Q1. Why do firefighters recommend the use of a deluging volume of water when extinguishing an oxidizer-supported fire? What may happen to a large (i.e., 30-50lb) container of trichloro-s-triazinetrione, or calcium hypochlorite, if it is left to sit in the water and muck remaining in a building after fire fighting efforts have ended, but clean-up will not begin for several days? The assumption here is that the plastic container has been compromised in some way by the heat of the fire and possibly creating cracks in the base or sides.
Q2. Give some examples of the types of hazardous chemicals, specifically oxidizers, stored in homes (such as those stored under counters and sinks, in garages/basements and in pump houses/sheds). Discuss the following:
A) What problems and dangerous situations can result from the improper storage and use (i.e., mixing them together, etc.) of these chemicals? Describe potential hazardous material interactions.
B) What government agency and statutes/regulation(s) govern for the labeling and registration of these hazardous household products?
Q3. Describe an incident (fire, spill, explosion, etc) you have experienced (or research one on the Internet, professional journal, or scientific magazine article) that involved a hazardous organic material(s) and required mitigation. Please do not use the instances supplied in the textbook unless you intend to provide a lot more detail. The following items must be addressed:
• Describe the incident and identify the hazardous organic material(s) involved;
• Discuss the chemical interactions of the material(s) involved in this incident or hazardous properties relevant to the incident;
Discuss the mitigation required or implemented.
Q4. Describe the nature and characteristics of PCB's. Why are they of importance to an EH&S or FS professional who encounters them when coming upon an incident scene where they are present? What precautions, or actions, should the EH&S or FS professional take when faced with this situation? What happens to FS personnel and their turnout gear once they are exposed/splashed with PCB's?
Q5. Air monitoring provides the following contaminant concentrations at the approximate center of a fire scene in which acres of automobile tires are burning: Carbon monoxide @ 1700 ppm; Carbon dioxide @ 7000 ppm; and Sulfur dioxide @ 600 ppm. Ignoring synergistic effects between these gases, which individual concentrations are considered life-threatening to the EH&S or FS professional responding to the scene? What combustion products are produced when materials made from polyacrylonitrile smolder and burn? What combination of properties is responsible for the selection of trinitrotoluene as a military explosive?
Q6. Identify and discuss three key features associated with the combustion of polymeric materials or compounds that are relevant to the safety and health of an EH&S or a FS professional responding to an incident involving these materials.
Q7. The best means of personal protection from radiation for emergency responders is the implementation of three basic principles: time, distance and shielding. Please show your work when answering the following questions:
a. Using the inverse square law of radiation, what Geiger counter reading would you get for a radioactive material when you are 3 feet from the source (assume an initial reading of 6300 R at a distance of 1 foot from the source)?
b. Dr. Brown has a radioisotope source containing 1.2 x 106 (also written as 1.2E+06) atoms of Plutonium-238 in 1985, how many atoms will remain in 352 years?
c. How many protons and neutrons are present in the plutonium-238 nucleus?
Q8, Briefly describe the adverse effects caused by exposure to radiation. Include some specific exposure levels associated with these significant health effects. Lastly, give some examples of measured radiation levels associated with the Three Mile Island incident in the U.S. and in the Chernobyl incident in the Soviet Union. Provide your reference source(s). (Wikipedia is not an accepted reference source.)