Employees stand outside as firemen work to put out the
remains of a fire in a building at the Metropolitan Wastewater Treatment Plant
at 2400 Childs Road in St. Paul, on Tuesday, March 10, 2015. (Pioneer Press:
Scott Takushi)
MARCH 20, 2015
ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA
Three St. Paul firefighters who responded to last week's
blaze at the Metropolitan Wastewater Treatment Plant suffered chemical burns
that were serious enough to keep them away from work, and their injuries led to
discussion Friday between the fire department and firefighters union about what
happened.
The fire occurred March 10 in one building at the large
complex on the Mississippi River southeast of downtown St. Paul.
Later that day, eight firefighters reported symptoms
apparently associated with the fire, Fire Chief Tim Butler said Friday. They
went to the emergency room to be checked out, and three were found to have more
serious burns while one had a minor rash, said Jeramiah Melquist, treasurer of
the St. Paul International Association of Fire Fighters Local 21.
Although firefighters are exposed to hazards at any fire,
the president of the firefighters union said he's concerned about the seriousness
of the injuries in this case and the number of firefighters who were exposed to
chemicals.
"When it gets through your turnout gear (firefighters'
protective equipment) and into your skin, it's severe," said Mike Smith,
who heads Local 21. "I don't want this to happen again to my members. Our
concern is what happened here and what can we do better next time so it doesn't
happen again?"
Butler said he was told the chemical burns caused a
sunburn-like skin reaction that gets worse for a day or so and then gradually
clears up.
Ten days after the fire, the three still have symptoms but
are recovering, Smith said. The firefighters told Melquist that "it itches
so much, even in their sleep they're scratching and waking up to blood," he
said.
The discussion Friday between fire department command staff
and union officials included potential changes to the decontamination process,
to be sure hazardous materials are washed off firefighters when they come out
of a fire, Butler said.
Decontamination occurred after the March 10 fire, but more
intensive and comprehensive methods could have been used, the fire chief said.
The daytime fire happened when a subcontractor was using a
reciprocating saw on an odor scrubber, according to a fire incident report. A
contractor was renovating some equipment and scrapping some.
Soon after cutting started, fumes in the scrubber ignited
and caused an explosion, and a large fire resulted, the report said. The first
material that ignited "was flammable gaseous atmosphere and flammable
material in and around the scrubber," wrote Melquist, who is a fire
captain and the investigator on the case. He was speaking Friday in his role as
a Local 21 officer.
Firefighters' hazardous materials monitors and sensors showed
no signs of hazardous materials, Butler said. The monitors were checking the
air quality outside the building, but not inside, Melquist said, adding that's
something that will be changed during future responses to a facility housing
chemicals.
In this case, crews broke off from monitoring for hazardous
materials to help fight the large fire, Melquist said. There had initially been
a report that the worker who sparked the fire was unaccounted for. Firefighters
searched for him, before learning that another worker had driven him to the
hospital with minor injuries.
Melquist believes the firefighters' chemical burns
originated from what he referred to as "bleach balls" -- hundreds of
what looked like small whiffle balls and had been used as odor scrubbers in the
equipment.
Firemen work to put out the remains of a fire in a building
at the Metropolitan Wastewater Treatment Plant at 2400 Childs Road in St. Paul,
on Tuesday, March 10, 2015. (Pioneer Press: Scott Takushi)
They were made of sodium hypochlorite and, when they burned,
gave off a chlorine gas, Melquist said. The gas would have reacted with the
water firefighters were using on the flames, he said.
The first firefighters who responded were the most seriously
injured, Melquist said. The one with the rash on his hands reported that after
the fire, he had picked up hoses that had been lying in water, and hadn't been
wearing gloves.
The odor scrubber in question hadn't been used for about 20
years, said Mike Mereness, Metropolitan Council Environmental Services
assistant general manager of operations. The Metropolitan Council runs the
wastewater treatment facility, the largest in the state.
"We don't expect or anticipate there was any chemical
in there because that was a process that hadn't been used for years and years,
and we would have drained out all the chemicals," Mereness said Friday.
Mereness said the Met Council is conducting its own
investigation.
Firefighters can fill out exposure forms after a fire or
medical call, which provides documentation if they potentially came into
contact with a hazardous or infectious material, but Smith said the number who
filled out the forms after the wastewater treatment plant fire was unusually
high -- at least 70. There were 61 firefighters who responded to the scene of
the fire, Butler said.
Smith said the people who filled out the forms included some
firefighters who could have been exposed to potential chemicals on equipment
and turnout gear after it was brought back to fire stations.
Butler said the equipment was tested after the fire and
nothing hazardous was detected.
The fire department typically reviews its response to
incidents and plans to do so in this case, Butler said.
"I'm glad we had nobody lost inside the fire and the
firefighters who had injuries are healing and we've been told they'll recover
fully," he said.
The fire caused an estimated $1.5 million in damage but did
not affect wastewater treatment. Your
shit will still get treated, while these poor firefighters itch to blood. Good deal.