Company Completes 16 Hour Ethanol Training

Date: May 31, 2008
By: Firefighter John Morris IV

.......On Saturday May 31, members from Station 23 along with members from Station 22 (West Grove), Station 21 (Union) and Station 36 (Po-Mar-Lin) mustered at the Avondale firehouse for the first day of a 16 hour class based around a new and growing fuel: Ethanol. A small railroad that runs through Avondale will soon be unloading tank cars loaded with Ethanol at a small depot in Avondale. Railroad officials along with Avondale officers organized a special training dedicated to increase the knowledge base of the fuel and how to handle it in case of an emergency. Hazmat Specialists Denny Day and his son Chip flew from half way across the country to teach the class.

....... Day one started off with a hazmat refresher and the class learned all about the modern day tank cars that are hauled up and down the road. Day one also came with a team building exercise. Day two started off with more class room instruction. After a brief review the class headed to the newly installed ethanol offload location in Avondale. Once at the depot crews learned about the locomotives used by the railroad and were able to check out the ethanol cars and where they would be offloaded to trailer tankers. Crews would like to thank Penn East Rail Road, Sun Pro, Kenan Advantage Group, Inc., and The Day Family for putting on an excellent class.


Units:Engine(s) 23-1, 23-3, Chief 23, Squad 23, Amb 23-2
Mutual Aid: Rescue 36, Tac 36, Chief 36