BY MICHAEL M. DUGAN
Hydraulic fracturing-also known as fracking, hyrdofracturing, hydrofracking, and fraccing-for natural gas and crude oil is the new “gold rush” and is impacting the fire service in a big way. This well-stimulation technique, in which rock is fractured by a pressurized liquid, involves the high-pressure injection of fracking fluid, which is primarily water containing sand and other proppants suspended with the aid of gelling agents. The agent is injected into a wellbore to create cracks in the deep-rock formations through which natural gas and petroleum flow more freely.
What Will Your Town Look Like?
If the town in which you live is hit by a boom in oil and natural gas, what can you expect to happen? Are your department and town ready for the new gold rush and all of the problems that come with it such as drugs, alcohol, gambling, prostitution, violence, and human trafficking? There will always be someone wanting to take workers’ money in a boom town. These issues are impacting the fire service in small towns throughout America as well as in Canada, Mexico, South America, and Australia. Fire service members are picking up the slack on a lot of these issues and their associated problems.
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| (1-3) The main street of an industrial “man camp.” Man camps are secure, well-run living facilities for workers employed in the crude oil and gas recovery field. If you have one in your area, are you ready for a fire, emergency medical services, or hazmat call? This well-run, small “city” can appear out of nowhere and may have more than 1,800 residents. (Photos by Ian Bland.) |
Imagine that you live in a town of about 12,000 to 15,000 residents and run about 300 to 400 calls a year. Your department trains and does its normal fire and emergency medical services (EMS) activities. Then, oil and gas companies discover oil and gas in your area that they can extract from the ground. Within two years, 30,000 to 40,000 residents will be living and working in your town. In some places, the local population went from 500 people to more than 5,000 people in less than a year.
Most of these people will work at or in support of the petroleum recovery operations. These area businesses may do well, but the area will now be overpopulated and the local infrastructure will be stretched to its breaking point. Local businesses may pick up new customers, but local prices will most likely soar. This occurred in Australia; when the liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry arrived in one of its towns, the rent on a three-bedroom home doubled within the first six months after arrival.
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| (4) It is vital to know the buildings’ construction types and layouts if a fire ignites in one of these buildings. |
Additional vehicles will clog your roads-work trucks, private vehicles, and hauling vehicles that take water and chemicals to the drill site and make local traffic intolerable. Auto accidents and vehicle issues become much more prevalent; the impact might be greater because of larger vehicles carrying larger loads. Local restaurants may become overly crowded, and people will not always be happy. A social divide may occur between the local residents and the imported workers. These issues lead to other problems for the local community and, of course, the fire department will be the one called on when there is a problem.
Housing can also become an issue because of the great influx of people to work sites and those required to supervise and regulate the workers; people will be living in all sorts of places. People will rent rooms in their homes to the workforce. Hotels will be full, and places to stay will be at a premium; this will entice people to rent space to the workers to live. These living spaces might include a basement, an attic, or even a barn. For any fire or emergency, you must be diligent in your searches of all affected spaces. These people will be living in some unconventional spaces, and our normal tactics for searching for victims at a fire will need to change. Industrial accidents and incidents at the fracking sites will also pose problems; you will need to be proficient at confined space rescues and high-angle rope rescues to handle these emergencies.
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| (5) A typical room at a man camp. The space is limited, and knowing the arrangements of the rooms and hallways will assist the local fire department if there is a fire or an emergency. |
Scenario: Your department receives a phone call from a worker regarding an injury at a location known as a “man camp,” which is at a site near the drilling location where the workers live. (Many companies have become stricter with their employees and offer housing that they control.) These camps can be prefabricated dwelling units, old motor homes, tents, or anything that can provide shelter to those working on the drill site (depending on the time of year and the local weather conditions). Unfortunately, these camps are on private land and not near local roads. When the worker is asked for the location of the emergency, he provides global positioning system coordinates and the like, but road names and addresses might be hard to come by.
The issue for the first responders is, How are they going get to the location of the emergency? The workers are using private dirt roads that are not marked, and the fire department has no idea where these private roads are or where they lead. If you have a serious medical issue, valuable time will be wasted.
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| (6) A man camp medical center. First responders must know its workers and their level of training. You might require the person aiding the patient to accompany you to the hospital. |
If there is an issue with moving the product, it usually results from incompetence. A worker can forget to close a valve or opens the wrong one, which causes a major leak and a hazardous materials incident. If there is a fire, you may encounter not just the fire but also a release of product and injuries to those at the scene. Preplanning and preparation are key to handling this type of operation for the safety of your members and your community.
Unsavory Elements
Gambling, drugs, and prostitution may arise, and these vices lead to crime, which leads to issues for the fire department. Are your members wearing bulletproof vests on EMS runs for reports of shots fired? Do your standard operating guidelines (SOGs) call for the police department to be on scene before your members enter a scene of reported violence? What happens when you respond to a call and your members suspect human trafficking in the response area? Are they aware of the signs, and does your department have a policy, contacts, and resources in place to address the issue before the incident? The upper levels of your department may have to address this by creating a written SOG for an incident involving violence. Then, you may have an issue with local bars and clubs serving workers drinks before, during, and after work hours. The individuals misusing alcohol will either go to work or get behind the wheel, resulting in a significant increase in the number of vehicle accidents, and it will become a problem that will fall on your shoulders. You will need to review or create roadway and highway SOGs to counter the dramatic increase in the number of vehicles on the road as well as the possibility that many drivers will be impaired.
Man Camps
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| (7) This outdoor pool area is where you may respond to a reported drowning. It also might serve as a water source for your preplan. |
Man camps are now evolving, and the oil and gas companies are becoming more proactive with them. Companies employ site management companies to build housing for their workers; this allows the companies to gain control over some of the issues. A majority of companies now employ random drug tests. They also limit the number of people who can visit the housing sites, which eliminates problems such as prostitution (but only at the sites). Also, in most man camps, alcohol is banned.
On-Site Fire Brigades
A major man camp issue for the local fire service is the presence of a fire brigade on site. These jobs may entice motivated fire service members to leave their departments for a higher paying job in the oil and gas industry. Many of our best and brightest fire personnel-career and volunteer-are now working in oil fields with these brigades, leaving openings in career and volunteer departments that need to be filled.
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| (8) A well head with the pump and metering equipment. A solar power source is at the site. You must know how to secure and lock out the power. Also, someone lying on the ground may indicate an oxygen-deficient area. |
What about interoperability with fire brigades? If you respond to a gas or an oil site or a man camp and a site fire brigade is present, can you effectively communicate with the members? If there is a fire, can you hook up to the brigade’s rig with your hose? Does your nozzle fit on the threads? Do you know the capacity of the water supply system? Are members working off a ground tank, and how much water is available? Will you need to set up a water shuttle? With what size tanks are the rigs equipped? If you wait until you have to coordinate a response and you need answers to these questions, it will be too late. Plan and drill with these fire brigades as soon as possible.
Well Heads and Permits
Another issue to consider is the well head being used or that is capped. If you respond to a well or drill site, what are your SOGs? There have been reports of methane leaking from capped well heads. Do you wear full personal protective equipment (PPE) with air while responding to an industrial accident such as a leaking on-site well head or capped well? This is not what we think of as a confined space, but it might be an oxygen(O2)-deficient space because of the properties of methane. Methane is an asphyxiant and may displace O2 in an enclosed or low-lying area. Methane is lighter than air, but other gases such as hydrogen sulfide (H2S) (“rotten egg” gas) are often byproducts of these sites. Asphyxia may result if the O2 concentration is reduced to below 16 percent by displacement. Also, in its natural occurring state, methane is odorless and will not be detected by smell; the odorizing agent has yet to be added to this type of gas. Therefore, your department should require PPE, air monitoring, and metering.
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| (9) The fire brigade at this facility has three apparatus in which to respond, depending on the nature of the call. What does the brigade carry, and are your equipment and training compatible? |
Fire departments should also get involved in the issuing of permits for hydro fracking. You will need to know the location of the well site and any man camp or housing complex on the site as well as the routes you must take to get there. This information should be in your department’s database before any permit is issued. The department will also need the operation’s supervisors’ contact numbers. If there is a problem, then you can go to the boss. Get involved with the fire brigade (if one is on site), and have a preincident plan. You will need to be able to communicate with the fire brigade to get water or to supply the rig in a fire.
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| (10) The main firefighting apparatus at this man camp. Can you supply it with water? Can you communicate with the fire brigade? During a fire is not the time to find out. |
Fracking is a hot-button issue on today’s political landscape, and local fire departments do not want to get into the middle of a political debate because they will never win. However, it won’t be an issue if you do your job. The local fire department must establish early on a professional working relationship with the oil company and its site manager. You must be ready to conduct training on confined space and high-angle rescue or have those services covered by an on-scene contractor.
Conduct drills with the site fire brigade and be ready to work together. Develop a relationship with the site personnel and the workers to create a win-win for the workforce and the fire service. Be informed, and plan with the local government for the issues you will encounter.
MICHAEL M. DUGAN is a 39-year fire service veteran and a 28-year member of the Fire Department of New York (FDNY), where he retired as captain of Ladder Company 123 in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. As a lieutenant, he served in Ladder Company 42 in the South Bronx. While assigned as a firefighter in Ladder Company 43, in Spanish Harlem, he received the James Gordon Bennett Medal in 1992 and the Harry M. Archer Medal in 1993, FDNY’s highest award for bravery. He was a volunteer firefighter in Halesite, New York. He lectures on truck company operations, building construction, size-up, and today’s fire service.
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