Accident 3
Production and storage of pesticides, biocides, fungicides
Sequences of the event A fire started in a pesticide warehouse where approximately 1350 t of agricul tural pesticides and chemicals were stored. Shortly after midnight, a worker on site detected a fire in the warehouse and alarmed the fire brigades. Around 400 firemen were deployed to fight the fire and protect the other warehouses nearby. The flames had consumed a third of the 4500 m² hangar in just a few minutes. The warehouse was completely destroyed by the fire. A threatening plume spread over the agglomeration of Basel and a runoff of the major part of the 10000 – 15000 m3 water used for fire fighting, heavily contaminated, reached the river Rhine with around 30 t of very toxic pesticides. The main contamination of the Rhine was due to organophosphate pesticides such as Disulfoton, Thiometon, Etrimphos and Propetamphos. Also fungicides containing mercury were released.
Causes The causes of the accident were reconstructed by the investigators as being most likely due to the plastic film shrink wrapping of palettes of Prussian Blue (Source: Hurni, B. (Amt für Umweltschutz und Energie, Kantons Basel-Landschaft, Liestal, Schweiz - The Sandoz accident, in Organic Micro pollutants in the Aquatic Environment, Proceedings of the Fifth European Sympo- sium, Rome, Italy, October 20-22, 1987, pp 128-131 DOI:10.1007/978-94-009- 2989-0_19, Pub. Springer 1988). The fire probably smouldered undetected for several hours before breaking into flame. The speed with which the fire developed meant that the foam extinguishers were not effective and that large amounts of water were used (400 litres per second). In addition to trying to extinguish the fire in the warehouse the fire brigade was also trying to ensure that a neighbouring warehouse containing metallic sodium was cooled and at the same time the sodium did not come into contact with water.
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Important findings • The International Rhein Alarm was issued at 3 am. However there was some confusion in the communication and it took until 23:40 for the written communication to reach Strasbourg. • Water intakes on the left bank between Basel and Strasbourg were not closed in time. • There was weak legislation in place at that time for preventing catastrophic releases of dangerous substances (Ordinance on Protection against Major Accidents, MAO; http://www.admin.ch/ch/e/rs/c814_012.html).
Environmental impacts • The river Rhine was seriously polluted and colored red on a stretch of 250 km. The marker dye “Rhodamin B” meant that the contamination was readily visible due to the red colouration. • Within 10 days the pollution had travelled the length of the Rhine and into the North Sea. • An estimated half a million fish were killed, and some species were wiped out entirely. • All water suppliers along the Rhine up to the Netherlands stopped pumping water for drinking water generation for up to 18 days. • The lack of adequate fire-water retention systems as well as surface water drainage from the site into the Rhine rapidly led to a major contamination of the river water.
Lessons Learned • Chemicals in warehouses should be adequately separated, the size of fire com- partment should be reduced. • Warehouses close to natural water resources should consider the possibility of secondary (e.g. environmental) consequences. • There is a need to manage fire water and define fire-water retention volumes, taking account of the likely nature of the contamination (pH, toxicity, flammability, etc).
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• The need for timely and effective alarm systems, which ensure that the correct information is provided to downstream communities, thus allowing them to take appropriate action.
[EMARS Accident # 803. See also EMARS Ac-cident # 48 and # 563.]
Similar events: • ANAVERSA plant accident in Cordoba, Mexico 1991 • Spill in the Songhua River (http:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2005_Jilin_chemi- cal_plant_explosions http://homepage. env.dtu.dk/stt/teaching/Example%20 for%204%20page%20homework.pdf http://www.unep.org/PDF/China_Song- hua_River_Spill_draft_7_301205.pdf
More information on managing fire water spillages: http://a0768b4a8a31e106d8b0- 50dc802554eb38a24458b98ff72d550b. r19.cf3.rackcdn.com/pmho600bbud-e-e.pdf]
Fire water run-off containing PFOS lead to large scale ground water contamination as a result of the fire and explosions at Bunce- field (http://www.buncefieldinvestigation.gov. uk/reports/index.htm#final)
Accident 4
Fuel storage
Sequences of the event In the early morning hours of 23 February, 2010 there was a huge spill of mineral oil at a fuel storage, caused by an intentional action. About 2600 t of a mixture of hydrocarbons, diesel fuel and heavy fuel oil were released from the pipes of the loading docks of the plant. From that point, after reaching the treatment plant of the neighbouring town through the main sewer, the product was discharged into the nearby river Lambro, causing major contamination of that river as well as the river Po downstrem.
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