Preparedness Is Top Priority for Local First Responders at Gas Well
Emergencies
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
2 June 2011
By Janice Crompton
Know the difference between a rat hole and a mouse hole? How about a
monkey board and a Geronimo line?
These may sound like terms in an exterminator's handbook -- or perhaps
on a children's playground -- but for Marcellus Shale gas workers, they
are a part of the daily lingo that could save lives.
A group of about 60 Washington County first responders learned that in
a recent gas well emergency course sponsored by the Office of the State
Fire Commissioner at the Avella Volunteer Fire Department.
For the uninitiated: Mouse and rat holes refer to borings beneath a rig
floor where pipes and other equipment are stored. A monkey board is a
working platform, which can be as high as 90 feet, and a Geronimo line
serves as an escape line to the ground.
As more Marcellus Shale wells begin sprouting up along the landscape of
southwestern Pennsylvania, so too do the dangers.
Preparing for every eventuality -- whether it's workplace injuries or
deep well blowouts, fires and explosions -- has become the top priority
for first responders, who have had to rethink strategies and instincts
to battle natural gas emergencies.
"Firefighters are taught to be aggressive, but in that kind of
emergency you can't be aggressive," said James Geresti, assistant chief
of the Avella department, who learned more about the difference between
a gas well blowout and other types of blazes.
In February, members of his crew answered a call at a Marcellus gas
well site less than a mile from their firehouse, in which three workers
were severely burned by a tank fire.
The drilling company, Chesapeake Energy, was recently fined $188,000 --
the highest fine that could be issued under current law -- by the state
Department of Environmental Protection for the Avella fire.
Two of the workers who suffered burns in the fire also recently sued
Chesapeake and two of its subcontractors, saying they were negligent
for failing to take steps to identify flammable vapors at the well site
and establish plans for how the vapors would be stored and controlled.
When they arrived on scene of the Avella fire, Mr. Geresti said the
area was consumed with flames. Firefighters thought they were
witnessing a gas well blowout or fire, which occurs when pressure
control systems fail, causing an uncontrollable release of natural gas.
Pockets of oil and other hydrocarbons can also be released accidentally
in gas well blowouts.
Statistics show blowouts are rare, occurring at an average rate of
about 1 in every 1,000 gas wells, but first responders had no way to
know that because they've never experienced anything like it.
"I've never actually seen it, but when you have a well fire or blowout,
it's much different than that," Mr. Geresti said.
Gas well blowouts aren't handled by first responders, experts say,
mostly because of the specialized equipment and training involved. An
accurate portrayal of this, firefighters say, is the 1968 movie
"Hellfighters," starring John Wayne as a oil well firefighter who was
part of a special team that used metal shields and other devices to
fight blowout fires and halt the flow of hydrocarbons.
The typical tools of the firefighting trade, foam and water, can
sometimes make gas fires worse, creating a new ignition or
environmental hazard. Rather, drilling companies call on a small
network of special teams who travel to fires as needed.
The job of local first responders at such emergencies is to evacuate
and secure the area and to protect nearby property and residents. Local
first responders, however, are responsible for extinguishing other
kinds of fire or gas site explosion.
Familiarizing first responders with a gas well site and the various
stages of development, from site selection to drilling and processing,
was the goal of the OSFC training course, part of a series of ongoing
lectures and demonstrations aimed at Marcellus first responders.
"The program is designed to give first responders some background on
Marcellus Shale gas sites in Pennsylvania," said adjunct instructor Guy
Napolillo, who also serves as the 911 coordinator for Fayette County
Emergency Management.
Mr. Napolillo and his colleague Jim Bittner, the county's emergency
planner and trainer, have worked for years as instructors for the state
Fire Academy, addressing issues such as hazardous materials in the
1990s and homeland security training since 2001. Today, the primary
focus surrounds the burgeoning swarm of Marcellus Shale sites.
And though the southwestern corner of the state has for decades been
peppered with shallow gas wells, Marcellus wells are drilled at much
deeper depths with very high-pressure extraction methods. Those factors
can lead to different and sometimes more serious injuries than what the
average emergency medical crew might be prepared to tackle.
In both Washington and neighboring Westmoreland counties, drilling
companies have also been coordinating with local first responders to
improve training and encourage open communication.
While many of those drillers already have contingency plans filed with
local governments, a bill requiring drilling companies to post
emergency information at gas well sites and to file response plans was
unanimously approved by the state Senate Veterans Affairs and Emergency
Preparedness Committee last week.
"We have not found any well company to be non-responsive to our
requests," said Dan Stevens, Westmoreland County deputy emergency
management coordinator. "Anything we've needed from them, they've
given."
With 14 Marcellus Shale drilling companies operating more than 230
wells in Westmoreland, along with a company in Derry that has begun
tapping gas from the Utica Shale -- another formation located several
thousand feet below the Marcellus Shale -- that's a lot of coordination.
The county has organized a task force it calls the Westmoreland County
Gas Exploration Working Group, with about 35 members, including local
first responders, municipal officials and company representatives.
One of the goals of the group is to promote public awareness about gas
drilling, along with safety initiatives and training programs for first
responders.
For the gas companies, that's meant taking a more direct role to
improve worker and public safety.
One of the companies drilling in Westmoreland, Tulsa, Okla.-based
Williams Cos. Inc., helped fund the cost of color-coded safety cards
that were distributed to local emergency responders and at local drill
sites.
The laminated cards, developed by the Lycoming County Gas Exploration
Task Force, include tools to help emergency responders quickly analyze
incidents, with guidelines, types of well conditions and common terms.
"Safety is our number one priority," said Susan Oliver, Williams
spokeswoman. "It's more like a commitment throughout Pennsylvania. All
of our workers have the ability to shut down any well site if they feel
it's unsafe."
Range Resources and several other large gas drilling companies have the
same policy, encouraging contractors and other employees to step
forward if anything seems amiss.
"Anyone can shut down an operation," Range spokesman Matt Pitzarella
said. "If you're on a location and see cause for concern, we will shut
down the well."
Mr. Pitzarella said Range officials have met with "every single fire
marshal in the state" and that the company goes above and beyond
requirements for filing emergency preparedness and spill prevention
plans.
The company also has adopted a policy to cease operations when serious
gas well incidents occur elsewhere in the state, even if they don't
involve Range facilities. These total stand-downs are expensive,
"because nobody works," Mr. Pitzarella said, but the pause serves as a
"gut-check" for everyone.
Local counties have improved emergency response time by developing a
911 address system for gas well access roads, some of which can be a
mile or more from a well site.
Mark Piantine, chief of the Derry Township Volunteer Fire Department
Co. 1 in Bradenville, said persuading drilling companies to inform
local emergency planners about their plans, such as flaring schedules,
also greatly reduced false alarms.
"At one time, we had 30 calls in a 24-hour period" about a well flare,
he said.
Seen as an ethereal glow that can be visible in the sky from as far as
10 miles away, gas flares resemble large candles and are used at the
end of the well development process to burn off gas and vent emissions.
Gas companies also work with first responders by organizing on-site
command systems, designating a "company man" to work as a liaison with
emergency personnel around the clock, and by streamlining emergency
procedures, including using signal horns to pinpoint incidents.
It's all done in an effort to make sure "Everyone Goes Home," as per
the motto of the OSFC.
Mr. Piantine said he plans to continue learning as much as he can about
gas well drilling, especially after hearing the chief of the
Moundsville, W.Va., Volunteer Fire Department lament last year that his
crew went into a massive gas well explosion and fire completely unaware
of what was going on at the drilling site.
"That's not going to be me," he said.
Janice Crompton: jcrompton@post-gazette.com or 412-851-1867.