LyondellBasell Responders Bring Aerial in Brayton Fire Training Field

LyondellBassell’s new 100-foot platform aerial is becoming a familiar sight this spring at the Brayton Fire Training Field in College Station, TX. The aerial is being used as a basic component of the ERT’s training program, said Fire Chief Co DeBorde.

“It’s been going to Brayton every week in March for rescue training,” DeBorde said. “In April it will be going up every week for fire training.”

Capable of pumping 3,000 gpm, the aerial was delivered to the LyondellBassell Bayport Complex in Pasadena, TX, by Pierce at the first of the year. Getting responders away from the plant long enough for training is usually difficult enough. Designating apparatus for that training is completely new, DeBorde said.

“We are taking it up there and actually breaking it in while we train with it,” he said.

Although rare, the use of aerial devices together with live-fire training projects at Brayton is becoming more frequent. Last December, the Hellfighter U foam firefighting school utilized a new Sutphen aerial in route to be delivered to Phillips 66’s Alliance refinery in Belle Chasse, LA.

To date, the LyondellBassell Bayport aerial has only been used in live-fire training scenario on one project at Brayton. As with Hellfighter U, the prop chosen for the exercise was Project 34, a multi-level structure that simulates a chemical operations fire. 

“The evolution ran great,” DeBorde said. “Our goal the first day was to get our pump and truck operators comfortable with driving, positioning it, raising the aerial and putting it in service.”

On the second day, Project 34 was ignited. The aerial was used to start covering and cooling exposures. Meanwhile, the fire teams on the ground were able to move in and make the isolations necessary.

“Our purpose was to draw it into our scenario and actually utilize it the way we would in the field.”

Use of the aerial is closely coordinated with Brayton personnel to ensure that water pressure did not diminish to other projects.

“We assured them that we were only pulling one suction line and would only use as much water as needed,” DeBorde said.

The management team at LyondellBassell Bayport has been supportive in purchasing the new aerial and allowing it to be used at Brayton to train the responders who will use it, he said. The new aerial replaces a 1990 foam engine in use at LyondellBassell Bayport Underwood site.

“We justified getting an aerial due to the height of our tower structures,” DeBorde said. “We will utilize it for twin purposes – fire and also high angle and rope rescue.”

LyondellBasell’s manufacturing holdings in Pasadena, TX, includes three separate plant sites that make up the Bayport Complex, for which DeBorde is responsible. The Bayport Choate plant is a 280-acre facility that produces propylene oxide, tertiary butyl alcohol, propylene glycol, propylene glycol eithers and tertiary butyl hydroperoxide. 

The adjacent Bayport Polymers plant manufactures material used in consumer products such as food containers, medical syringes and carpeting. The Bayport Underwood plant produces ethylene oxide and derivatives. 

Plans call for the aerial to make at least 12 trips to Brayton for training this year, DeBorde said. 

“We’ll also be utilizing it at the interior training we are doing at the Houston Fire Department training facility.”