Please visit the Fire Department Safety Officers Association website at: www.fdsoa.org.

The Propane Emergencies (PE) program has grown significantly since its inception in 1998, from a single textbook to a comprehensive training program adopted by 27 state firefighter training agencies and propane marketers.  It continues to be the benchmark by which many other hazardous materials training programs are measured. The third edition textbook Propane Emergencies textbook is now available to order through the Propane Resource Catalog.  You can also click here to download the third edition text.

"Our goal is that all state fire academies will adopt the Propane Emergencies Program”,according to PERC’s Propane Emergencies subcommittee chairman, Lyndon Rickards, Safety and Training Manager, Eastern Propane Gas, Inc. Rochester, NH.

This textbook describes how to safely respond to propane emergencies and covers standards, codes, and regulations; physical properties and characteristics of propane; non-bulk and bulk container design and construction features; bulk transportation design and construction features; bulk plants and bulk storage tanks; general emergency response procedures; tactical response guidelines for propane emergencies; product removal; and transfer and recovery operations.

Written by Michael S. Hildebrand and Gregory G. Noll, this 303-page full-color textbook is targeted to firefighters and members of Hazardous Materials Response Teams, propane marketers, propane industry product and container specialists, and private or emergency response contractors.

Here are a few examples of how states and emergency responders are working together:

• The Missouri Propane Gas Association donates Propane Emergencies textbooks and trainer facilitator guides to support the University of Missouri's Fire and Rescue Training Institute's "Handling LP Gas Emergencies" course, which has trained more than 2,500 firefighters since 2002.
• The Alabama Propane Gas Association donated a new Propane Emergencies Training Unit to train the Alabama Fire College and departments around the state to handle propane fires. More than 60 instructors attended a six-hour train-the-trainer course. 
• Pennsylvania's State Fire Academy is using the Propane Emergencies materials in four propane response programs, which are regularly offered and well attended.
• The Virginia Propane Gas Association provided textbooks, facilitator's guides, and a bobtail propane delivery truck to the Virginia Department of Emergency Management for use in training emergency personnel.

Special Notice: As the third edition was going to press, new information concerning the fire safety of composite propane cylinders was developed by the authors. This supplements material found on pages 61-62 of the textbook.  Order the Propane Emergencies Third Edition Textbook (PRC007222) through the Propane Industry Resource Catalog at (866) 905-1075 or www.propanemarc.com.