Fire districts, Ecology team up to cut harmful air emissions, save taxpayer money; Feb. 23 event at State Capitol spotlights innovative project

OLYMPIA – Thurston County fire districts are working with the Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) to install new, pollution-reducing technology on some of their emergency-response vehicles.

The technology will be demonstrated during an event from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday (Feb. 23, 2012) at the State Capitol in Olympia. The demonstration will be held on the North Diagonal near the Winged Victory monument.

“Diesel exhaust is the air pollutant most harmful to public health in Washington. Seventy percent of the cancer risk from airborne pollutants stems from diesel exhaust. It harms people with health problems like asthma and heart and lung diseases. It even makes healthy people more at risk for respiratory disease,” said Stuart Clark, who manages Ecology’s Air Quality Program.

“So we’re excited to team with Thurston County fire districts to work on this project, which protects people, the environment and taxpayers’ money,” Clark said.

“Lacey Fire District 3 is honored to be a partner with the Department of Ecology in championing the cause to reduce diesel emissions. We believe these technologies will have significant positive impacts on both our responders and the communities they serve,” said Fire Chief Steve Brooks.

“We are extremely excited and happy to be part of the idle reduction project as it helps us move toward several of our Thurston County Commissioner goals. Ecologically it will decrease our carbon footprint, and it saves tax dollars by decreasing fuel and maintenance costs,” said Steve Romines, director of Thurston County Emergency Services/Medic One.

“Decreasing wear and tear decreases unexpected downtime, which improves unit availability, and that potentially means faster paramedic response. All wins for our Thurston County Medic One system,” Romines said.

Ecology is providing $250,000 to install exhaust emission controls on 83 vehicles, plus $390,000 for idle-reduction technology for 40 vehicle engines. The benefits from taking this action include:

Saving up to an estimated $10 million in fuel and maintenance costs over the next 10 to 15 years.
Creating and supporting jobs at Washington businesses that install this technology.
Reducing emissions of toxic air pollution and greenhouse gases.

Local emergency responders use their vehicles to help save lives and protect property. But those same vehicles also often burn diesel fuel to power their engines, which produces harmful fine particles in exhaust. Responders must keep vehicle engines idling at an incident scene to power emergency lights and equipment chargers, and to eliminate any chance the vehicles may not restart.

The pollution released while these engines are running poses added stress and health risks to people at the scene who are injured or suffering life-threatening illnesses.

To address this issue, Ecology funds installation of idle-reduction technologies and exhaust emission controls:

Idle-reduction technologies: Small auxiliary generators are installed on fire engines, and auxiliary electric battery systems are installed on medic units. At an incident scene, these systems allow the operators to turn off the vehicle engine while still having power for emergency lights and medical equipment.
Exhaust emission controls: Diesel oxidation catalysts (DOCs) break down pollutants in the exhaust stream and turn them into less harmful components. Closed crankcase ventilation (CCV) systems reroute filtered crankcase emissions back to the engine’s air intake.

Reducing harmful emissions also protects firefighters, who have a much higher exposure to toxic substances and significantly higher cancer rates than the general public. For firefighters with 10 to 19 years of experience, the risk of developing and dying from several types of cancer is more than three times higher than it is for the general public.

A 2009 Ecology analysis estimates that fine particles lead to about 1,100 deaths and $190 million in additional health-care costs each year in Washington.

Thanks to support from Gov. Chris Gregoire, former Gov. Gary Locke, the Legislature, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Ecology has provided $48 million in the past 10 years to help reduce harmful diesel emissions from more than 9,000 engines. More than 6,500 are public school bus engines.

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Media Contact: Seth Preston, Ecology communications manager, 360-407-6848; seth.preston@ecy.wa.gov

For more information:

Clean diesel program (www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/air/cars/diesel_exhaust_information.htm)

“Health Effects and Economic Impacts of Fine Particle Pollution in Washington” (www.ecy.wa.gov/pubs/0902021.pdf)

Ecology’s social media (www.ecy.wa.gov/about/newmedia.html)