Fire, chemical spill keeps GRFD busy

A basement living room ignited in a fire Friday that is still under investigation.

The Green River Fire Department responded to 475 Logan St. at about 3 p.m. Assistant Fire Chief Mike Liberty said 16 firefighters arrived at the scene in two fire trucks. When they arrived, smoke was coming out of the home through basement windows and the open front door. Liberty said the home’s occupants escaped and were uninjured.

The fire was contained to a single room Liberty described as a living space in the basement. It took firefighters roughly 20 minutes to extinguish the fire.

After the fire was knocked down, firefighters overhauled the space to ensure the fire hadn’t gotten into an area where it could travel to other sections of the home and continue burning.

“It isn’t fun getting called back to a fire,” Liberty said.

Firefighters were on scene until 4:40 p.m. Friday.

Firefighters also responded to a leak at the Union Pacific rail yard Sunday morning in response to a tanker spill. Battalion Chief Larry Erdman said they received a call at 10:25 a.m. to help deal with the spill. Erdman said roughly 600 gallons of chemicals, which Liberty described as an alcohol-based chemical used for fuel additives, spilled at the east section of the rail yard.

“It was quite away from any residences,” Erdman said.

The department sprayed a foam blanket on the spill to prevent fumes from filling the area and possibly igniting. Erdman said the measure was a preventative act, giving the U.P. hazardous materials team time to arrive on scene. Erdman said the regional emergency response team, as well as Castle Rock Ambulance Service, responded to the call as well.

Erdman said while a number of hazardous chemicals are transported through Green River, both by rail and nearby Interstate 80, hazardous materials calls aren’t common to for the department.

He said the quantity of the spill determines if a specialized hazardous materials team is needed to respond to an incident. He said Union Pacific also provides training for the fire department regarding the kinds of chemicals they transport along the railroad.