Ethanol Safety Seminars Scheduled for Two Wisconsin Towns

The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) and CN Railway will co-host two Ethanol Safety Seminars in Wisconsin. The Stanley seminar will be held on Tuesday, April 16th at the Stanley Fire Department, also co-hosted by ACE Ethanol, LLC. The Wisconsin Rapids seminar will be held on Wednesday, April 17th in the auditorium of Mid-State Technical College, also co-hosted by Big River Resources Boyceville, LLC.

Both seminars are free and feature a morning session from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and an evening session from 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Lunch and dinner will be provided.

The goal of these seminars is for attendees to gain full ethanol emergency response training experience that they can put to use immediately in the field as well as pass along to other first response teams. A majority of this training is based on the Complete Training Guide to Ethanol Emergency Response, a training package created by the Ethanol Emergency Response Coalition (EERC) that has been distributed throughout the United States and to several countries worldwide.

"As a commitment to TRANSCAER® (Transportation Community Awareness and Emergency Response), CN is happy to partner with the Renewable Fuels Association to conduct this series of Ethanol Safety Seminars for first responders, including firefighters, local emergency planning officials and police agencies," said Scott McLeod, Sr. Dangerous Goods Officer at CN Railway. "With a focus on ethanol, this seminar demonstrates the importance of preplanning and a continued partnership between responders, the producers and transportation."

Attendees will receive in-depth information on proper training techniques that first responders and hazmat personnel need to effectively respond to an ethanol-related emergency. While primarily targeting first responders, hazmat teams, safety managers, and local emergency planning committees, it is also open to the general public.

"At Big River, safety is our first order of business," said Jim Leiting, General Manager at Big River Resources. "Taking care of people; our employee team, service providers and customers is a value held above and beyond other priorities."

"Safety remains a priority in the ethanol industry. It is important that those responsible for the safety of their communities are aware of the use and transportation of ethanol in their towns," said Kristy Moore, Vice President of Technical Services for the Renewable Fuels Association. "The training information and materials attendees leave with are valuable resources that will aide in responding to an ethanol related incident should it occur."

The Ethanol Safety Seminar focuses on numerous important areas of ethanol safety including an introduction to ethanol and ethanol-blended fuels, chemical and physical characteristics of ethanol and hydrocarbon fuels, transportation of ethanol-blended fuels, storage and dispensing locations, firefighting foam principles and ethanol, ethanol-blended fuel emergencies, and incidents at tank farm and bulk storage locations. Certificates will be awarded at the completion of the course.

To register for this seminar, go to www.rfa.traincaster.com.

The RFA will be co-hosting Ethanol Safety Seminars throughout 2013. Upcoming seminar locations include: Akron, Ohio on April 24th, and Canton, Ohio on April 25th, co-sponsored by Wheeling & Lake Erie Railway; Troy, Mich., on May 9th; Grand Island, Neb., on June 12th and Columbus, Neb., on June 13th.

source: fireengineering