OTTUMWA — It’s a little hot, even claustrophobic, standing inside the long tank towed behind a BP gas truck. But the lessons learned there can save lives.
Nearly 90 area emergency workers and liquid propane gas (LPG) truckers came to see the cutaway tanker that had purposely been rolled onto its side. It’s sort of like being inside a submarine, with all the valves, pipes and dials visible inside the long, cylindrical trailer.
On Thursday, industry truckers and emergency personnel from area fire departments took more than two hours of instruction inside a classroom from Gary Zimmer, BP’s safety and regulatory compliance training manager.
“It was a real coup to get them here,” said Lori Reeves, who is in charge of emergency medical and fire education at Indian Hills Community College, where the training was held.
She said BP normally sends the Liquid Propane Gas vehicle to larger cities since the company pays about $10,000 a week to run the program. In fact, after the week-long stop in Ottumwa, the Roll Over Vehicle for Emergency Response (or ROVER) is next scheduled for Chicago then Boston.
But while speaking with Zimmer, Reeves discovered he believes in training smaller departments that don’t normally have access to such education.
After “class,” firefighters actually went to the parking lot to see the “rollover” where they received more than just book knowledge about LPG tanker emergencies.
Zimmer told his students that because of the liquid sloshing around in the huge tank, those drivers who go years without an incident are some of the smoothest, most professional drivers on the road. But firefighters deserve some experience; just in case.
“We want them to know in the unlikely event there’s an incident, they can’t just rush in there,” said Zimmer. “There’s a step-by-step process they must follow.”
There are also danger zones, not all of which have to do with the gas in the tanker. One example of a spot to watch out for: air brakes. If something goes wrong, they can burst with “the power of a shotgun,” Zimmer told rescue workers.
Certain parts of the air-brake system can — and have — killed truck mechanics. When a tanker is on its side, firefighters need to be aware of several different components, including the location of shutoff valves.
“There’s usually a hazardous material manual that accompanies each shipment,” explained Zimmer. “We want to reinforce that with hands-on training.”
The BP Amoco Rover Class was co-sponsored by the Natural Gas Liquids Department of the BP Amoco Corp., the BP Distribution Pipeline Terminal of Ottumwa, Elliott Oil Company of Ottumwa, Clarey’s Safety Equipment and POK Foam.
Mark Newman can be reached at 683-5358 or by e-mail at mgnewman@mchsi.com.
Local News
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