When the latest in a long string of fracking-related explosions and fires happened in Conroe, TX last week, firefighters were forced to let the fire burn out and tell residents to shelter-in-place and turn off air conditioners. No one knew exactly what was in the smoke billowing from the fracking facility, but everyone knew it was potentially deadly.
Fracking companies could disclose the chemicals used in fracking. Doing so woul give first responders the information they need to fight the many dangerous fires breaking out due to fracking operations. But, for the most part, fracking companies are using every legal apparatus at their disposal to keep fracking chemicals a secret, ostensibly to keep the public in the dark about the carcinogens and other deadly chemicals in fracking’s toxic brew.
“Fire codes and laws are written with the blood of the victims and firefighters. Is that what it will take before we do what is right?”
California called for an end to the madness earlier this year, and recently, fracking companies in the state have been disclosing their chemicals., The scientific analysis has been alarming to say the least, turning up chemicals that wreak havoc on the human body and the environment. Exactly the kind of substances firefighters and other emergency personnel need to know about when responding.
The constant contamination of the environment notwithstanding, fracking-related fires and explosions present the most catastrophic threat. A lawsuit that was recently filed by a Texas family says their 4-year-old, and her parents and grandfather, were burned severely when methane from fracking pollution ignited in their water well.
Of course, a methane fire in a well is nothing compared to a fire or explosion at an actual fracking facility, where toxic chemicals are kept in large quantities. And when firefighters arrive on the scene, they simply don’t know what they’re dealing with, which puts their lives and the lives of local residents at risk.
We are not the first to bring up this point, and sadly, we will not likely be the last. As Siverio Caggiano of Ohio’s Youngstown Fire Department put it: “There is an old saying in the fire service. Fire codes and laws are written with the blood of the victims and firefighters. Is that what it will take before we do what is right?”