unpacked and reserve stock stored. Often this stockroom is located in the cellar. A buildup of packing materials is common, and it is not unusual to have heaters and air-conditioning equipment in the same area. As a fire source, the pharmacy has everything.
With all things considered, it becomes obvious that efforts should go into preventing rather than fighting pharmacy fires.
Now that we have agreed that a pharmacy fire is not a good offer and that we should concentrate on prevention, we are faced with a problem. Obviously you have one choice and that is to put on your full dress uniform, arm yourself with a clipboard, two ballpoint pens, and the full text of the fire code; polish up your very finest scowl, and with citation book in hand, do your duty. Right? Wrong.
photos by Bob Pressler
With this approach, you will get compliance and your department will get a black eye. Remember that the knowledge of the ordinary citizen in matters relating to fire safety is very limited. When you arrive like an avenging angel and start laying down a list of “thou shalt and thou shalt not” items, you may be legally right, but on the public relations side you are wrong.
Why not try this approach; Let the pharmacists “help” you—and while you’re at it, teach them the basics.
Pick a time when your target is not busy and approach the manager. “Mr. Pillprodder, I’m Lieutenant Sparkey of the Plumbushed Fire Department and I need some help.”
This puts the ball in his court, and rest assured he will respond to it.
“I’ve been assigned by the chief to do the fire prevention activities for the department. I’m not having any trouble with the warehouse and manufacturing operations but when I get into the retail operations I’m lost. I know that there are special problems in retail and I was hoping that you could give some guidance.”
You have now set him up as the expert and as he responds all you need to do is a little maneuvering to get things where you want them. There will come a point where you can drop your ace: “It looks to me like all of the pharmacy operations would have very much the same problems and I wonder if it wouldn’t be a good idea to get the top people from each of the pharmacies in this area together. I could show them what we are trying to do and they can show me what problems you all have. What do you think of an evening meeting in the next couple of weeks to do this? If you could set up a date, we can get together at the fire station and we’ll all learn something, have some refreshments and see about solving some problems.”
Unless you have found an atypical pharmacist, your only problem from then on will be to avoid the rush.
Lay on a couple of short prevention films that will apply, a good sized chalkboard, and do your homework. Remember that you are dealing with an intelligent group, experts in their own fields, so don’t worry about keeping things basic. If they get lost, they will let you know, and you should be ready for some hard questions. You should explain the basic terms at an early point. Terms like “pre-fire plan,” “ventilation,” “exposures,” “overhaul,” “direct attack,” “line,” and so forth are unfamiliar to the average person, so be ready to explain.
Keep in contact with your arranger so you can keep a handle on the time, date, and the number of people to expect. Let him help you pick the films/slides and make arrangements. It would be a good idea to have some firefighters available for the gathering and have them take a few people apiece and do a tour of the station. The equipment will impress your audience and show the department’s capabilities. If you can set it up with your chief, a drill can be very impressive.
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Now to your presentation. Introduce yourself and any assistants you may have. Ask your audience if any of them have ever been involved in a business fire. Ask if any of them have any fire service background (you might have a character like me buried in the group!). Make use of any knowledge they have. Let them tell you about the combustion products of fires involving plastics and chemicals, then you can fill in the spots they miss.
Points that you should cover are:
- Housekeeping: keeping combustibles cleared out and isolated.
- Ventilation: closing doors and turning off fans to limit spread of smoke and fire.
- Exits: blockage of exit points by displays or difficult doors should be emphasized. A tipped over display can turn a floor area into an obstacle course.
- Electrical: overloads and substandard circuits are very common, especially “octopus” extensions.
- Evacuation: the old rule of “if it burns your eyes or nose, get out” should be emphasized. Finding good air at floor level should be covered.
- No heroes: be sure to emphasize that a small fire may be handled easily, but point out that a spreading fire is dangerous. Make a point of the danger involved in rescuing records and “missing” persons.
- Alarms and reporting: emphasize the value of smoke alarms and heat sensors. Cover the use of a central monitoring system such as burglar alarm companies or municipal facilities if available. Emphasize how to report a fire and the importance of giving appropriate information. Point out that you cannot respond to a fire that you don’t know about.
- Sprinklers and extinguishers: point out the advantages of modern sprinkler systems and the difference from the older-type systems. Go over the types of extinguishers and emphasize the dangers of the pyrene and soda-acid types. If possible, demonstrate.
- Education: point out that what your audience has learned should not be kept secret. They should tell their employees about these things. Emphasize that you are eager to help them in training employees.
- Follow-up: arrange dates and times for you to visit the various locations for an advisory, on scene survey of each operation. Then make sure that you are there to do it. Move softly and
- point out any dangers and violations in an advisory manner. If correlations do not appear in a reasonable time, then you get out your book and do it the hard way. When you do your follow-up, take advantage of it to do your preplanning.
Once you have organized and presented an operation of this type, it becomes easy to extend into other groups in your mercantile community. Hardware stores, clothing stores, boutiques, beauty parlors, and dozens of other similar risk groups can be handled the same way. Be sure to make use of your chamber of commerce and businessmen’s associations, they can be gold mines of information and access to key people. The low key and cooperative approach will work better than a hard-nosed authoritarian attack.
The advantages of this type of program in aiding your department’s public relations are obvious. This style, admittedly, is more work; but in the long run, it’s well worth the effort.
photo by Bob Pressler
Properties Common to Chemicals Found In a Pharmaceutical Occupancy
Although some hydrocarbons are commonly found in pharmacies, most of the flammable liquids are water solvent (polar solvents). Alcohol foams must therefore be available to mitigate the incident.
Almost all of the products of combustion and vapor leaks will be ignitable mixtures, toxic, heavier than air, and, in some cases, corrosive. Water in the form of solid streams may not be effective. Fog streams may be necessary for an interior attack.
Acetone: clear, colorless pleasant odor flash point = 0°F polar solvent
narcotic in high concentrations
nail polish removers or solvents
Benzene: solvent/gasoline additive clear, colorless aromatic odor flash point = 12°F hydrocarbon
Carbolic acid (phenol): poison B corrosive combustible liquid flash point = 175°F polar solvent experimental carcinogen
absorbed through the skin attacks the central nervous system death occurs within 30 minutes after bodily collapse
if death is delayed several hours, damage is caused to kidneys, spleen, liver, and lungs
Cantharadln: blistering agents Spanish fly (brown to black powder) gives off toxic fumes during decomposition attacks eyes
Formaldehyde: colorless solution of formaldehyde gas in water combustible flash point = 122°F polar solvent
combustion products are corrosive and toxic
Collodiun: nitrocellulose in a mixture of ether and ethyl alcohol flammable
flash point is well below 100°F polar solvent
Ethyl alcohol: clear, colorless, flammable liquid flash point = 62°F polar solvent
Isopropyl alcohol propanol: clear, colorless, flammable liquid flash point = 53°F polar solvent used as rubbing alcohol
