Calumet Water Reclamation Plant Explosion and Building Collapse: Lessons Learned
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Calumet Water Reclamation Plant
Explosion and Building Collapse:
Lessons Learned
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BY T I MOT H Y WA L S H
A
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T APPROXIMATELY11:00 A.M. ON 1
August 30, 2018, the Chicago (IL)
Fire Department was dispatched
to an explosion and a building collapse with
trapped occupants on the far southeast side
of the city. The standard response for this
run within the city is a still and box alarm
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with additional companies from the Special
Operations Division.
Initial Response
The initial response included four
engines, two trucks, one tower ladder,
three battalion chiefs, one deputy
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district chief, one additional truck for
the rapid intervention team (RIT) and
an additional battalion chief for RIT,
three ambulances, and one emergency
medical services (EMS) chief. The (1-2) An overview of the structural collapse 2
after the explosion. (Photos by Gordon Nord
Special Operations companies included unless otherwise noted.)
two heavy rescue companies, Squads 1
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and 5; Building Collapse units 5-2-1 and from Wiss, Janey, Elstner Associates,
5-2-2; Battalion Chief 5-1-5; Special Op- Inc., the engineering firm that investi-
erations 5-1-9; Special Operations Safety; gated the explosion and collapse. The
and Chief of Special Operations 2-1-28. report determined that the explosion
originated in the gravity belt thickener
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Arrival of First Chief Officer room (GBT). The GBT room walls were
On arrival of Battalion 22, the cast in place with reinforced concrete
first arriving chief officer alerted the frame with brick masonry and concrete
Englewood Fire Alarm Office that he infill. The roof structure consisted of
had a bona fide incident with trapped precast prestressed concrete single
civilians. He immediately asked for T-beams spanning 110 feet between the
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an EMS Plan 2, which added seven east and west exterior walls.
advanced life support (ALS) ambulances The floor of the room served as a
and a level 1 hazardous material roof over three below-grade tanks that
response, because of the smell of gas. collected wastewater sludge. This floor
His continued size-up included this structure consisted of cast-in-place
description: “Office, I have a one-story reinforced concrete beams with integral
noncombustible approximately 100 × 70 12-inch-thick slab sections. In six areas Rescue of Worker
pancake collapse with multiple trapped, I’m over the east and center tanks, depressed On arrival of the chief of special
working on a full accounting of the missing.” slabs with a tapered cross-section and operations (2-1-28), the second-arriving
sloped top surface were separately cast chief officer, Battalion 22 transferred
The Structure between reinforced concrete beams at the command and gave a status report. Eight
The building in question underwent perimeter of the area. The construction of of 10 workers inside the building had
several additions and enclosures from this part of the building made the rescue been removed. An additional worker, on
1975 through 2009, according to a report operation quite intricate. Side A, or the west, was found, but he
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Calumet Water
was trapped. An additional civilian was Squads 1 and 5 were summoned to the 4
still missing. rear of the structure to survey the area by
Firefighters on the scene were hand and create a rescue plan.
performing a hasty surface search of the At this time, the chief of operations (2-
entire building. Truck 27 and Squad 5 1-5) arrived on the scene and took overall
were obtaining cribbing and hydraulic command. He requested a 2-11 alarm,
rescue tools to rescue the one civilian which put more than 42 companies and
on Side A of the building. The Incident more than 100 members operating as
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commander (IC) went inside for face- one team. Twenty-five of those members
to-face communication with the Rescue made up the rescue sector working under
Squad 5 officer to ascertain the progress Special Operations Command.
of the rescue. The Squad 5 and Truck 27 (4) The east end of the single T-beam that fell
lieutenants assured Command that the Primary Rescue Point from the roof. (Photo courtesy of Wiss, Janney,
Elstner Associates, Inc.)
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lifting operation to rescue this civilian The initial survey team consisted of
would be short and successful. After four collapse technicians, who were tunneling crews. Battalion Chief 5-1-5
lifting some assorted debris by using supervised by two lieutenants, one from took command of the tunneling oper-
two hydraulic lifting tools in tandem Squad 1 and the other from Squad 5, ation and Battalion Chief 22, of shoring
with cribbing, the victim was freed and who are trained in collapse; the crew and logistics. As the Chief of Special
removed. The operation was completed consisted of six members. Operations, I was in charge of the overall
within 10 minutes. Immediately on entering the structure rescue command.
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from the rear man-way door, four gas The Hazardous Materials sector mon-
Search for Missing Worker monitors sounded their alarms for 10 itored and provided forced ventilation at
We, the two chief officers on scene, percent lower explosive level (LEL) several points throughout the structure
asked for the plant manager so they of flammable gas. Rescue Command to ensure proper air for all rescuers and
could speak with someone from the work ordered that the glass block windows the victim. Area ray monitors, along with
crew that was ambulatory to ascertain be removed from the entire structure to handheld and personal monitors, were
the point at which the missing worker provide a cross breeze. Forced venti- used extensively in this operation to
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was seen last. We were quickly brought lation with bag air was brought to the ensure good air quality.
to the rear of the structure where the we side of the trapped victim. Rescuers Squads 1 and 5 survey teams deter-
hailed loudly for the last trapped civilian. who had begun a tunneling operation mined, after tunneling as closely as pos-
He answered on the second call. to reach the victim carried four gas sible to the victim from 360˚, that coming
Collapse technicians from the heavy monitors and standalone pass alarms. in from the debris pile from the east and
rescue companies crawled into the Squads 1 and 5 split their crews into tunneling down to the victim under the
debris field about 40 feet. They found two companies. One company tunneled, protection of the 110-foot T-beam that
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him within two minutes, but the civilian and the other shored concrete elements appeared to be resting on the ground
was heavily trapped. All the members of and provided cribbing and shores to the would be the safest and fastest way to
reach the victim. One rescuer remained
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on top of the debris pile to communicate
with the victim for the duration of the
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incident.
Shoring teams from the squads and
collapse companies immediately began
to place struts on the T-beam. Rescuers
paralleled the beam while tunneling to
provide lateral and vertical support and
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direct contact with the floor below to
ensure capture so that good load transfer
could be visually confirmed. They also
shored T-beams to the north and south
of the beam near which rescuers were
working.
Since it was quite evident that we
would need more lumber than was
carried on the lumber truck, we re-
quested additional lumber from the
Special Operations Warehouse. A
(3) The primary rescue access from which the last victim was rescued. request was made also for a compressor,
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Calumet Water
Concrete Demolition Unit 5-2-4, a of two five-person teams lifting the used to raise the beam and then lower it
crane, a structural engineer, and plant 80-foot bridge beam off a late-model again. This exercise can take hours and
schematics. sedan with trapped occupants inside. is fully supported with guidance from
According to the forensic report The beam is placed delicately on the IFSI instructors. Because of this elite
issued by Wiss, Janney and Elstner auto in a twisted unsupported way so technical rescue training, the Rescue
Associates Inc. for the Metropolitan that the lift is performed slowly under sector officers at the water reclamation
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Water Reclamation District, each of the the watchful eye of the IFSI collapse building collapse determined this would
eight precast prestressed single roof instructional team. be the rescue plan enacted to free the
T-beams over the GBT room collapsed. Four crib towers are constructed trapped civilian.
Portions of the collapsed beam’s metal below the beam, two for lifting and two Rescue team members had removed
flanges had broken off the roof beams. for capturing the load. Small incremental debris in and around the area of the
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Each of the beams broke into three sec- lifts are performed to raise the beam victim. The company officers began the
tions anywhere from 32 to 48 feet long. about one foot, allowing rescuers to lifting evolution on the footprint to con-
These observations were made during a enter the car and free trapped victims. struct with cribbing a single lift tower
forensic demolition of the building after Two stacked air bags at each end are and two capture towers. There was only
the incident.
It was clear to the first rescuer who 5
reached the trapped civilian that we had
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a big problem. The firefighter/paramedic
from Squad 5 who reached the entombed
victim stated the victim was pinned
under a T-beam two feet away from
the top opening of a sludge tank with
a vertical drop of about 20 feet. During
the rescue, we could see the total length
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of the roof-supporting T-beams, but we
could not tell if they were fractured.
On reaching the victim, the member of
Squad 5 made an initial assessment and
began treating the victim. He started an
IV as a treatment for a crush injury and
established medical control with the
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University of Chicago. The rescue team
lifted the beam using air bags and two
crib towers to capture the load. All of
the mechanical systems that had been
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on the ceiling were on top of the victim
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just below the T-beam. Heat-ventila-
tion-air-conditioning, electrical, and
lighting fixtures had to be removed one
piece at a time to create an opening
large enough to slide the victim from
under the beam to the north into an
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open safe area.
The Chicago Fire Department was
lucky that a good majority of the
members working within the collapse
zone were instructors for the Illinois
Fire Service Institute (IFSI) Structural
Collapse Rescue Program. One of the
team building evolutions during the
56-hour Structural Collapse Rescue
Technician course is a bridge beam lift
with a trapped vehicle underneath. This
(5) Students in the 56-hour Illinois Fire Service Institute Structural Collapse Rescue Technician
evolution represents the rescues made course performing a bridge beam lift with a trapped vehicle underneath, the lift used to rescue the
during the Loma-Prieta earthquake on worker in this incident. (Photo courtesy of the Illinois Fire Service Institute.) (6) Crews work on cutting
October 17, 1989. The evolution consists additional cribbing for rescue efforts.
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Calumet Water
7 immediately flown to the University of Chicago Level 1 Trauma
Center for treatment. The incident and scene were secured and
struck out after four hours. The entire rescue was covered on
live news across the city.
After many surgeries and months of rehabilitation, the
victim was reunited with his rescuers at the quarters of Squad
Company1for a morning brunch. The gentleman walked in
under his own power, hugged each member of the team, and
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sat for several hours reliving that day.
This incident was impactful for all the right reasons, but
especially because it was a rescue, not a recovery. It was
truly a “we” effort, and the rescuers executed the operation
flawlessly. The biggest takeaway from the response was the
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value of training on large-scale technical rescue incidents. The
companies responding to the water reclamation plant were
successful because they had prepared. They continued their
technical rescue training beyond operations-level education—
most importantly, they prepared in an environment that
simulated real-world rescues.
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Lessons Learned
The following are lessons learned from this incident:
• Training must simulate real-world rescues based on case
studies.
• Specialized crews across the city and region must train
together continually.
• Continuing education must be provided for all disciplines.
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• New tools and techniques must be introduced and tested.
• On-site subject matter experts should be consulted
(Trades).
• Rescue must be coordinated with the Medical sector.
• All rescue members, including Command, must be trained
(7) Crews remove the last trapped ironworker to the waiting University of
to the level of the incident.
Chicago Aeromedical Network Helicopter.
• A team approach with deliberate discussion is the key to
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enough room near the victim to have one lifting tower, and success.
not all portions of the collapse were readily visible to perform • It is important to recognize the severity of the response
two lifting stations. The Rescue sector officers felt that only an early and to upgrade the alarm to support all positions. It
eight-inch lift was needed near the victim’s legs to success- took 100 rescuers to support one victim. Early resource
fully remove him. Once we were ready to lift, the University recognition is critical for successful rescues, especially
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of Chicago Aeromedical network (UCAN) was called to the those that involve multiple trapped victims.
scene to assist with medical stabilization of the victim and to • Teaching newer members is great way to stay in touch with
provide quick transport back to the hospital’s Level 1 Trauma the ever-changing disciplines.
Center. Prior to removing the patient, there had been concern
that one or both of the victim’s legs would have to be ampu- These lessons all come back to one key point: You cannot
tated or that the victim would decompensate once the T-beam overlook the value of shared, common training for members
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was raised. The UCAN staffing included an emergency room who respond to large-scale incidents and departments that
trauma-trained physician and a registered nurse; they provided support mutual aid. Operational objectives need to be dis-
the next level of care beyond what the CFD could. cussed and trained on for successful rescues.
The lift went off without issue. The beam was raised eight
times, and cribbing was put in place to capture the load. The TIMOTHY WALSH retired as chief of special operations from the
collapse technician-trained firefighter/paramedic from Squad Chicago Fire Department after 33 years of service. He has been
5 crawled under the beam into a safe area and continued a field staff instructor with the University of Illinois Fire Service
Institute for the past 17 years, specializing in building collapse,
packaging and treating the victim.
rapid intervention team under fire, and command and company
The victim was conscious but confused; both legs were
officer fireground command school.. He has a master’s degree in
intact but were badly broken. fire and emergency management from Oklahoma State University
The Rescue sector transferred care to the Medical sector and multiple certifications in rescue from the Illinois State Fire
once the victim was extricated from the pile. The victim was Marshal’s Office.
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