CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — After this week's fire at the Valero West plant, 3NEWS decided to take a closer look at how local department's prepare for industry fires.
Portland Fire Department Fire Chief Jeff Morris said his department talks directly to local industries to plan for emergencies.
He said they are prepared for industrial firefighting and hazardous materials and work with other departments to respond to incidents.
"If they call for us, we'll go and assist and aid and help them mitigate situations that they have in their complex," he said.
Morris said in the 5 years since he took over as chief, his department responded to some small-scale industry incidents. He said the more information they get about a fire, the better prepared they can be.
"It's analyzing a lot of what we're going to be going to, because you know we, first we need to determine what's the size of the incident, what's the extent, the hazards that are involved," he said.
After analyzing the situation, PFD can call for mutual aid, if needed. Corpus Christi Fire Department helps with response and PFD also helps them. San Patricio County Fire Marshal Scott Marion said there are seven volunteer fire departments in his county that partner with PFD.
"It helps them by knowing that they have additional resources if they're needed, additional manpower," he said.
15 of PFD's 21 firefighters have hazardous materials technician training—something they get at the Center for Domestic Preparedness in Alabama. PFD also trained with CCFD in a hazardous materials scenario hosted by the Port of Corpus Christi last year. Marion said volunteer departments do not have HAZMAT, so they assist from outside the hot zone, which is where the chemicals are.
"The HAZMAT techs are the only ones that are allowed in the hot zone, so it would be supportive roles in the cold zone and the warm zone," he said.
Morris said every industry is unique and has different hazards, so partnerships between departments are important.
"It's lifesaving from how complex some of these incidences can be," he said. "Without having the mutual aid partners and the mutual aid agreements, you know, no one department can handle any large incident."
Morris also explained that chemical fires are different from normal fires, so the approach to putting them out is different. PFD also has air monitoring devices they can use and keep citizens informed via public notification systems.
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