Company defends use of toxic chemicals to fight plant fire
Source: AP
By JOHN FLESHER
A company whose northern Illinois chemical plant was heavily damaged in a fire last week defended its use of firefighting foam containing toxic chemicals Wednesday, saying crews had taken steps to contain the material.
An industrial team hired by Lubrizol Inc., parent company of Chemtool, used foam containing PFAS compounds June 15 before switching to another foam without them on orders of the fire chief in Rockton, a town near the Wisconsin border.
State and federal regulators had raised concerns with the company about the PFAS-containing foam. It is legal in most of the U.S. but generally used only for highly flammable or combustible fires involving gas tankers and oil refineries, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
The foam was used in the early stages of firefighting efforts for a limited time given the heightened risk of letting the fire burn and spread, Lubrizol said in a statement Wednesday. Fluorinated foam is twice as effective as non-fluorinated foam in suppressing a fire like the one we experienced and offered the best chance to control the fire in the shortest amount of time.
Smoke from the Chemtool industrial fire wafts across Nazarene Drive Tuesday, June 15, 2021, in Rockton, Ill., creating a haze over a neighborhood. (Scott P. Yates/Rockford Register Star via AP)
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/fires-environment-and-nature-business-a5f7ef3ceee86fa09dcc88d2caa1f5f0
tonekat
(1,814 posts)...than the people living around it.
global1
(25,242 posts)There is a river very close to this plant where run-off will gravitate to.
I don't believe that they were able to contain all the chemical run-off.
ProfessorGAC
(65,010 posts)Refinery & industrial fire experts called in spent the preponderance of their time building berms and moats, rather than fight the fire.
They actually recommended letting it burn itself out.
That same outfit was working with IEPA to monitor water quality throughout the incident.
I don't know how successful they were or weren't, but at least it was a priority.