Area firefighters may need new gear

By KURT NESBITT

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- Add the effects of fighting a grease fire for 11 hours can have on firefighting gear to the lists of unknown costs incurred by Wednesday night's butter plant fire.

City and fire department officials in New Ulm, Sleepy Eye, Courtland and Lafayette are presently assessing whether or not the firefighting gear used to combat the blaze in the AMPI butter plant is still serviceable.

The blaze coated many pieces of protective gear like pants and coats as well as thousands of feet of fire hose, radios and may have even found its way into parts of some fire engines. Firefighters in New Ulm were busy cleaning their gear on Friday.

With a coating of butter grease in the fabric of most of the protective turnout gear, firefighters are still technically able to use the equipment to fight many types of fires, provided that they aren't required to come in close contact with a flame, since butter fat and grease are highly flammable.

Most of the equipment is insured under policies through the League of Minnesota Cities. A representative of the league met in New Ulm with city officials and the chiefs of the four local fire departments to discuss their options.

New Ulm City Manager Brian Grametz said Friday that he's unsure how much replacing the gear will cost but expects it to be fairly expensive. He said the city won't have dollar figures right now because it isn't certain about how much equipment needs to be replaced.

Gramentz said he also anticipates labor costs for the the public works, Street Department and PUC employees that came out during Wednesday night. The city also incurred costs in providing sand for the berms at the base of 2nd North Street and providing diesel fuel for the trucks used in the firefighting and containment effort. Much of that cost, he said, is part of the normal operating costs for those departments.

Assistant City Manager Tom MacAulay said the city's insurance adjusters recommended against trying to wash the butter fat out of the gear. He said the city is presently looking at having the gear professionally cleaned and will use replacement gear marshaled together from other cities in the meantime. He said the city is sending test garments to a company in Pennsylvania.

"If it's cleanable, then (the city) won't buy new equipment," he said.

MacAulay said the city may get reimbursement through an insurance claim.

"Courtland, Sleepy Eye and Lafayette aren't in as bad a shape as us, so it's a little bit more of a concern for us," he said.

New Ulm First Assistant Fire Cheif Paul Macho said the New Ulm Fire Department is getting temporary gear until it can figure out what's happening. He said the butter contaminated "all kindsa stuff" from hose to radios to straps on the air packs. He said the department's trucks are being being checked for any problems. Like Gramentz and MacAulay, Macho said he wasn't sure of an exact cost estimate yet.

"We were cleaning all day today and it still isn't clean," he said.

The grease from the fire also contaminated fire hose -- 5,000 feet definitely need to be replaced -- along with Nomex hoods, boots, gloves, radios, helmet liners. Macho said the department has ordered those items already because they are necessary replacements.

"Right now, we're not using the equipment until we can figure out what to do with it," he said. "We have a few spares on hand."

Todd Hulke, Courtland fire cheif, said he, too, is in the process of finding out the exact status of the gear. He said 17 sets of turnout gear -- which includes jackets, pants, gloves, helmets, boots and fireproof suits -- and 1,200 feet of hose, and possibly a radio or two may need to be replaced. He said the Courtland Fire Department has no issues with its trucks, except for a lot of dirt and grease.

"I think everybody's kind of exhausted," he said from his home in Courtland on Friday night.

Sleepy Eye Fire Cheif Tom Modaschel said firefighters in that city held a special drill with the turnout gear last night to get themselves prepared. He said the department has "bagged and tagged" seven sets of turnout gear that may need to be replaced. He said he has been in conversation with city manager and mayor. Like Macho and Hulke, Modaschel said he couldn't discuss the exact cost of replacing the equipment because its status is still uncertain.

"We also have some gear that's questionable in the aerial. The belts that hold firefighters in are questionable and lots of smaller items, like radios, which aren't big items by themselves, but once you start going through a dozen, it gets to be big," he said.

All the Sleepy Eye Fire Department's trucks are in service and ready for duty, he said, adding that Sleepy Eye firefighters are also prepared to fight any future fire.

Kurt Nesbitt can be e-mailed at knesbitt@nujournal.com