Fri, Jun 08, 2007
Propane Leak Sparks Fire During Firefighting Training
Exercise
The control tower at Salt Lake International Airport in Salt
Lake City, UT was evacuated Wednesday night when a firefighting
training exercise at the airport's training facility suddenly
turned real.
A pipe attached to one of two 12,000-gallon propane tanks that
are used to facilitate aircraft crash scenarios began leaking
during the exercise and burst into flames. Fearing an explosion,
fire officials ordered a two mile evacuation perimeter, according
to KTVX-4.
According to SLC spokesperson Barbara Gann, the airport tower
and a SkyWest facility were evacuated around 11:40 p.m. There were
six arrivals and one departure on the schedule until 2 am. but none
of the flights were affected by the fire, she said. Only one runway
was closed during the incident.
Dennis McKone, Fire Chief of the Salt Lake City Fire Department,
told the Salt Lake Tribune a hazmat team turned off the main gas
supply and firefighters let the fire burn, allowing it to exhaust
itself.
An unmanned fire vehicle was initially being used to pump water
on the fire, but it ran out of fuel. There is also a machine at the
training center that automatically directs streams of water on the
tanks to keep them cool during training as a precaution against an
explosion and it was operating at the time, McKone said.
As of midnight Wednesday, the airport remained operational and
controllers were relocated to another building. There are no
residences in the evacuation area.
Various fire agencies throughout the Western US use the Aircraft
Rescue Fire Fighter Training Center. It is owned and operated by
the airport, according to McKone.
The incident is under investigation.
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