Low-Cost, No-Cost Preparedness
While disaster planning and preparedness efforts can be a significant expense, there are a variety of no-cost, low-cost measures available, proving disaster preparedness lies within reach of any budget.
transportation
Fuel for Thought: What Hurricane Irma Taught Us About Evacuation Planning
After anticipating challenges with fuel availability, IEM partnered with GasBuddy, a company that provides a free app designed to help users locate gas stations and fuel prices in real-time. As Irma approached, GasBuddy made color-coded maps available to help residents identify which gas stations were out of power or out of fuel during the evacuation.
Another Oil Train Disaster: Are You Prepared if it Happens in Your Town?
Last week a 60-car crude oil train derailed and caught fire in Western Alabama. To many, the derailment and subsequent conflagration of a 60-car crude oil unit train in rural Alabama may be somewhat of a surprise. After all, Alabama is a long way from North Dakota, the origin of the crude oil transported by […]
Quebec Oil Train Disaster – It Could Happen in Your Town
The train explosion involving a 73-car crude oil unit train in Lac-Megantic, Quebec on July 6 serves as a sobering example of what can happen in your town. The train’s oil was being transported from the Bakken Oil Region in North Dakota to New Brunswick to be refined. The incident occurred just 10 miles from […]
NC Rail Hazmat Incident Could Have Been in Your Backyard
It is still not known why nine rail cars in a 109-car train derailed from the CSX tracks in downtown Bladensboro, NC on this past weekend. Four of the derailed cars were listed as containing hazardous materials, and one of them was full of anhydrous ammonia (NH3), a toxic inhalation hazard.[1] This dense gas, when […]
Paulsboro Train Derailment Begs Us to Ask: Do You Know What Is Transported Through Your Back Yard?
Last Friday’s freight train derailment in New Jersey in which several rail tank cars of vinyl chloride ended up in a creek off the Delaware River serves as a sobering reminder to emergency managers throughout the United States: do you know what is transported through your back yard? If so, do you have a plan […]
Raw Video of Paulsboro Train Derailment Carrying Vinyl Chloride
On Friday, November 30th a freight train carrying hazardous materials derailed while crossing a bridge in Paulsboro, NJ, a town south of Philadelphia. Four tanker trucks overturned into the creak creating a hole in rail car containing vinyl chloride. Here is raw footage of the wreckage. NJ Train Derailment Tips Tankers (Associated Press, Nov 30) […]
Chemical Economic Benefits Have Inherent Chemical Transportation Risks
This week’s Hazmat incident involving a crash between an isobutene tanker and another motor carrier is a reminder of risks involved with daily chemical transportation. Isobutylene (synonym for isobutene) when blended with gasoline is used to make high octane aviation gasoline blends. First responders and emergency managers should be commended for their efforts to close […]
Evacuations and the Isobutene Event in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
During yesterday’s isobutene incident in Baton Rouge, officials issued an evacuation order for people in the immediate area. How did they decide how large an area to evacuate? In most cases, emergency responders refer to the Emergency Response Guidebook, or ERG, which provides quick information about how to respond. For a small spill or leak […]
Isobutene Leak on I-10 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Early this morning, a tanker truck full of the toxic chemical isobutene was damaged in an accident on Interstate 10 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. You may have noticed diamond-shaped signs, or placards, containing a number on the back of tanker trucks. These placards are required on all trucks carrying hazardous material in the U.S. The […]
