Burnwell Gas Explosion & HAZMAT - Mumford, NY 9/13/11
September 13, 2011 - Mumford (NY) Fire Dept. responded for a report of an explosion and fire at a propane transfer facility on Main St. The first arriving firefighters reported a building fully involved and threatening several 100 lb. propane tanks. A second alarm was struck immediately and lines were put in place to protect the three largest tanks on the property, including one with a 30,000 gallon capacity. Many of the 100 lb. tanks suffered BLEVE's during the fire and at least one of them landed several hundred feet away in a front yard across the street.
A Level 1 HAZMAT was declared around 3:30pm and was upgraded to a Level 2 less than 10 minutes later. This brought the Monroe County Hazardous Materials Response Team to the scene along with HAZMAT 8 from the Rochester Airport. Extensive mutual aid was also requested to the scene to assist with water supply operations in this rural village, which required many pieces of equipment to draft from small creeks in the area. At one point, firefighters had to build a small dam to ensure the water was deep enough to continue drafting. Shortly after 6:00pm a request was made for Rescue 3 and it's articulating boom (Snozzle) to respond from the Rochester Airport Fire Dept. to help with fire suppression.
Crews remained on scene over the next couple of days to protect the cleanup crews and investigators that were on scene after the fire was extinguished. One employee did suffer burns from the explosion and was transported to the hospital. Amazingly, in spite of several smaller tanks flying through the air there were no other reported injuries.
Read MoreA Level 1 HAZMAT was declared around 3:30pm and was upgraded to a Level 2 less than 10 minutes later. This brought the Monroe County Hazardous Materials Response Team to the scene along with HAZMAT 8 from the Rochester Airport. Extensive mutual aid was also requested to the scene to assist with water supply operations in this rural village, which required many pieces of equipment to draft from small creeks in the area. At one point, firefighters had to build a small dam to ensure the water was deep enough to continue drafting. Shortly after 6:00pm a request was made for Rescue 3 and it's articulating boom (Snozzle) to respond from the Rochester Airport Fire Dept. to help with fire suppression.
Crews remained on scene over the next couple of days to protect the cleanup crews and investigators that were on scene after the fire was extinguished. One employee did suffer burns from the explosion and was transported to the hospital. Amazingly, in spite of several smaller tanks flying through the air there were no other reported injuries.
Katie
on September 14, 2011Nice job getting the whole story. It's nice to see the people who are working hard throughout the entire situation and not just the fire.