Even at its worst, ethanol is just another flammable liquid. For decades firefighters have safely handled gasoline, which is far worse than ethanol in terms of explosive potential. The biggest thing to recognize about ethanol is that it is a polar solvent, not a hydrocarbon like gasoline.

Ethanol requires a special kind of foam and specialized technique. Dealing with it means specific training. And getting that training is critical because ethanol is already in more than half of the automobiles in the United States.

Ethanol is made mostly from corn at processing plants throughout the Midwest. But ethanol also can be made from sugar cane and switch grass. Therefore, ethanol production has the potential to become a coast-to-coast operation. Ethanol comes out of processing plants 95% pure. That's because federal rules require that 5% gasoline is added to keep people from turning it into a new source of moonshine.

Ethanol is transported by tank trucks and rail tankers; none of it moves by pipeline. Trucks and rail tanks are accident-prone. From the massive bulk facilities, the ethanol is transferred to local gasoline terminals where tankers are loaded with gasoline and, most commonly, topped off with 10% ethanol.

No matter how slight the ethanol content, it remains flammable. The only way to challenge a polar solvent fire is with the right type of foam. A recent series of tests by the Ethanol Emergency Response Coalition shows that the only foam effective against ethanol is alcohol-resistant AFFF. Straight AFFF, or fluoroprotein, does not work regardless of the percentage ethanol blend.

AR-AFFF still remains relatively unknown in municipal fire fighting. Even the foams that municipal fire trucks carry are in severely limited amounts compared with what it takes to deal with an industrial emergency. That is why industrial firefighters need to work with their municipal cousins to prepare for ethanol events.

It is common for a freight train to have 100 tanker cars of ethanol. Imagine 100 ethanol tank cars sitting six tracks wide at an unloading facility when a fire breaks out. Some of these facilities have good fire protection such as fixed foam systems, monitors and sprinklers. Others do not. When one of these facilities goes up is not the time for municipal responders to forge an instant alliance from scratch with industrial brigades.

Ethanol will make mutual aid a reality nationwide, because industrial responders are the only ones readily equipped to deal with such emergencies. Municipal fire departments are not likely to house sufficient stockpiles of AR-AFFF. Often, industrial fire departments are willing to assist in setting up mutual aid for supplying AR foams for the ethanol and training.

Spills are another ethanol hazard, and there are no federal recommendations on how to deal with ethanol spills. Absorbent pads used on hydrocarbon spills may be ineffective when used on ethanol. The pads treat ethanol the same as water, leaving it behind when the pad is recovered.

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David White is president of Fire & Safety Specialists Inc.

The 2008 Focus on Foam is sponsored by: