Agencies clean up their exhaust

Published 5:00 am Wednesday, April 13, 2005

Like school buses, fire trucks will be outfitted

to cut emissions.

Bainbridge firefighters and those who drive behind them will soon be breathing a little easier.

The island will lead the state with the first fleet of firefighting vehicles revamped with new, cleaner-burning diesel technology.

“We’re really excited about this,” Bainbridge Fire Chief Jim Walkowski said. “It means less pollution, it means we save thousands (of dollars) and there’s no cost to taxpayers.”

The Bainbridge Island Fire Department will receive free upgrades this summer for 12 of its diesel-burning trucks through a Puget Sound Clean Air Agency program.

Largely focused on cutting toxic exhaust on school buses, the program is expanding into other public service vehicles.

“Bainbridge is our pilot project,” said PSCAA air resource specialist Amy Fowler. “Diesel exhaust is the largest cancer risk in our air and this is aimed at reducing those emissions.”

According to a PSCAA study conducted in 2003, diesel soot accounted for about 80 percent of the cancer-causing air toxins in the Puget Sound.

Auto exhaust and even wood smoke, which accounts for 6 percent, has topped factories and other industry as the largest airborne cancer causer in the state.

“Diesel contains a lot of very nasty stuff, like formaldehyde and benzene, that comes in a small form that easily bypasses the normal nasal defenses and is inhaled very deeply into the lungs. When it’s in, it’s in to stay.”

The catalytic converter retrofits set to be installed in the the department’s trucks by July will cut their emissions by about 30 percent. With a yearly program budget of $5 million, the PSCAA will cover all upgrade costs.

“That means we can save around $40,000 in two years,” said Walkowski, citing a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency mandate requiring similar upgrades by 2007.

The department is already ahead of the game in its use of ultra-low sulfur diesel fuel, which releases 5 percent fewer toxins and is set to replace all other diesel fuels by June 2006 under federal laws.

Fire commissioner Glen Tyrrell initiated the process to upgrade the island’s fire department diesel vehicles.

“People on the island are very concerned about the environment,” he said. “And because it’s a no-cost deal, it was a real no-brainer.”

Tyrrell, who serves as the Bainbridge Island School District’s transportation supervisor, also helped make the district’s entire bus fleet the greenest in the state through the PSCAA program. The district received almost $120,000 in retrofits for 24 buses. Almost half were fitted with particulate filters, which cut harmful emissions by 95 percent.

“I’ve tried nine cold starts on those buses with a white hanky over the exhaust,” Tyrrell said. “But you can’t tell. There’s no particulates on it. Hey, you can eat off it – it’s flat-out amazing how clean it is.”

While the department’s trucks won’t receive the filters, Fowler said the retrofits scheduled for this summer will significantly improve air quality and firefighter health.

“The filters don’t work well with vehicles that idle a lot, like fire trucks, which have to run for hours sometimes to operate equipment,” she said. “But a 30 percent reduction will mean something for firefighters coming out of a burning building and trying to rehabilitate themselves, often near a lot of diesel exhaust.”

Improving firefighters’ work environment is a major reason Tyrrell requested the upgrades.

“What caught my attention was being at a fire and seeing the firefighters come out of a building overheated, needing rest, needing to cool down and take in water and seeing them sitting next to all this exhaust.

“The need for a change was apparent.”