Analysis of Vast Fire Erupts - Article Example

Analysis of Vast Fire EruptsSummaryA fire incident occurred after a train carrying crude oil overturned on its way, causing a fire eruption. The train was transporting the crude oil across West Virginia when a heavy snowstorm affected the railway lines. As a result, the train burst into flames with its 100 cars coming off the rails. The fire eruption also spread to the close by houses and the neighboring town centers, which cause injuries to the residents. It is apparent that smoke inhalation was among the prevalent causes of most of the injuries.

The accident exposed the dangers of oil transportation across the country by igniting the Shell BP oil leakage (Kohl, 2015).Action PlanThe emergency resources used in this accident were the HAZMAT, law enforcement and fire and emergency medical services (EMS). This implies that the US government has instituted regulations regarding the transportation of oil resources across the country. As a result, the transporters ought to follow the guidelines to avoid the occurrence of similar accidents in the future.

This is after the prevalence of train accidents in Canada and North America, in which 100-car train overturned, killing people (Kohl, 2015). The other resource in place for the accident was the EMS that was introduced to help the injured victims recuperate. These comprised of ambulances and health practitioners who set up emergency facilities to attend to the victims that had minor injuries. There were also local resources from the nearby towns that caught fire from the eruption. The local resources comprised of the first aiders and residents who came to assist in the management of the fire.

The intangible factors that affected disaster response when the fire erupted included coordination with other entities, scope of operations and time. The coordination between the profit and governmental agencies was slow because the incident took place at a random speed. This forced the coordinators to undertake hasty decisions in order to stop the spread of fire to other distant places. It is also apparent that the scope of operations was not easy to manage since the fire spread to the nearby towns (Kohl, 2015).

Considering this, it was difficult to accommodate the fire since the casualty was all over the region. The firefighters and the first aiders could not come up with a timely response team with management the fire erupted. Time was also another intangible factor that affected disaster response since the fire spread at a high speed to the neighborhoods, injuring numerous residents. The 100-car train is huge and carries numerous liters of oil that when it rolls, the crude oil spreads faster (Kohl, 2015).

There are a number of lessons learnt for future application, such as the identification of missing components of the response, coming up with suggestions to improve action plan. For instance, it emerged that there were missing components of the response like fire extinguishers at the nearby buildings in the town. Similarly, suggestions, such as reducing the size of train cars to 50 in order to avoid the magnitude of injuries. It is also appropriate to reduce the speed of trains that transport crude oil to enable the drivers drive at lower speeds.

ReferenceKohl, K. (2015). “Vast fire erupts as oil train derails.” Loss Prevention Bulletin 242. Institution Of Chemical Engineers. Pdf.