EMERGENCY RESPONSE TO A MAJOR AGRICULTURAL
CHEMICAL WAREHOUSE FIRE
Mark D. Ryckman, Vice President
D. W. Ryckman and Associates, Inc.
Jeffrey L. Peters, Manager
Ryckman's Energy Action and Consulting Team
St. Louis, Missouri 63141
William H. Busch, Manager
Field Operations Section
John R. Renkes, Manager
Emergency Response Unit
Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
Springfield, Illinois 62706
The purpose of this chapter is to review an emergency response to a major agricultural
chemical warehouse fire that was directed by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency
(ILL EPA) with assistance from an environmental crisis engineering firm, REACT. The
principal elements, including emergency response management systems; risk assessment;
isolation and containment procedures; recovery, treatment and disposal practices; cost vs
liability tradeoffs; and available emergency response resources will be presented to assist
industry and regulatory agencies in coping with hazardous material emergencies that pose
life safety and environmental threats in a rational and cost effective manner.
BACKGROUND
To minimize public and environmental risks from spills of pollutants and hazardous
materials, the ILL EPA maintains and Emergency Action Reporting Center. The center
assures quick field investigation response by appropriate field personnel who make on-
scene risk assessments, and to assure adequate cleanup by those responsible for the material
spilled.
The center is staffed by technical personnel who receive and log all spill reports throughout the state. The center functions as an operations control headquarters during spill incidents. Based on the spill report information first received, a decision is quickly made whether to dispatch one of the ILL EPA's field office staff to the scene of the spill for verification and on-scene assessment. The various divisions of the ILL EPA have numerous
field office locations around the state from which personnel respond to these spill reports.
The Division of Water Pollution Control has seven regional offices strategically located so
that response time is usually not over 1.5 hours to any point in the regional office service
area. Most spill reports result in an investigation by ILL EPA field personnel.
The field staffs first on-scene actions include:
1. verification of the type and quantity of materials invovled;
2. determination of owner or responsible agent;
3. assessment of risk to the public and environment;
4. assurance of quick containment of toxic and hazardous liquid and solid materials that
could pose public exposure, air, land or water pollution threats;
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