Alexandria leaders are incensed that they were unaware that a shipping company had been filling up tankers with thousands of gallons of ethanol near an elementary school even though the city’s fire department had no equipment to fight fires caused by the highly flammable fuel.
Mayor Bill Euille and the City Council did not find out that Norfolk Southern had begun transferring about 90,000 gallons of ethanol a day at its West End facility until May 15, when City Manager James Hartmann notified them of the situation. Hartmann and city staff had officially known about the operation since April 25, although they became suspicious on April 4, when a fire marshal patrolling the area noticed the tankers.
Ethanol fires, though rare, have the potential to be extreme and cannot be put out with water or normal firefighting foam.
Norfolk Southern officials said the company has kept ethanol-fighting foam on the premises since the operation began April 9.
But Alexandria Fire Chief Adam Thiel said the fire department did not have the specialized trailer and nozzles to respond to an ethanol incident until Monday, after rushing the equipment order when the fire department found out about the operation.
Norfolk Southern gave the fire department $120,000 to buy the equipment and installed fire hydrants, fences and eye-washing stations on the loading site as safety precautions, company spokesman Robin Chapman said.
The underfunded and overstretched fire department still does not have the proper training to respond to an ethanol fire, Thiel said, and Alexandria can’t rely on neighboring jurisdictions to help respond because they do not have ethanol-fighting equipment.
The city has been trying to block Norfolk Southern from converting its truck-transfer facility into an ethanol-loading operation since 2006, when the company approached officials with the idea.
The site is in a mixed-use residential area and is less than two miles from Tucker Elementary School, officials argued.
But a February ruling by a federal regulatory board on a similar issue made it clear that Norfolk Southern could pre-empt Alexandria’s permitting rules under federal laws designed to protect interstate commerce.
Euille repeatedly blasted city staff for waiting weeks to inform the council after they learned the company was loading ethanol, and pledged to enlist the help of the area’s congressional delegation to halt the company’s operations.
“I was going to fault Norfolk Southern for failing to communicate … but I think our staff has a lot to take fault for not informing us of this,” Euille said.
“We’re going to do everything we can to cease operations, shut you down and to get you out of the city,” he told Norfolk Southern officials. “OK? Plain and simple.”
