Business & Tech

Fire Training at Valero Means Flames May be Visible

The training is happening Fridays through May 6.

When Frank Averett Jr. graduated from the University of California at Davis, he planned on being a federal officer. He was going through the testing process when his father, Frank Sr., convinced him to look for work at the Exxon refinery, where he worked, until the government job came through. That was in 1983.

Today, Averett is the fire chief at the Valero Benicia Refinery. He worked his way up the ladder in refinery operations, eventually becoming plant superintendent, a job he credits with giving him a working knowledge of all areas of the refinery.

Averett’s department is now in the midst of its yearly on-site training.

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“We have 230 operators here and they all get in plant fire-fighting training,” said Averett. “They are the first responders to any event in the plant.”

This year’s training started March 25 and will conclude May 6. The training takes place on Fridays and is conducted south of the main plant on a large concrete pad complete with “props” — equipment similar to that found in a refinery, with working valves and pipes.

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While the training is for Valero employees, Averett is happy to have Benicia firefighters join the refinery's personnel.

“The city has an open invitation to come in and train with us,” he said.  “As a matter of fact, I encourage it.  I want them to come in and get to know our team.  I want to continue to develop that relationship.”

“We send four to six firefighters to Texas A&M to train on big oil fires,” said Averett.  “At A&M they have a lot of props, a lot of opportunity to perfect your skills.”

The training exercise, while staged and controlled, is nevertheless a real exercise in dealing with burning fuel.  In these exercises, the fuel is specially formulated to minimize smoke.  The Bay Area Air Quality Management District requires Valero to get a permit for the extra particulate that enters the air during the training.

The operators at Valero are divided into seven teams of 30 to 35 people. On each team are 10 workers who had the firefighting training at Texas A&M and many also are trained as emergency medical technicians.

The training is important because fighting a fire at a refinery is different than fighting a house fire. With a house fire the idea is to put the fire out as quickly as possible by pouring water on the flames and making the fire fuel too wet to burn. 

In a refinery fire the fuel is the liquid petroleum product leaking from a pipeline or a vessel, often as a result of catastrophic equipment failure. Putting the fire out is important but instead of dousing it with water, the idea is to isolate the leak, thereby cutting off the fire’s fuel supply.

The training begins with Valero fire captain Joe Bateman using a torch to light the smokeless fuel as it streams out of leaks in the equipment. The fuel is pumped from a nearby tank to the fire props. The flow of fuel is controlled by a series of ball valves that can be closed quickly to stop flow and manipulated to increase or decrease fuel flow and create different fire scenarios.

A member of the Valero Fire Department leads each team of trainees, who wear green helmets or yellow if they have advanced training. Within the ranks of the yellow hard hats, are those with ribbed headgear, meaning they are full-fledged firefighters, or non-ribbed hardhats, signifying they are in their probationary period.

Four teams of fire fighters approach the fire with water hoses set to different spray patterns. As they approach the fire, their team leaders give instructions on spray patterns and the direction of advance. 

The trainees create a wall of water between the valve they will use to cut off the supply of fuel for the fire and then the team leader turns the valve and the fire is soon out. 

“The operators are a critical part of the firefighting team,” said Averett.  “We’re dependent on the unit operators to show us the shutoff valves. They are the subject matter experts in their particular units.”

The Valero refinery owns a lot of open space land.  The refinery looks at the open space as a buffer between it and neighbors but it also means training for wild land fires as well. Besides the fire engines and the ladder truck, the Valero Fire Department has three “grass rigs” used in the event of a fire in the open space.

Besides fire fighting, Valero personnel must train in confined space rescue. Numerous old bunkers on refinery property are used for that training.


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