At 20:47 Monday night, Station 33 was alerted for a gas leak on the 1600 block of Beaverdam Rd in Honey Brook Township. Chief 33, Engine 33-1 and Rescue 33 all made the response in under 4 minutes. Just prior to arrival, Chief Ream was advised by dispatch of a 1,000gal propane tank leaking. Units arrived to find a catastrophic leak from a residential 1,000 gallon liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) tank that had rolled over onto the top side mounted shutoff valve. Chief Ream established Command as crews quickly stretched two hand lines with combination nozzles utilizing fog spray patterns to disperse propane vapors as much possible while other members were tasked with evacuating the area and performing air monitoring. Chester County Hazmat 15 was requested to the scene for a team response along with a total of three mutual aid tankers. Fire crews setup a picket anchoring system to stabilize and slightly roll the tank off the damaged valve allowing for the Hazmat Technicians to secure the leak. An estimated 900 gallons of combined liquid/gas propane was leaked. Upon completion of operations, the situation was placed under control and a decon station was established to remove any outer layer contaminants from personnel’s PPE. Blackhorse Propane was requested to the scene by Command to assist with uprighting the tank back into position. After operating for approximately 2 1/2hrs, all units cleared the scene returning available.
We’d like to thank Chester County DES, Chester County Hazmat 15, Wagontown Fire Company, White Horse Fire Company, Caernarvon Fire Company and Blackhorse Propane for their assistance with this incident.