December 2016, crew members of Macklin & District Fire/Rescue responded to the site of an incident at an oil and gas production site. A 1,000-barrel (bbl) oil tank was ablaze, sending dark plumes of smoke into the prairie sky – black smoke that could be seen from town 30 km away.
The Macklin team arrived with 1,200 gallons of water and limited foam – firefighting foam used to suppress a blaze, cooling and coating it, preventing its contact with oxygen.
“We were concerned we’d use all our water and not be able to control the fire. So we proceeded to cool the other tanks and let the tank fire burn until our mutual aid partners showed up,” said Macklin Fire Chief Justin Bast.
Upon the arrival of the Provost Fire Department, burning oil spread to four other tanks in the containment yard… explosion, a tank lid rocketed to the sky. There was little the local teams could do but contain the blaze and wait for reinforcements from Red Deer, which took a harrowing three hours – then another 25 hours to extinguish the fire completely.
A retired oilfield service provider of 27 years, Chief Bast has also spent nearly 30 years working for the fire department. “To put out an oilfield tank fire, you need both water and foam. Oil and water don’t mix, without the foam, it would be nothing short of amazing to put it out with just water.”
Today, the Macklin & District Fire/Rescue is raising funds to source a new foam firefighting trailer with manifold and water cannon. With oil and gas production sites in the region, Strathcona Resources stepped forward with a $50,000 donation to support this necessary resource.
“Strathcona is a key stakeholder in the community,” said Randy Gartner, Team Lead, Healthy & Safety, Strathcona Resources. “This essential resource is huge not just for Strathcona and our peer companies in the region, but to the surrounding residents.”
Chief Bast says a foam trailer would reduce the water needed in a similar scenario by 90 per cent. Less water means less water waste, less cleanup, easier containment for an oil fire. What took more than 50,000 gallons of water and 25 hours to extinguish eight years ago, could have been cut down to 5,000 gallons and just one or two hours.
“If we were to show up to a fire today with a foam trailer, we’d have a successful outcome; the fire, risk, damages and losses would never reach the level that it did years ago.”
The foam trailer that Chief Bast is proposing can hold two totes of foam, up to 2,200 litres worth. Its manifold system can hook up to two or three fire trucks that inject foam and spray water at the same time. The foam layers on top of a blaze, cutting out its oxygen, like covering a small stovetop fire with flour.
According to Chief Bast, the foam trailer provides the department with another tool in their toolbox that the community, neighbouring communities, and mutual aid partners would be able to utilize in the unlikely event of an oilfield fire or, for example, a train derailment with rail lines that cut through both Macklin and Provost. It would put the Macklin and Provost department in a better capacity to manage these types of incidents.
“We’re 50 per cent away from our fundraising target,” said Chief Bast. “We thank Strathcona for supporting our department and the communities we work in. It’s essential.”
