A forum debate started at My Firefighter Nation in September 2008
This discussion focuses on Anhydrous Ammonia because firefighters continue to get injured or killed in facilities using a gas that should be considered a flammable gas but in the United States, ammonia is considered a non-flammable gas. Take a look at most online MSDS sheets and they will list the flammable range for anhydrous ammonia as 16-25% which is data that was researched and published in the 1950's. Don't you think that our technology to test chemicals has gotten a little more sophisticated in the past 50 years? At firefighter's expense, the NFPA has turned their back on updating their data to reflect more recent testing data that provided more than sufficient data to document and prove that anhydrous ammonia is indeed a flammable gas. After readingt this post, you will know why.
In 1984, one firefighter was killed and a second was burned over 72% of his body in an anhydrous ammonia explosion and fire that occurred in Shreveport, LA. Ammonia was leaking inside a cold storage building. While firefighters were working inside wearing Level A chemical protection and oxygen re-breather SCBA’s, the ammonia reached an ignition source. The fire department used the DOT ERG as a guide for how to mitigate the incident and it resulted in tragedy.
This discussion focuses on Anhydrous Ammonia because firefighters continue to get injured or killed in facilities using a gas that should be considered a flammable gas but in the United States, ammonia is considered a non-flammable gas. Take a look at most online MSDS sheets and they will list the flammable range for anhydrous ammonia as 16-25% which is data that was researched and published in the 1950's. Don't you think that our technology to test chemicals has gotten a little more sophisticated in the past 50 years? At firefighter's expense, the NFPA has turned their back on updating their data to reflect more recent testing data that provided more than sufficient data to document and prove that anhydrous ammonia is indeed a flammable gas. After readingt this post, you will know why.
In 1984, one firefighter was killed and a second was burned over 72% of his body in an anhydrous ammonia explosion and fire that occurred in Shreveport, LA. Ammonia was leaking inside a cold storage building. While firefighters were working inside wearing Level A chemical protection and oxygen re-breather SCBA’s, the ammonia reached an ignition source. The fire department used the DOT ERG as a guide for how to mitigate the incident and it resulted in tragedy.
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