In August, AristaTek, Inc., a provider of hazardous materials response solutions, prepared the brief “Ammonium NitrateEstimated Blast Effects,” which was the basis of a presentation made by Texas State Fire Marshal Chris Connealy before members of the Texas House of Representatives Homeland Security and Public Safety Committee. The hearing was scheduled in response to the devastating explosion at西部(TX)肥料公司earlier this year.
The brief, AristaTek explains, included a blast effects table forammonium nitratequantities ranging from one ton to 300 tons and expert commentary on how to interpret the blast effects table. The company’shazardous materialsresponse software, PEAC-WMD, and its staff of in-house chemists/engineers were used in the developing the report. Marty Herrin, chief of the Williamson County hazmat team and a long-time PEAC user, was the liaison between Connealy and AristaTek.
After theWest (TX) incident, the Texas State Fire Marshal contacted Herrin and asked about obtaining a predictive model for explosive damage forammonium nitrate, explains Bruce King, co-founder and CEO of AristaTek. The state and Herrin wanted an Excel file on predicting the potential damage involving the explosion of different quantities of the substance so they could estimate the potential dangers of such explosions.
AristaTek, realizing that the brief could also help other entities in assessing these types of hazards in their communities, decided to make the report available to qualified emergency planning/response/zoning officials.
“The problem for the emergency planners in many communities is making sense of the chemical inventories and the potential hazards they represent if a catastrophic event were to occur,” notes King. The brief, as well as the company’s PEAC-WMD software, he adds, should be helpful for communities with local ammonium nitrate stockpiles to understand the possible consequences and analyze their regulations and best practices to determine “if the businesses storing or shipping this substance are doing things right.”
The company is offering a copy of the brief to fire departments/fire marshals, local emergency planning committee/emergency management agency officials, and other public safety/health professionals. The report is available athttp://www.aristatek.com.
Additional information may be obtained from C. Scott Bunning, AristaTek, Inc., at the above Web site or by calling +1 (307) 721-2108 812.
