RICHMOND -- Arlington firefighters sprayed thousands of gallons of water on a raging gas well fire Tuesday until one of them, dressed in protective gear, could inch close enough to turn two valves and cut off the gas supply.
Later that night, a homemade explosive device detonated while the same crew was investigating a reported gas leak. Shortly after, they battled a blaze at a nearby gas well rig.Fortunately those emergencies were just training exercises. But as a dozen firefighters learned at the Fort Bend Fire Training Field in Richmond this week, a storm, worker error or even a terrorist act could just as easily create a similar gas well disaster within hundreds of feet of Arlington homes, businesses, roads or churches.According to statistics provided by Wild Well Control, 2.5 blowouts occur per 1,000 wells drilled. Those uncontrolled releases of natural gas or oil could create noxious or deadly vapor clouds or fires that could burn for days. Arlington already has more than 300 wells and the city is approving new ones regularly."This is coming to a neighborhood near you," Ahmed Fakhri, Wild Well Control senior safety and emergency response specialist, told Arlington fire fighters. "Sooner or later you are going to have an event."Because of that risk, Arlington is the first city in the Barnett Shale to launch a natural gas well emergency preparedness and response program designed to help the fire department better prevent and respond to gas releases and other disasters. Though a lawsuit challenging the program is pending, drillers could begin paying a new $2,397 fee per well in Arlington as early as next month to help the city pay for additional firefighters, training and equipment.Preventing catastropheThe program will add a layer of safety and security inspections that aim to prevent catastrophic events at gas well sites, most of which are surrounded by businesses and neighborhoods, Fire Chief Don Crowson said. It will also give firefighters information on how to keep themselves safe and a better understanding of what they can do to minimize damage to the gas well site and surrounding buildings until the site operator's own specially trained well control crews can arrive."We still consider ourselves partners with the industry. This is about preparedness to keep the citizens safe," Crowson said.The new fee is expected to generate about $800,000 a year, which will allow the department to hire six additional firefighters and to train and equip 42 current firefighters for the creation of two gas well emergency response teams.Industry representatives have argued against the gas well program, saying it could create "potentially unsafe measures, unreasonable costs and additional burdens that may prohibit the industry from quickly and safely managing any unforeseen or unplanned critical incident." The industry also calls the additional inspections unnecessary given well operators' safety record within the Barnett Shale.In May, the Texas Oil & Gas Association and the Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association sued Arlington, saying the city is trying to unfairly "expand its revenues by taxing a single industry." That suit was filed in a Tarrant County civil court.What not to doThis week, a dozen Arlington firefighters participated in classroom lessons and daytime and nighttime emergency drills with Wild Well Control, a Houston-based company that has battled oil and gas well disasters around the world. Arlington is paying the company $96,000 to train at least 48 firefighters and six fire inspectors over the next two years.While there, firefighters learned about specific equipment problems to check for -- such as cracked hoses that are improperly repaired, valves with missing handles or loose bolts on pipe connections."By doing these drills, it gives us a better idea how these sites look and the things we can look for that can lead to a catastrophic event that can cause damage in the community," said firefighter Robert Greene, who joined the department last year.Firefighters were also instructed on what not to do that could make a bad situation worse. Turning the wrong valve, for example, could completely kill a gas well site or create pressure problems and ruptures elsewhere in the system."There is historical examples of responders who have chosen to attempt tactical operations on their own that have led to tragic consequences," said Casey Davis, Wild Well Control vice president. "This training not only tells first responders what they can do, more than that it tells them what they can not do."Crews also discussed ways to improve site security from threats posed by vandals or terrorists. While some well sites in Arlington are surrounded by chain link fences topped with barbed wire, Assistant Fire Chief Jim Self recently took the Star-Telegram on a tour of other sites that had holes in the fencing, loose gates or even no gate to keep vehicles out. Those are concerns that would be pointed out to operators during inspections, he said."Our important and valued partnership with the vital natural gas well industry is a proactive public safety and security initiative. Our goals in order of importance are prevention, planning, preparedness and a unified response with the operators," Self said.Gas well sites are considered "soft targets" by the Department of Homeland Security, fire officials said. The components needed to build an explosive device, such as a homemade pipe bomb, to sabotage a site are inexpensive and can be made to blend in with the industrial equipment.Updated ordinanceLast year, Arlington revised its natural gas drilling ordinance to require installation of video surveillance cameras to monitor production equipment and all traffic at well sites around the clock for increased public safety. The cameras are designed to deter tampering and help public safety officials determine whether gas releases or other incidents were accidental, intentional or weather-related.Despite cameras and other security measures, tampering still occurs. After a natural gas release April 17 at the Rice drill site on east Arkansas Lane, firefighters discovered one of the reasons the site's automatic shutoff devices didn't activate was because someone had stolen the batteries from a sensor designed to hear venting gas, Crowson said.The gas release, which sent a vapor cloud into a nearby neighborhood, was stopped in about 30 minutes, Crowson said."In an urban environment these things are subject to this kind of mischief," Crowson said.When residents call 911 to report venting gas or a fire at a producing well site, firefighters are typically first on the scene. It would take a well control crew hired by the operators to stop a blowout at least four hours to arrive on scene in Arlington and anywhere from three to seven days to put out a fire, Wild Well Control officials said.Davis applauded Arlington for proactively wanting to learn how to keep themselves and the public safe and damage to a minimum during such industrial disasters.He said he expects other cities to follow suit and recently met with another urban Texas fire department about similar training."Our greatest challenge is to get the first responders in the community to understand what we are fixing to do is fairly complex," Davis said. "With the support of first responders like Arlington, our job is much safer."This report contains material from the Star-Telegram archivesSusan Schrock, 817-709-7578Twitter: @susanschrockHave more to add? News tip? Tell us
