LP Gas, June 2015
SAFETY AND TRAINING Continued from page 35 would also be more proactive in seeking relationships with propane retailers Dennis Cruise Virginia Propane Gas Association outreach coordinator and a former first responder says the training of first responders has advanced greatly since 1998 Cruise has been hosting first responder training sessions since 2007 From what Ive seen first responders tend to be more proactive now visiting bulk plants and preplanning responses to propane fires Cruise says Ive also heard a lot of requests to return to areas Ive already seen and taught at Lyndon Rickards safety and training manager at Eastern Propane Oil agrees industry response training has improved Rickards says the Propane Gas Association of New England has hosted training events with first responders since the early 1980s but he says integrating information from the Propane Emergencies program and revising it over the years has made it better I would say the program has evolved Rickards says Characteristics of propane dont evolve but making sure the first responders and all propane retailers are on an equal understanding of how to handle propane along with new propane technologies is important During sessions on how to handle propane emergencies trainers will sometimes walk first responders through different parts of a bobtail Putting training in states hands PERC tries to sponsor about five Propane Emergencies sessions per year at various locations across the U S Flatow says each session costs 10000 to 12000 on average to host Demand for Propane Emergencies sessions through PERC has increased as well Although PERC can commit to sponsor a handful of these events every year Flatow says the council realized about five years ago it could meet the demand better by partnering with state associations to host Propane Emergencies It was one of those things where I woke up one night and thought Why not partner with state associations on this Flatow explains PERC can sponsor and fund the conferences with the states hosting The states have the local contacts with those we want to attend these conferences Today many state associations use PERC funds to host industry responder conferences Cruise says some of these funds go toward setting up the event and paying for first responders to attend On Continued on page 38 Live burns at industry training sessions give first responders experience in handling propane fires 36 LPGas June 2015 www LPGasmagazine com
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