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PETROLEUM DIRECTORY: A wide spectrum of safety-related training PRISM’s high-tech campus has established a role well beyond aircraft fire fighting Alan Bailey Petroleum Directory Contributing Writer
Quickly and efficiently rescuing people from a major fire and extinguishing the flames requires courage, skill and a high degree of professionalism. In fact the response to any kind of emergency depends on qualified people who know exactly what they’re doing.
That’s the underlying philosophy behind the safety-related training that the Pacific Rim Institute of Safety and Management, known as PRISM, provides in its state-of-the-art training center in Kenai, Alaska. PRISM offers a wide range of courses and accredited certifications ranging from aircraft rescue fire fighting to health and safety. The training center’s location near the Kenai airport enables convenient access from elsewhere in Alaska and around the Pacific Rim.
“(The PRISM Training Center) is a public/private partnership between AAI Engineering Support Inc. and the City of Kenai,” Patrick Truitt, director of logistics programs at AAI Engineering Support Inc. told Petroleum News. “It has been jointly funded by the federal government, the State of Alaska, the City of Kenai and AAI Engineering Support Inc.”
AAI Engineering Support Inc. is a major worldwide provider of technical and training services for government and industry. It is headquartered in Hunt Valley, Md. David Burnett of Kenai is the onsite director of the PRISM facility. Opened in 1998 The PRISM Training Center opened in 1998 in response to a federal directive to start using so-called hot-fire trainers for mandated airport fire training, Truitt said. Hot-fire trainers use propane fueled burners to simulate aircraft and industrial fires, instead of the traditional practice of creating a fire by burning various fossil fuels.
“Alaska was one of the 13 states that was selected to host one of these (hot-fire) sites,” Truitt said. The hot-fire trainer facility at the PRISM campus uses propane from a large tank in an underground bunker. The propane flows through nozzles distributed in two aircraft mock-ups, a mock-up of an outdoor industrial facility and a building for interior structure fires.
“It’s all computer controlled — all electronic valving for the propane,” Truitt said. “We have a set of computer controls that control all the different burners completely across all of the facilities.”
An operator in the facility’s control center manages the fires from a computer console. The computer has been programmed to trigger the appropriate propane valves for many different fire scenarios. One airplane mock-up, for example, consists of a simulated Boeing 737, configured to create 10 types of airplane fire, including engine and cabin fires.
“(Let’s say) I’m in the airplane and I’m going to have an aircraft engine fire,” Truitt said. “We just program the engine fire, where we want it and when to start it.”
The other airplane mock-up sits at the center of a fire pit that uses liquid propane to simulate a fuel spill fire from a crashed airplane.
“The fire pit itself is 125 feet in diameter and uses 800 gallons a minute of liquid propane,” Burnett said. “The liquid propane can reach temperatures in excess of 1,800 degrees — it all depends on how you apply your (fire fighting) agent.”
PRISM’s outdoor industrial structure simulates the type of fire emergencies that you would find in oil fields.
“If there’s a fuel spill they might come in with foam,” Truitt said. “We use a training foam that’s very realistic but that’s not harmful to the environment.”
Sensors in the mock-ups measure the direction and proximity of the foam or water so that the computer can determine when to turn off the flames.
“That allows the computer to sense that the students are applying the agent the correct way,” Truitt said. “If they are doing it incorrectly, the fire will not go out or it will re-flash.” Industrial interior fires A building with natural gas burners enables instructors to create many types of interior fires.
“The industrial interior building is three stories in height,” Burnett said. “It houses three props — a bilge pump, a generator fire and a commercial kitchen.”
The props can represent different types of rooms. For example, the kitchen can simulate a domestic kitchen or a kitchen on a boat, as well as an industrial situation, Truitt said. Instructors can also set up a smoke maze in the building, so that people can practice confined space rescues in poor visibility — smoke generators create artificial smoke that’s not dirty or toxic.
Although the fire simulators can produce some spectacular blazes, the use of gas burners ensures the safety of all participants in the training.
“If anything goes wrong we can instantly shut it down,” Truitt said. “If someone panics there are buttons (throughout the facilities) that they can push within an arms length to shut it down.” Broad range of courses The training center’s schoolhouse with its high-tech classrooms supplements the fire fighting facilities and supports a huge range of safety-related courses — the scope of the training extends a long way beyond just aircraft fire fighting.
“We have a fully accredited firefighter 1 and firefighter 2 academy,” Truitt said. “It’s (also) fully certified on basic safety training. We do full seafarer’s (safety) training. We have a lot of courses that are geared for petroleum, mining and other general industry ... right down to ‘how do you drive a forklift truck?’”
The complete range of courses includes topics such as hazardous materials, hazardous painting, emergency medical technician, first aid and the use of the incident command system. PRISM offers a U.S. Coast Guard approved marine safety curriculum.
The training center provides many practical training classes as well as national and Alaska state certifications.
“We do all the safety management courses,” Truitt said. “(People) have to have certifications in first aid and in fire fighting.” Other certifications for industrial environments include forklift operation, rigging and hazardous material handling, he said.
In fact PRISM has teamed up with Beacon Occupational Health and Safety Services Inc. to provide a complete suite of work-related health screening and safety training services.
The Training Center provides student record management, so that their training and certification status can be determined. Expanding customer base Presently the training center serves municipal fire departments and most of the airports in Alaska. The military has also trained at the PRISM facility.
“The Air Force actually brings in their staff and their fire equipment in a C-130 ... and use our burn facilities,” Truitt said.
PRISM provides safety training and certification for personnel from several major companies in the Alaska oil industry. PRISM plans to continue growing its business by expanding its curricula to include those associated with new areas of industrial training such as issues involved with homeland security.
The center is also anxious to build on its public/private ownership by continuing its excellent relationship with the City of Kenai and forging closer relationships with both the State of Alaska and the federal government — marine safety and homeland security seem obvious areas in which PRISM could help.
It’s all a question of equipping people with the skills for dealing with safety issues.
“Safety and Safety Management Training — that’s what we do,” Truitt said.
Editor’s note: Alan Bailey owns Badger Productions in Anchorage, Alaska.
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