Seven northwestern Connecticut fire departments worked together to ensure the safe off-loading of 2,100 gallons of LPG from a rolled home delivery truck in Riverton.
The propane home delivery truck slid off Old North Road into a four foot ditch at 9:30 AM on April 26, 2004. The driver was uninjured and no product was released. A 1/2-mile evacuation radius was established as a precaution. The town's Senior Citizens center was opened for the evacuees.
As part of automatic mutual aid, five fire departments responded: Riverton, Pleasant Valley, Barkhamsted East, Colebrook, and West Hartland. Winsted and East Hartland were special called to assist.
Three precautionary lines were laid for potential vapor and fire control: two 2.5" handlines and one 5" to a portable gun. Both a primary and a secondary water supply systems were established.
ICS (incident command system) was used to effectively manage this operation involving 50 firefighters. A fallback site 1/2 mile from the incident was established as a contingency.
Chief Larry Gillen would like to acknowledge the tremendous help all neighboring departments provided.
