Ethanol fires are a real safety risk

Special, costly foam, is needed

By Tom Stundza -- Purchasing, 2/27/2008 11:22:00 AM

The International Association of Fire Chiefs is concerned that ethanol fires are harder to put out than gasoline ones and require a special type of firefighting foam. An Associated Press report says many fire departments around the country don't have the expensive foam, don't have enough of it, or are not well-trained in how to apply it.

Ed Plaugher, director of national programs for the International Association of Fire Chiefs, says the problem is that water doesn't put out ethanol fires, and the foam that has been used since the 1960s to smother ordinary gasoline blazes doesn't work well against the grain-alcohol fuel.

Water is not used against gasoline fires, because it can spread the blaze and cause the flames to run down into drains and sewers. Instead, foam is used to form a blanket on top of the burning gasoline and snuff out of the flames. But ethanol — a type of grain alcohol often distilled from corn — eats through that foam and continues to burn.

Such fires require special alcohol-resistant foam that relies on long-chain molecules known as polymers to smother the flames. Industry officials say the special foam costs about 30% more than the standard product, at around $90 to $115 for a five-gallon container.

The real danger involves the many tanker trucks and railcars that are rolling out of the Corn Belt with huge quantities of 85% or 95% ethanol and carrying it to parts of the country unaccustomed to dealing with it. The risk is more than theoretical. Over the past several years, ethanol accidents on highways, along railroads and in storehouses and refineries have triggered evacuations and fires from Texas to Minnesota, injuring several people and killing at least one person.