Ethanol Safety Seminar Set for Tennessee

The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA), in partnership with the Knoxville & Holston River Railroad and Nashville & Western Railroad, will host two Ethanol Safety Seminars in Tennessee. The first seminar will be held on June 25 at the Knoxville Civic Auditorium and Coliseum, and the  second on June 27 at the Nashville Fire Academy.

Both seminars are free and feature a morning session from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. and an evening session from 5:30 to 10 p.m. Registration is limited to the first 100 people per seminar. Lunch and dinner will be provided. Certificates from the Tennessee Fire Fighting Commission will be awarded to attendees at the completion of the course. The seminars are designed for individuals who respond to ethanol-related emergencies as well as those who work at fixed-facilities and transport fuel.

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 “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.

“We cannot take our industry’s impressive safety record with hazardous materials for granted,” said Scott Ogle, general manager of Knoxville & Holston River Railroad. “Ethanol Safety Seminars provide emergency responders with the training they need to keep their guards up and American communities safe.”

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.

“Ethanol Safety Seminars allow the emergency response community to maintain a level of preparedness that guarantees that the cities and towns they serve receive swift and capable responses to ethanol-related incidents,” said Kristy Moore, RFA vice president of technical services.

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 and transfer of ethanol-blended fuels, storage and dispensing locations, firefighting foam principles and ethanol-blended fuel, health and safety considerations for ethanol-blended fuel emergencies and tank farm and bulk storage fire incidents.

To register for these seminars, go to www.rfa.traincaster.com.

The RFA will be co-hosting Ethanol Safety Seminars throughout the summer. Upcoming seminars include: July 21–25 in Oklahoma; July 22 and 24 in Missouri; and Aug. 7–8 in Alabama.