LADWP Explosion / Explanation

[saladhawks]

For those involved with So. Cal. utilities, does the explanation offered by LADWP about last week's explosion that killed a LA County firefighter make sense? The last I read was that a 60-year old PILC cable caught fire in a underground street vault system. This fire resulted in fire / smoke byproducts to fill a private property electrical room enclosure via the laterals / ducts that connected the electrical room to the street vault. A firefighter trying to cut open the lock on this electrical room enclosure with a saw ignited the built up fire / smoke byproducts that then exploded.

 

[burnt2x]

Not much details but a sorry act by the officers!
Please find official statements and some ides!

 

[davidbeach]

When will the fire service learn that they are not the appropriate first responders for electrical problems? Or for problems with and around electrical equipment. Electrical vaults are locked and made off limits to unqualified personnel for a reason. The same with substations. This is not the first time that this type of gung-ho approach has gotten someone killed and I'm afraid it won't be the last. If they wanted to do something before the power company was able to determine the best course of action they could have removed manhole lids to allow gases to escape - but not enter the manholes - and they could have ventilated the basement around the vault to remove the smoke a dilute the explosive gases.

I'm sorry the one fire fighter lost his life and that the other was injured, but it was entirely in vain, and was entirely preventable.

 

[jraef]

Tragic. I also think there is woefully inadequate training given to firefighters on electrical issues. I have seen videos of them trying to douse pole transformer fires with water.

Maybe they should be equipped with captive bolt pistols, the compressed air "cow stunner" device used very effectively by the villain in "No Country for Old men" to punch out lock cylinders. Since most locks are brass or stainless steel, there would be a low chance of making an ignition source.

 

[itsmoked]

Well I wonder what a fireman would expect to do once he'd confronted with fire/smoldering in a densely packed room full of electrical panels. Spray something??

Keith Cress
Flamin Systems, Inc.-

http://www.flaminsystems.com

 

[ScottyUK]

Sad news when any member of the emergency services is hurt or killed doing his or her job. I know from personal experience that British fire crews are distinctly wary of big electrical equipment after we had a fire at the power plant. A short circuit occurred on one of the turbine auxiliary batteries which resulted in a fire along with acrid smoke and acid escaping. The fire crew requested advice from me as the electrical engineer at the scene before rigging a ground monitor (a tripod carrying a spray nozzle) to dowse the flames and cool the battery from a safe distance. Not a major incident or particularly dangerous, but they stopped to find out what they were dealing with before charging in.

Afterwards one of them commented that when they respond to an incident in some large industrial facility they don't understand what most of the equipment does or how it will respond to water and they are really reliant on site expertise to help them. They're brave people.


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If we learn from our mistakes I'm getting a great education!

 

[oldfieldguy]

In years past I was on the emergency response squad for one of my employers. firefighting was one of our tasks. The plant fire chief told us that the stream from a firehose was no problem on our 69-kV distribution system because the stream broke up in droplets that would not conduct electricity.

I opined that I'd seen arcs at 69 kV and that I would NOT participate in an exercise involving water streams on live 69 kV equipment.

The time I spent on that squad provided some interesting insights into the psyche of SOME firefighters. The impetus to charge in can override clear thinking.

I do not mean to put down firefighters as a group. They are usually incredibly brave and dedicated people, but sometimes poorly thought out actions can result in tragedy.

old field guy