Fforestfach tyre fire BKK full version

Public Health Wales
Fforestfach tyre fire:
the public health
response
Professor David Russell, The WHO Collaborating Centre for Chemical Incidents
Public Health Wales
Background – tyre fires
Health Protection Agency
• EU Landfill Directive bans disposal of tyres, whole or
shredded to landfill – have to be recycled
• 10 large tyre dumps across the UK contain 13m tyres
• Total UK annual estimates vary – approximately 500,000t
- 2011 – Swansea
- 2010 – Wem (Shropshire) & Mexborough (Yorkshire)
- 2009 – Baglan, Port Talbot
• SIGNIFICANT PUBLIC HEALTH RISK
• ILLEGAL STOCKPILING INCREASING PROBLEM
Location
• />Public Health Wales
Fforestfach,Swansea
• />Public Health Wales
Public Health Wales
Public Health Wales
Public Health Wales
Fforestfach tyre fire
Health Protection Agency
• Tyre fire at warehouse on industrial estate (16/6/11)
• Source material est. 5,000 tonnes of tyre flock
• Dark, dense smoke plume
• Burned for over 3 weeks
• Air quality monitoring established at outset (AQC)

• Met conditions varied over time
• Plausible that all within a 2km radius were exposed
• Novel fire fighting techniques required
•
Major incident declared
Questions; Hazard Identification
• What chemicals could have been
released?
• What are the hazardous properties?
Public Health Wales
Questions: Hazard
Characterisation
• What properties of the chemical(s) have
the potential to cause adverse health
effects?
• Do guidelines from international
organisations exist for the chemical(s)?
• What assumptions are made about
exposure and dose?
• Do these assumptions reflect the local
population?
Public Health Wales
Sensitive Receptors
Areas and specific buildings under
plume that may have residents more
sensitive to pollutants including
• Schools / nurseries (children)
• Care Homes (elderly / infirm)
• Hospitals / health centres (ill/pregnant)
Other Receptors

• General Residential Communities
• Commercial Properties
Schools
Sheltered Complexes
Nursing Homes
Receptors
X
Question: Exposure
assessment
• How could people come into contact
with the chemicals?
• How much exposure is likely to
occur?
• For how long is exposure likely to
occur?
Public Health Wales
Use Met and chemical data to predict
direction and distance travelled by
plume incorporating
• Wind direction / Speed
• Ambient Temperature / Pressure
• Chemical Properties
• Buoyancy of plume
• Rainfall Deposition
Used to help site monitors and inform
messages and decisions
Pathways
Health Protection Agency
Public Health Wales
Public Health Wales

Air quality monitoring
General principles:
• Environmental monitoring (sampling) during acute chemical
incidents informs public health risk assessment
• Monitoring provides a measure of the environmental
concentrations of selected chemicals over time
• Monitoring is most useful when carried out at receptor
locations (i.e. places where people are - exposed)
• Environmental concentrations can be compared to health-
based exposure standards
• Monitoring can provide reassurance
Health Protection Agency
Particulates
• PM10 near source over 6000 μg/m
3
• Peaks above Trigger 1 and Trigger 2
• 24 hour means exceeding Trigger 1
• No 24 hour means above Trigger 2
•Plume shifting with changing wind direction
reducing exposure time for each area affected
Gases
• Odours detected over very wide areas
•
No values above AEGL 2
Asbestos
• Controls for safe removal and disposal of wastes
Results and observations
Monitoring Data – Particulates (Running 24 Hour Means)
PM
10

monitoring results
Air Quality Index
Band PM10 (ug/m3) Impact/mitigation
Low <50 Low-no restriction of
activities
Moderate 51-75 Sensitive individuals
reduce strenuous
outdoor activity
outdoors
High 76-100 Sensitive individuals
reduce activity + those
experiencing
discomfort
Very high >100
Sensitive individuals
avoid physical exertion
plus reduction in others
who experience
Chemical Hazards & Poisons Division (Cardiff)
www.hpa.org.
k
Threshold Levels
•Action levels developed in 2009.
•Guidelines based on scientific theory
•24-hour average values of 160-
180ug/m
3
identified as levels to
consider evacuation vs sheltering.
•24-hour values of 320-360 ug/m3

identified as threshold for which
immediate public health intervention
may be needed.
•
Based on prolonged duration i.e.
d k
Chemical Hazards & Poisons Division (Cardiff)
www.hpa.org.
k
Health Based Standards / Triggers
Particulates – 24 hour running means
• Air Quality Standard 50 μg/m
3
(Chronic Risk)
• UK Dept Health Pollution Index (Sub-
chronic Risk)
Irritant Gases
• Acute Exposure Guideline Levels
(USEPA)
10 – 60 minute exposure AEGL2*
Band Index PM
10
(ug/m
3
running 24
hr mean)
Sulphur
Dioxide
(ug/m
3

15
min mean)
Carbon
Monoxide
(mg/m
3
8
hour mean)
Low 1 0-21 0-88 0-3.8
2 22-42 89-176 3.9-7.6
3 43-64 177-265 7.7-11.5
Moderate 4 65-74 266-354 11.6-13.4
5 75-86 355-442 13.5-15.4
6 87-96 443-531 15.5-17.3
High 7 97-107 532-708 17.4-19.2
8 108-118 709-886 19.3-21.2
9 119-129 887-
1063
21.3-23.1
Very
High
10
130 or
more
1064 or
more
23.2 or
more
Department of Health
*AEGL-2 is the airborne concentration above which it is predicted that the general population, including susceptible individuals,

could experience irreversible or other serious, long-lasting, adverse health effects or an impaired ability to escape.
Data interpretation
Questions: Risk
Characterisation
• How do the concentrations compare
with the guideline values?
Public Health Wales
Public Health Wales
Potential emissions
• Potential impacts on health and environment
• Gaseous pollutants, smoke and particulates
• Plume constituents vary – uncertainties about nature of
burning material, fire characteristics, combustion
temperature, oxygen availability, ventilation
• Generally: PM; SO2; heavy metals; CO; PAHs; organics
e.g. benzene, phenols, styrene; inorganic irritants e.g.
Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and dibenzofurans
Health Protection Agency
Public Health Wales
Public health context
• PM – respiratory and cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, child
health and development, birth outcomes?
• Combination of PM-borne, persistent organics and metals can lead
to biological interactions and cancers
• SO2 – constriction of airways of lung
• CO reduced capacity of red blood cells to carry oxygen
• Benzene – known carcinogen (increased leukaemia risk)
• Chromium, nickel, arsenic – known carcinogens
• PAHs – toxic, carcinogens, mutagens and reproductive toxins; BaP
exposure linked to lung and skin cancer

• Dioxins/furans – toxic; TCDD is a carcinogen; reproductive impacts
Health Protection Agency
Questions: Risk mitigation
• What could be done to reduce the
risk to the public?
Public Health Wales
Recovery
Public Health Wales
Public Health Wales
Public Health Wales