Rising to the Challenge : Response to Brea Rubber Plant Fire Was Truly Heartening

A recent fire at a Brea rubber products plant produced praiseworthy responses not just from firefighters but also from environmental management officials and people on the street. The efforts did much to limit the damage.

With flames from the Esco Rubber Products building shooting high into the sky on April 23, a worker at a nearby tire retailer, Ryan Dowdy, dashed to a day-care center next to the burning plant and helped escort 23 children away from danger and into the tire store.

Drivers stopped their cars and helped to evacuate residents of a nearby apartment house threatened by the flames.

Brea’s assistant city engineer, John Hogan, helped see to it that water that battled the blaze and became contaminated did not damage the environment by being allowed to run into storm drains and eventually into the ocean.

County Environmental Management Agency workers and city staff worked through the night to trace the path of the spent water. They built sandbag dams to stop the runoff from getting into the lake at Craig Regional Park in Fullerton. They were so successful that only one bird was reported soaked in an oil-like substance.

Because rubber products were burning, the chances for environmental damage were greater than in a house fire. Water that gets into sewer systems or flows to bays and beaches can damage habitat and fish. Depending on the chemical components of the rubber, breathing hazards from airborne burned material can be high.

Fortunately, most of the Esco plant’s chemicals were not hazardous. The company was also able to provide a list of the chemicals to firefighters, who judged the risks quickly.

The good response helped account for the fact that no one was injured in the blaze. The firefighters’ job is battling fires, of course, but even here special training in handling hazardous materials paid off. For others whose jobs involved making plans for an emergency, it was good to see the blueprints implemented effectively.

Brea residents can take heart from the way the fire last month was handled. Other cities should examine the coordinated response and ensure that they would cope with an emergency as well as Brea did.