At approximately 0150 hours a citizen notified Henderson Police
Department that she had encountered a strong offensive odor when passing
near the BMI complex on a major highway. The highway passes within
one half mile of the complex, and the caller was concerned that there
could be a release coming from one of the occupancies. The call was
relayed to the Las Vegas City Fire Department Communications Center,
which provides communications for the Clark County Fire Department.
Since reports of odors in the area are a frequent occurrence, the
Clark County Battalion Chief was notified, and he made the decision to
wait for a more positive report of an incident before responding. The
communications personnel began to call the industries in the area to ask
if any of them had a problem.
At approximately 0200 hours a second call was received, this time by
the Fire Communications Center, reporting a strong odor in the area. A
full first alarm assignment was dispatched, including the Clark County
HazMat Team. The response time for the first units was 14 minutes due
to the distance from the closest Clark County fire station. The first
arriving units had some difficulty identifying which of several separate
facilities was the source of the problem, until the odor was encountered.
The odor was immediately recognized as chlorine, and the units were
directed to the correct location.
Arriving at the gate of the Pioneer Chlor Alkali facility, the Clark
County Battalion Chief found several employees who had been exposed to
chlorine gas and were in need of medical attention. Employees reported
that they were in the process of shutting down the plant and isolating the
leak. They believed that the leak was successfully isolated and that they
could handle the situation at that time.
Within a few minutes the atmosphere around the plant entrance
became enveloped by the chlorine cloud and most of the plant employees
donned their emergency escape respirators. The Battalion Chief requested
assistance and ordered the area to be evacuated shortly before he and
several other Fire Department members were overcome. All Fire
Department and plant personnel evacuated to a location approximately one
half mile uphill from the plant, where a Command Post was established.
The Henderson Fire Department Battalion Chief, who had responded on
mutual aid, assumed command and requested additional assistance, while
the Clark County Battalion Chief and several other Fire Department
members and plant employees were treated and transported to hospitals.
The Clark County Assistant Fire Chief responded from his home
and assumed the duties of Incident Commander. He assigned the
Henderson Battalion Chief, who was most familiar with the area, as the
Operations Chief in the Incident Command structure. The second arriving
Clark County Battalion Chief was assigned to supervise the HazMat
Group, due to his HazMat Team experience. Additional fire and medical
units were directed to respond to a staging area adjacent to the Command
Post. Liaison was also established with the Las Vegas Metropolitan and
City of Henderson Police Departments at the Command Post.
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