Texas Brushfires Heat Up Debate on Roadway Support Materials
IRVING, Texas, May 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following is being released by American Concrete Pipe Association:
The horrific brushfires last month located northwest of the greater Dallas/Fort Worth area -- where the entire town of Stoneburg was burned over by a 25,000-acre fire -- have quickly brought to light a debate regarding the use of certain drainage materials under roadways. The small town, with only about 100 residents, was designed with only two thoroughfares for evacuation: FM 1806 and US 81. FM 1806 collapsed when three plastic culverts, used for drainage and support for the road, ignited and melted sending one unsuspecting truck driver into the newly formed crater with significant injuries and a totaled truck. Also, a fire truck lodged in the collapsed roadway sustaining a broken axle and leaving only one main evacuation route out of the region.
"I cannot believe that plastic pipe [high density polyethylene pipe or 'HDPE'] can be used in this setting," said Jason Ratliff of FX5 Construction and Excavation, the truck driver who fell into the ditch. "I do not understand how a product that catches fire and continues to burn can be used in an area so receptive to brushfire." HDPE is sometimes substituted for conventional concrete culverts in roadway construction where storm water pipelines serve as underground support. HDPE is a petroleum-based plastic that is combustible.
Ratliff left work late afternoon on April 9 and was heading to Stoneburg to try and save his cousin's livestock from being harmed in the fire. As he approached FM 1806, there was thick black smoke everywhere. "All of the sudden, I could not see and I felt the truck, with me in it, falling forward into the ditch," said Ratliff. Ratliff suffered a broken nose, black eyes and bruised ribs -- $20,000 total in medical bills.
Daniel Case, an "unofficial" Stoneburg volunteer firefighter, used a backhoe to lift Ratliff's truck out of the ditch to safety. "I do not think HDPE should be utilized under roads," said Case. "It should never have been used here in the first place." Later that afternoon, a Bowie Volunteer Fire Department truck drove into the culvert breaking an axle worth an estimated $40,000 in repairs.
Brushfires are common experiences to many Texans and are happening more closely to homes. According to the Texas Forest Service, "Over the last two years, 85% of the wildfires in Texas have occurred within two miles of a community .... [It is] quickly being understood that wild land fires are not just a problem for rural homeowners."(1) Using combustible materials in high fire-risk areas or in evacuation routes for natural disasters could prove harmful to the health and safety of the American public. For more information regarding safe and efficient storm drainage systems, go to http://www.concrete-pipe.org/marketing.htm.
(1) http://txforestservice.tamu.edu/
SOURCE American Concrete Pipe Association
The horrific brushfires last month located northwest of the greater Dallas/Fort Worth area -- where the entire town of Stoneburg was burned over by a 25,000-acre fire -- have quickly brought to light a debate regarding the use of certain drainage materials under roadways. The small town, with only about 100 residents, was designed with only two thoroughfares for evacuation: FM 1806 and US 81. FM 1806 collapsed when three plastic culverts, used for drainage and support for the road, ignited and melted sending one unsuspecting truck driver into the newly formed crater with significant injuries and a totaled truck. Also, a fire truck lodged in the collapsed roadway sustaining a broken axle and leaving only one main evacuation route out of the region.
"I cannot believe that plastic pipe [high density polyethylene pipe or 'HDPE'] can be used in this setting," said Jason Ratliff of FX5 Construction and Excavation, the truck driver who fell into the ditch. "I do not understand how a product that catches fire and continues to burn can be used in an area so receptive to brushfire." HDPE is sometimes substituted for conventional concrete culverts in roadway construction where storm water pipelines serve as underground support. HDPE is a petroleum-based plastic that is combustible.
Ratliff left work late afternoon on April 9 and was heading to Stoneburg to try and save his cousin's livestock from being harmed in the fire. As he approached FM 1806, there was thick black smoke everywhere. "All of the sudden, I could not see and I felt the truck, with me in it, falling forward into the ditch," said Ratliff. Ratliff suffered a broken nose, black eyes and bruised ribs -- $20,000 total in medical bills.
Daniel Case, an "unofficial" Stoneburg volunteer firefighter, used a backhoe to lift Ratliff's truck out of the ditch to safety. "I do not think HDPE should be utilized under roads," said Case. "It should never have been used here in the first place." Later that afternoon, a Bowie Volunteer Fire Department truck drove into the culvert breaking an axle worth an estimated $40,000 in repairs.
Brushfires are common experiences to many Texans and are happening more closely to homes. According to the Texas Forest Service, "Over the last two years, 85% of the wildfires in Texas have occurred within two miles of a community .... [It is] quickly being understood that wild land fires are not just a problem for rural homeowners."(1) Using combustible materials in high fire-risk areas or in evacuation routes for natural disasters could prove harmful to the health and safety of the American public. For more information regarding safe and efficient storm drainage systems, go to http://www.concrete-pipe.org/marketing.htm.
(1) http://txforestservice.tamu.edu/
SOURCE American Concrete Pipe Association
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