Environmental Progress - Summer 2005

Long hours, unpredictable events, and an element of risk are all part of the job for the Illinois EPA's Emergency Operations Unit (EOU) staff. EOU, which began in 1970, handles approximately 2,000 incidents a year that range from small incidents such as a one hundred gallon diesel spill to large disasters like the Formosa Plastics plant explosion. In 2004, for example, EOU handled 1,777 incidents, 9 of which caused the evacuation of over 1,578 people, and 11 of which involved fatalities. A majority of incidents, 1,563, was a leak or spill, 33 were a fire or explosion, 120 a gas or vapor cloud, and 56 had water involvement.

Tanker truck overturned in drainage ditch is typical EOU incident.

EOU works in cooperation with Illinois State Police, Illinois Emergency Management Agency, Illinois Department of Public Health, State Fire Marshall inspectors, and other key agencies to provide a disciplined yet coordinated response to emergency situations.

"We work with other parts of the Agency (IEPA), and other agencies, to ensure that the incident is no longer a threat to human health and the environment. At that point we're done," noted EOU Responder Dan Bowen.

In their capacity as first responders to an incident, EOU staff must be able to quickly assess a situation and determine the appropriate course of action to take. "We look for the who, what, where, and why," Bowen noted.

This requires a thorough knowledge of regulations, and a familiarity with all technical aspects of the job, such as the properties of chemicals and the capabilities of the monitoring equipment. At times they assume a role similar to a detective at the scene of a crime: interviewing people, surveying the scene, and determining the reality of the situation. At other times they are simply members of a team working toward the common goal of preventing and remedying environmental damage. EOU responder Jim Clark, who is based in the Agency's Des Plaines Regional Office, notes that as a responder at the scene of an incident, "Generally we provide technical assistance to the incident commander."

Protective clothing is an important part of Emergency Operations Unit equipment.

In June 2005, for example, incidents in which EOU responded ranged from a major explosion and fire at a Rantoul factory that resulted in a fatality and injury among employees, an incident in which mercury spilled out when a safe was removed from an educational facility in Chicago and mercury was also spilled at the home of the person acquiring the safe. Others included a large petroleum sheen on the Mississippi River and adjacent land as a result of a maintenance malfunction at a natural gas compression plant in Pike County — in which Collinsville regional office responder Tom Powell boarded a U.S. Coast Guard boat as part of his investigation of the impact. A fish and wildlife kill at a pond in Naperville; and several diesel fuel spills from trucks on the highway, including one carrying a load of potatoes that rolled over, were other incidents.

Additionally, even before the events of 9/11 the EOU staff was involved in terrorism response related activities, participating in the science component of the State Weapons of Mass Destruction Team (SWMDT). As part of the SWMDT, the responders are helping to protect the people of Illinois from terrorist activities. Recently the SWMDT received the prestigious 2004 Mitretek Innovations Award in Homeland Security. The SWMDT competed with other programs across the country, and beat out finalists from Portland, Oregon and the U.S. Navy, among others.

The Illinois SWMDT has refined their skills at periodic training exercises. The role of the EOU at these exercises varies. "At one exercise we assisted in evaluating intelligence information to determine threats that existed and to determine possible threats or dangers to personnel who would go into the hot zone," said Bowen. This involved relying on their unique scientific and technical expertise. For example, EOU responder George Krebs noted that his role in an exercise was "to go into the hot zone on the second entry, monitor areas of the lab that were a concern using the Hapsite (a sophisticated piece of monitoring equipment), and acquiring samples to bring back for further lab analysis to help identify the constituent." The Emergency Operations Unit has nine members based in Springfield, Des Plaines, and Collinsville. The responders are a diverse group, possessing varying backgrounds and specialties, such as chemistry, geology, and biology. Most of their expertise was not learned in a textbook or a training course, but on the job. As responder Ralph Foster put it, "Most response stuff is simply observation and common sense." Through their expertise and dedication, the responders help to ensure the protection of the public health and the environment.

IEPA Emergency Operations Unit responders sent many long hours assisting other agencies at the Formosa Plastics plant after a devastating explosion and fire.

A recent incident in the Chicago area serves as a good example of what a responder's job entails. Late in the afternoon of January 19, 2005 a barge traveling on the Chicago sanitary shipping canal exploded, proceeded to burn, and partially sank. There were a number of pollutants of concern including: diesel fuel, heat transfer oil, and the cargo itself. The first EOU responder on scene, Ed Osowski, who also works out of the DesPlaines office, described the incident: "When I arrived on scene the fire was out and the barge had partially sunk. We worked in cooperation with the U.S. Coast Guard and the City of Chicago to evaluate the extent and severity of the oil release. Later we coordinated with the responsible party and a contractor to contain and clean up the release."

The risks involved and long hours are not for everyone. One of the responders is always on call 24/7, and some incidents require the responders to work all night. "I generally rely on coffee from the Red Cross to get through those nights," states Dan Bowen. Unlike most jobs, which stop immediately when something goes wrong, the responder's job is just beginning. As George Krebs stated, "When everyone else comes running out, we go running in."