Custom-tailored inferno

Fire safety assistants must be counted among the most critical employees at any chemical company. With their thorough knowledge of the plant, they are able to support the local firefighters in an emergency situation. That’s certainly the case at BYK-Chemie in Wesel.

BYK doesn’t need its own plant firefighters because the municipal fire station is so close. In turn, BYK covers the cost of training firefighters, a win-win situation for everyone involved, as Thomas Verbeet of the Wesel fire department described it.

Since 2002, BYK’s fire safety assistants have been practicing firefighting with the professional rescue workers twice a year at the Rotterdam International Safety Center (RISC).

As a result the Wesel fire department is very well trained in extinguishing solvent fires and hazardous materials transport fires too. While BYK is not directly involved with the transport of hazardous freight, the special knowledge required to extinguish them is an asset to the City of Wesel as well because the heavily-used freight train route from Rotterdam to the Ruhr industrial area runs through the city, a route that is used to transport large amounts of hazardous materials.

Only one site in Europe provides the means to realistically practice fighting major industrial fires: the 46,000 square meters dedicated to this at the RISC, a kind of mecca for firefighters. No other place in Europe can offer better the drill opportunities than this training center at the Port of Rotterdam, built in 1986 by two Dutch companies.

All conceivable types of fires, even the most complex, can be simulated there. Here, everyone gets a custom-tailored inferno. Whether it’s fire at a refinery, a tank car explosion, or a simple house fire – almost any disaster scenario can be enacted.

The RISC repertoire of exercises includes ship fires and chemical accidents as well as particularly tricky events like flashovers and back drafts. When a fire is enclosed within a space, smoke and gases can collect under the roof and temperatures can often exceed 800 ° C or more. When it gets simply too hot, the gases explode, creating what is called a flashover. Just as dangerous is a backdraft. When there isn’t much oxygen, a fire can just smolder – until a door or window is opened. The incoming rush of air unleashes a powerful flash flame that can often result in death.