Promotional Scenario #14

Scenario # 14 – Gas Leak

Oral Assessment exercise:

At 11:30 hours on a mild April morning, you are dispatched to a reported gas leak in the street in front of 3950 Main Street. The building located in front of the gas leak is the local YMCA, with residential homes across the street. You have a 15 mph wind blowing from the west to the east with an approaching rain storm.

Upon your arrival, you observe a Gas Utility Company working in the street with an odor of natural gas in the area. Utility workers are frantically trying to control the leak. You respond with 2 Engine Co.s, 1 Ladder Co. and a BC. You are the first arriving FD Unit.

QUESTION:

  1. What actions will you take immediately upon your arrival?

ANSWER KEY:

  1. What actions will you take immediately upon your arrival?
  • Approach from an upwind position.
  • Establish a Unified Command upwind.
  • ( Note: NOT uphill – natural gas is lighter than air)
  • Direct responding units to do the same.
  • Meet with Gas Utility representatives to discuss the seriousness of the leak and time to repair/control.
  • Turn on and zero your Combustible Gas Meters before entering leak area.
  • Assess gas odors in surrounding structures.
  • Review DOT-ERG book for operational guides for Natural Gas.
  • 10 % LEL or higher reading, evacuate the building(s).
  • Move evacuees as least 330 feet away (football field)
  • Limit all ignition resources by:
  • Parking away from manholes.
  • When alerting residents, knock on doors, do NOT ring door bells.
  • Do not use electronic devices unless intrinsically safe.
  • Shut/control ignition sources in surrounding properties.
  • Isolate and deny entry to the area.
  • Establish Hot – Warm – Cold
  • Establish water supplies and prepare master streams to divert leak, vapor cloud if necessary.
  • Park, place apparatus to protect first responders.
  • Establish IMS: Evac group. Utility Control group, Suppression Group as examples.
  • Request PD to isolate and entry to the area.
  • Request a second alarm to a designated staging area/upwind.
  • Request a Hazardous Material Team.
  • Request EMS to staging.
  • Request/Assign a Safety Officer to assist with the scene.
  • Establish a Rapid Intervention Crew – RIC.
  • Coordinate all operations with the Gas Utility Company.
  • Ask Fire Dispatch for the projected weather.

 For additional information to assist you with your promotional preparation:

TEXT BOOKS:
* Fire Officer Oral Assessment Study Guides: Promotional Prep
* Assessment Center Strategy and Tactics: DC M. Terpak – Jersey City
* Fire Ground Size – Up: DC M. Terpak – Jersey City
* Fire Ground Operational Guides – DC F. Viscuso – Kearny NJ, DC M. Terpak – Jersey City

WEB-SITES:
* promotionalprep.com
* firegroundsizeup.com
* fireopsonline.com

FACE BOOK:
* facebook.com / Promotional Prep
* facebook.com/ Mike Terpak Fire Training