Several Greene County fire departments recently conducted a propane tank fire training exercise.

Jefferson Fire Chief Jack Williams says their training exercise was at the Greene County High School parking lot with a propane tank provided by Star Energy and the Iowa Fire Service Training Bureau’s prop that simulated a propane truck on fire. Williams notes that they weren’t trying to show how to put out the fire, but rather control it to remove any individuals from that situation.

“You need 500 gallons (of water) a minute to on a tank to keep it cool enough to keep it from exploding, per fire that’s on the tank. We did the training just so our firemen are familiar with the process in case we ever need to do it.”

In the past, Williams says there hasn’t been any major incidents with propane tanks, just some minor ones was lawn mowers hitting pipelines from propane tanks, but going through the training makes everyone aware of how to handle those situations.

“We have a lot of propane trucks that move around in Greene County and we have a lot of propane tanks that are in close proximity to structures and houses where people may be. We’re just trying to keep our firemen up-to-date on all the training we can give them.”

The Jefferson, Grand Junction and Churdan Fire departments participated in the training exercise.