Haz-Mat Transportation by Air
DEPARTMENTS
ON HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
In previous columns, I have discussed the movement of hazardous materials by four of the five major modes of transportation and the planning necessary for handling incidents created when hazardous materials move by pipeline, rail, road, and water. The last mode of transportation that emergency response personnel need to prepare for involves airways.
Many fire officers, when pre-planning for hazardous materials incidents, completely neglect the area of air transportation because they consider the occurrence of such an incident a remote possibility.
Aircraft that carry hazardous materials come in all sizes, from small, single engine types to the large Boeing 747 freighters. These airplanes use the regional airports near small towns, as well as the large commercial ones near major cities.
Of course, there is always the possibility of an aircraft accident near a community without an airport. The local fire service must be prepared to handle the accident, as well as to ensure that there is no danger from any hazardous materials.
An incident involving air transportation can present a hazardous materials problem in three ways:
- The baggage or freight being carried is a hazardous material;
- The fuel on the airplane is hazardous and can be ignited;
- The piped oxygen or the flammable metals used in construction can be ignited.
As with any container of hazardous materials, there can be a spill, leak, or fire involving its contents. These three possible releases can occur at the airport during handling, loading, or unloading of the cargo. They could also occur as a result of a crash.
For example, a small single engine plane crashed in a rural area of Anne Arundel County, MD, on January 22, 1978. This airplane was carrying a cargo of 30 containers of molybdenum 99, a radioactive material used in medical treatments. The product was contained in lead cylinders, surrounded by styrofoam, and packaged inside a cardboard carton. Now, how many people would suspect that this single engine plane was transporting hazardous materials? Fortunately, the lead cylinders did not break open upon impact. However, emergency personnel will not always be so lucky.
The key for handling any potential incident involving an airplane is to pre-plan. Pre-planning should consider the following:
- Conduct a survey of the response area to determine potential sites for an incident, including the area at the end of the runway as well as the area below the runway’s normal approaches.
- Determine the access roads and possible water sources for the potential areas.
- Develop a map of the affected areas showing all pre-planned items.
- Determine the hazardous materials that move via air by surveying the local industries as well as by talking to the various freight depot managers.
- Determine the types of aircraft that normally use your local facility and obtain drawings of them. In addition, you’ll need to record such information as engine type, height, width, length, fuel capacity, passenger capacity, crew size, exit locations, and exit and emergency door operation.
- Determine the location of any downed aircraft alert systems, so that the plane can be found quickly.
- Record the individuals who can be contacted to assist in handling the incident. The individuals who would be involved in moving hazardous materials by air are affiliated with:
- Federal Aviation Administration
- Shippers
- Air carriers
- End users
- Chemical manufacturers
- Heavy equipment operators
- Extra extinguishing agents.
- Develop an emergency medical services plan for handling mass casualties. This plan must account for medical treatment at the scene as well as at several hospitals.
- Establish a site for a temporary morgue. This facility must be established quickly, have proper security, be accessible to emergency personnel, and have the proper equipment.
- Develop the type of response that is required for the various types of aircraft that utilize the local facility. If the local jurisdiction does not have sufficient resources for an initial response, then automatic mutual aid agreements (if there are fire departments close enough to assist) must be developed.
- Proper support vehicles either from within the department or through mutual aid must be available. These include response equipment, air refilling equipment, and lighting units.
- Test the pre-plans on a regular basis and refine them with the information gathered during the drills.
Another concern of emergency personnel during an aircraft incident should be the fuel carried on board. On some major commercial aircrafts, the fuel tanks are in the wings. These tanks can contain over 50,000 gallons of fuel. In addition, auxiliary fuel tanks on these crafts can be located in the lower level of the main fuselage.
The passenger load of the commercial aircraft varies from a low of six in a commuter airplane to a high of 490 in a Boeing 747. Obviously, the large commercial aircraft will present significant rescue problems.
A fire involving the fuel aboard the aircraft requires special firefighting equipment as well as sufficient extinguishing agents. There is also a need to conduct training exercises on the types of flammable liquids that can be encountered in an aircraft accident.
In addition to the type of freight and fuel carried on an aircraft, a third problem confronting fire officers involves the oxygen tanks installed in the plane. As with any closed container, flame impingement can cause a violent detonation of the storage bottles.
Flow from ruptured lines must be stopped either by closing valves or capping the leaking lines. However, this is a problem that only needs to be addressed after the rescue phase is completed.
Handling a hazardous materials incident in an aircraft can be accomplished if the three potential problems are considered. The fire officer must be concerned about hazardous materials in the cargo area, the fuel problem, and the issue of leaking oxygen and flammable solids which could ignite. By pre-planning these types of incidents, the fire officer is better prepared for making quick, accurate decisions if an accident occurs.
