HomeMy WebLinkAboutMINUTES - 04251989 - 2.1 a �
To BOARD OF SUPERVISORS
FROM: Phil Batchelor , County Administrator Cwtra
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DATE: April 25, 1989 C,ay" '•7
SUBJECT: County Response to Fire/Explosion Incident at
Chevron Refinery, Richmond, on April 10, 1989
SPECIFIC REQUEST(S) OR RECC04EHDAT1ON(S) & BACKGROUND AY40 JUSTIFICATION
RECOMMENDATION
Accept report from County Administrator on the county' s response
to the explosion and ensuing fire which occured at the Richmond
Chevron Refinery on April 10, 1989.
BACKGROUND
At 12: 46 p.m. on April 10, 1989, an explosion occurred at the
Chevron Refinery in the City of Richmond . The. Richmond Fire
Department called the Sheriff ' s Dispatch Center in Martinez
requesting activation of the Multi-Casualty Incident Plan . Under
such plan , Sheriff ' s dispatch personnel automatically notify
certain agencies such as hospitals, ambulances, county health
officer, Emergency Medical Services (ENS) , Office of Emergency
Services (OES) , etc .
Emergency Medical Services (EMS) personnel responded to the
dispatch center to survey the capability of hospitals to receive
patients and to direct ambulances to the appropriate facilities
based on available bed capacity and the type of treatment needed
by the victims. For example, in this case, some of the victims
were directed to Brookside Hospital to receive services of the
1pecial burn unit located in that facility. See attached EMS
report.
Upon hearing about the incident on the radio, the County
Administrator immediately telephoned the County Medical Director
and County Emergency Services Director to determine what
information was available. ("he County Administrator arrived at
the Office of Emergency Services at about 1 :40 p.m. After
conferring with EVIS and OES staff regarding the severity of the
incident, at 1 :50 p.m. , the County Administrator directed that all
Service Chiefs be called to the county' s emergency operating
center. DES staff notified the Sheriff , Chief of Contra Costa
County Fire Protection District, County Medical Director, County
Public Works Director, County Social Services Director and
Director of Community Development. In addition , Red Cross and
RACES ( ham radio operators) reported to the EOC as well as Service
Chief support staff . All members of the Board of Supervisors were
notified .
CONTINUED ON ATTACHMENT: _.$.. YES SIGNATURE:
RECOMMENDATION OF COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR RkCOMMENDATION OF ARD COMMITTEE
APPROVE OTHER
S I GNATUR_E(S 1: _
ACTION OF BOARD ON _ April 25, 1989 A'?PROVED AS RECC..aw FmDED X OTHER
VOTE OF SUPERVISORS
I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS A TRUE
X UNANIMOUS (ABSENT I=.ND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN
AYES: _ NOES. AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD
ABSENT: ABSTAIN: OF SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN.
CC: County Administrator ATTESTED A-eZ o?f /98q
Director, OES PHIL BATCHELOR. CLERK OF THE BOARD OF
Health Services Director SUPERVISORS AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR
BY -,DEPUTY
M382/7-83
Activation of the county EOC worked well . All Service Chiefs or
their representatives reported to the EOC within about 45 minutes
from the time notification was initiated . The EOC personnel
monitored the incident and received information from a variety of
sources including Richmond Fire Department, Richmond Police
Department, State OES, Chevron, Bay Area Air Quality Management
District (BAAdMD) , County Environmental Health and Emergency
Medical Services. Red Cross and Social Services personnel
prepared for the possible establishment of evacuation shelters.
Shelters were identified and shelter managers put on alert.
Personnel in the Richmond Unified School District were notified of
the potential use of certain school sites as shelters. EOC
personnel notified the California Highway Patrol and CalTrans in
the event their assistance would be needed .
Fortunately, the fire was contained to a small area and was
stabilized within a few hours even though the fire continued to
burn and emit a large amount of smoke. The county EOC continued
to monitor the situation , ceasing activation at 5:30 p.m.
Although mutual aid from the county was not required in this
incident, activation of the county' s EOC was a valuable test of
our own capabilities to respond to an emergency situation . In
addition to the monitoring done by EDC personnel , direct
assistance was provided by EMS staff who coordinated
hospital /ambulance operations and by County Environmental Health
personnel who were at the incident scene to monitor air quality.
GB:af
SEAL Health Services Department
OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR
EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES
65
50 Glacier Drive
Martinez,California 94553-4822
(415)646-4690
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COr T _ — ',cAtiti4
Tq co
April 19, 1989
TO: Gary B own
FROM: A t La rop
SUBJ: Summary of April 10, 1989, Multicasualty Incident at Chevron
This is a summary of the activation of the County's Multicasualty Incident (MCI)
Plan in response to the fire at the Chevron refinery in Richmond on April 10,
1989. The purpose of the MCI plan is to establish a system for the management
of medical resources in response to incidents which overwhelm or threaten to
overwhelm the medical resources of one area of the County. Activation of the
MCI Plan sets in motion a series of steps in which Sheriff's dispatch notifies
designated personnel, agencies, and medical facilities and ambulance response
and patient transport is directed from Sheriff's dispatch. One objective of the
MCI Plan is to assure that patients are dispersed to appropriate hospitals where
they can obtain prompt care. Responsibility for initiating the MCI Plan rests
with the Incident Commander.
On April 10, 1989, at 12:57 p.m. , Sheriff's dispatch was notified by Richmond
Fire that the MCI Plan was being initiated. In accordance with the Plan,
Sheriff's dispatch began determining the capabilities of all hospitals to
receive incident patients and notifying the following:
On-call health officer
- EMS call roster
- All ambulance services
- OES on-call personnel
- County fire coordinator
- Environmental Health on-call personnel
- Coroner
Adjacent county ambulance dispatch centers
In addition to these notifications, a Sheriff's unit is dispatched to the scene
to provide intelligence and Consolidated Fire is requested to respond their
communications van. The ambulance provider, in this area Regional Ambulance,
responds a supervisory unit.
The Health Officer and EMS staff were notified within minutes and responded to
A344 (8,68) Contra Costa County
Sheriff's dispatch to assume responsibility for coordination of hospital
resources. Six ambulances and two medical helicopters were dispatched to the
scene. Altogether, eight patients - three "criticals" and five "non-criticals"
- were transported to hospitals. Five ambulance units and one medical
helicopter were utilized to transport the patients as follows:
- 13:37 1 patient Brookside Regional 16
- 13:34 2 patients Brookside LifeFlight (Stanford) helicopter
- 13:41 1 patient Brookside Regional 22
- 13:54 1 patient Kaiser-Richmond Regional 15
- 13:56 2 patients Alta Bates Regional 13
- 14:23 1 patient . Doctors' Regional 12
At approximately 15:39, the MCI was downgraded by Richmond Fire to a "medical
advisory alert" and medical resources other than those requested to remain on
scene were released. A Regional supervisory unit, a Regional ambulance unit,
and a medical helicopter (LifeFlight-Davis) remained on scene. At approximately
16:59, the medical advisory alert was secured with the concurrence of the Health
Officer and Richmond Fire.
This was the second MCI at the Chevron complex in three days. Richmond Fire
activated the MCI Plan Saturday, April 8th, for an unrelated incident at the
Chevron Research facility. EMS has conducted a debriefing for the April 8th MCI
and is scheduling a debriefing for the April 10th MCI.
cc: Mark Finucane
William B. Walker, M.D.