Page 22 - Volume 19

RESPONDING TO
Oil eld Emergencies
Situational Awareness & Understanding
Author Bio
Mr. Dixon currently serves as the Safety and Workforce Director for the Ohio
Oil and Gas Energy Education Program (OOGEEP) which provides a wide variety of public outreach programs for community / civic groups, teachers, students and schools. Mr. Dixon is a retired Captain/firefighter/paramedic with the former Granville Volunteer Fire Department. Since becoming
a State of Ohio Certified Fire / EMS educator in 1984, Charlie has taught
at the Knox County Career Center,
C-TEC of Licking County, Fire Training Supervisor with the Ohio Fire Academy, Ohio Department of Commerce, and EMS Educator with Columbus Division
of Fire and for numerous county fire schools. Mr. Dixon worked full-time in the oil and gas industry in Ohio from
the 1970s until 1987, while serving as a volunteer firefighter. He became a career firefighter in 1987. In his current role at OOGEEP, he works with a number of oil and gas industry safety professionals to help facilitate industry specific safety training and has served as the lead fire instructor for the OOGEEP Firefighter Training workshops since their inception in 2001. He is certified as an instructor for the International Association of Drilling Contractors RigPass SafeLand Training Program and continues to work on workforce development with over
70 Ohio career and technical schools, two-year and four-year colleges.
Charlie Dixon, Captain/EMT(Retired) Lead Fire Instructor
OOGEEP Safety and Workforce Director
Responding to any emergency requires well-balanced education and training along with situational awareness and understanding. Ohio’s crude oil and natural gas producers are dedicated to funding and ensuring the availability
of training opportunities for local firefighters. The Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program (OOGEEP) provides and facilitates a specialized Responding to Oilfield Emergencies workshop free of charge to any Ohio emergency responder. To date, more than 1,400 Ohio firefighters from 50 Ohio counties have participated in these workshops, in addition to fire departments from 7 other states.
In 2016, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Ohio produced over 17 million barrels of crude oil and 1.3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. With this significant increase in production, it is important to Ohio’s oil and gas industry that firefighters are prepared for potential emergent and non–emergent situations. Non-emergent calls can include the flaring of natural gas during drilling operations or a live flame, flare stack or heating of product during the production process.
“It is very important to our industry that we provide these training workshops to ensure that firefighters are prepared to aid when needed, but also to ensure
that community resources are not tied up unnecessarily when oilfield equipment is operating correctly,” said Charlie Dixon, OOGEEP Safety and Workforce Director, and Lead Firefighter Instructor.
The workshops highlight drilling and production operations as well as how to uti- lize a variety of response resources. Participants also get to physically see and learn about oilfield truck safety procedures. Another focus area includes the importance of establishing a Unified Command with the fire service, well control specialists, regulators and oil and gas industry representatives to ensure that the overall safety of all parties and mitigation of any potential environmental hazard goals are met.
The outdoor fire-behavior labs provide excellent hands-on training. Oilfield props, fueled by natural gas and crude oil, help attendees get a better understanding of the true fire behavior of these natural resources. Other teaching stations include the use of Class B foam, foam nozzles and appliances, four gas monitors and dry chemical fire extinguishers.
Another popular exercise includes a chemical identification drill. Instructors help first responders identify oilfield chemicals that may be found on various locations, and whether there could be a potential fire or environmental release hazard. The participants are further engaged to use DOT ERG, specific oil and gas chemical safety data sheets (SDS), placards and other resources and tools that are readily avail- able to identify specific chemical information.
22 InCommand JULY/AUGUST/SEPTEMBER 2017 • www.ohiofirechiefs.org