Lieutenant Jim Keightley Washington State Patrol Yakima

1. Lieutenant Jim KeightleyWashington State PatrolYakima Assistant District Commander WSP District Three Yakima County & Western Benton County WSP is the designated HazMat incident command agency for all jurisdictions within Yakima County

2. Wilbur Ellis Chemical FireGrandview, WashingtonYakima County January 26-28, 2005

3. GrandviewShowing I-82 detour that was established later

4. Fire in one of several storage warehouses on the Wilbur-Ellis Grandview complex. Event

5. Population 8,415 4th largest city in Yakima County Elevation 834 ft 19 Churches 6 Public Schools 2 Other Schools City of Grandview

6. 16 Commissioned Officers 7 Patrol Vehicles 6 Reserves 6 Dispatchers Grandview Police Department

7. Fire Resources 1 Full time Chief 1 Full time Captain 25 Volunteer Firefighters 4 Engines 1 Ladder Truck 2 Command Vehicles Grandview Fire Department

8. WILBUR-ELLIS CO1303 W. Wine Country Rd.Grandview  WA   98930 31 locations in Washington and Eastern Idaho. Incorporated in 1921, Wilbur-Ellis Company has grown to become a leading international marketer and distributor of agricultural and industrial products, with sales exceeding $1.366 billion in 2003.  The Company remains privately held, with ownership concentrated primarily within the founding family. Wilbur-Ellis Co. Inc

9. Azinophos Dimethoate Liquid Endosulfan Endosulfan Liquid Formaldehyde Formetanate Paraquat Strychine Zinc Phosphide Partial listing of chemicals at Grandview Site

10. Thanks to KAPP TV Yakima

11. Weather • Fog or low cloud cover • Temperatures, • High’s in the 30’s to low 40’s • Low’s in high 20’s low 30’s • Winds light and variable (swirling) • Strong inversion in the valley holding cool moist air (fog) close to the ground

13. Initial Response • 1205 Fire alarm received • Evacuation of Wilbur Ellis employees First responders Grandview Fire Department • Unknown what chemicals were burning • Approx 15 minutes later fax received with first product list Grandview Police Department • Evacuated ½ mile radius around fire due to unknown make-up of smoke coming from fire. 400 evacuees, several businesses forced to close. • 1230 WSP notified of fire

14. Initial Response Smoke At initial response and for several hours it was unknown if the smoke was toxic. It was a strong irritant, with an intense nauseating odor.

15. Thanks to KAPP TV Yakima

16. Operational Period One • Ensure safety of responders and the public • Decontamination set up and operating • City of Grandview Declaration of Emergency declared and submitted to state • Discussion at command post; should the entire city be evacuated. The decision was no.

17. Operational Period One EPA strike team arrives. Air quality monitoring begins. EPA felt ½ mile evacuation was sufficient.

19. Operational Period 2 • Initial air samples taken from areas around site prove non-toxic • Air monitoring continues on limited basis • Maintain protection of exposed facilities and begin removing hazardous contents from neighboring buildings

21. Operational Period 2 • 0730 the next day I-82 Reopened after 17 hour closure

22. Operational Period 3 Action plan was to open the building to introduce oxygen to fire. Create hot burning fire to act as incinerator for the materials in the warehouse. “Let it burn”

24. Operational Period 4 • Continue to monitor the air • Continue to protect exposed buildings • Continue to remove product from exposed building • No entry into fire building

25. Operational Period 5 • Incident Action Plan • Maintain exposure protection • No entry to building • Continue to air monitor • Continue to remove hazardous material to safety • Decontamination and disposal management • The scene was transferred to NRC for clean up and restoration

27. Summary • This was a three day event. • 38 different agencies or departments responded to or provided support for the event. • Nearly 200 individual response and agency personnel were involved. • 21 People were sent or presented to local hospitals, 2 remained overnight. • No deaths or significant injuries.

28. Agency List

29. Agency List

30. Agency List

31. Agency List

32. After Action Review

33. All participating agencies were invited to a comprehensive after-action review meeting. Everyone was given an opportunity to share their thoughts, ideas, and concerns.

34. What Worked Well

35. Mutual Aid agreements between lower and upper valleys • Qualified personnel in our area • No serious injuries, death or property damage • Number of people involved and responded to the incident • Spirit of cooperation between agencies • Good decisions • Resources from local, state and federal agencies • Northwest Area Plan worked well

36. What Needs Work

37. Facilities • Long Term Space and Equipment • Do not have a Type III Incident Management Team • Location of incident command from fire scene • COMMUNICATIONS • ICP and Field • ICP and OAEOC • OAEOC and State • No real interoperability

38. Communications • 39 different agencies, many single-use communication systems • No single system or even single frequency usable between all responders • Only reliable communication between all responders was cellular phones

39. Communications Did not have ability to establish top down interoperable network that would incorporate multiple frequencies with all on-site agencies. Law enforcement, fire, and other emergency response agencies could communicate with each other OK, but there were not enough inter-agency frequencies for an event this size.

40. Communications The Ideal Within the Incident Command System The supervisor of each unit (squad, task force, or single resource) has instant communication with their supervisor who in turn has instant communication with their supervisor, regardless of what agency they actually work for.

42. Communications?Anyone remember this – November 22, 1993

43. Questions Lieutenant Jim Keightley509-249-6702james.keightley@wsp.wa.gov