13.2 Spill Kits and Pesticide Fires

13.2 Spill Kits and Pesticide Fires

Quick Answer: Keep spill kits at mix/load, storage, and vehicles with absorbent, tools, waste containers, PPE, detergent, bags, and emergency phones (including SAC 1-800-268-6060). For fires, call the fire department—do not fight large pesticide fires yourself; stay upwind; tell responders what products are involved; treat runoff as contaminated.

Section 13.1 taught the sequence. This section equips the sequence: tools on site before the spill, and fire behaviour when heat and smoke join the problem. A perfect mental checklist fails if the absorbent is “back at the shop” and the only plan for a warehouse fire is a garden hose and hope.

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Why spill kits are Core infrastructure

Spills are time-critical. The first minutes decide whether product stays on a containable pad or reaches a creek. Kits convert training into action when adrenaline is high. Core expects you to know what should be in a kit, where kits live, and that an empty kit after last month’s drip is not a kit—it is a prop.

Spill readiness also links earlier chapters:

• Storage (12.1): kit near storage; emergency numbers posted; Sign G context
• Transport (12.2): kit in the vehicle with product
• PPE (Ch. 6): response PPE may equal or exceed mix/load PPE because you may face undiluted product and awkward postures
• Toxicology/first aid (Ch. 5): kit supports decontamination; medical emergencies still use 911 and label first aid

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Spill kit contents (Core inventory)

Exact brands vary; the functions do not. A practical Core-level kit includes:

Notes on selection

• Stock PPE sized for the people who will respond, not one pair of gloves nobody can use.
• Respirators need fit testing, cartridge change schedules, and training—a dusty half-mask thrown in a kit without a program is false security.
• Do not rely on “kitty litter from the barn” alone if it is contaminated with oil or missing when needed; dedicated stock is better.
• Include enough absorbent for the largest foreseeable container you routinely handle at that site, plus a margin.

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Where to locate kits

Place kits where spills actually start:

Mix and load sites

Highest splash and concentrate risk. Kit should be visible and reachable without walking through the spill you just caused—near the pad edge, not buried under empty jugs.

Storage areas

Leakers, tipped shelves, and fire-department response all benefit from absorbents and PPE at the door. Pair the kit with posted emergency numbers and inventory awareness (what is on which shelf).

Vehicles

Roadside and job-site spills happen far from the warehouse. Service trucks and farm vehicles that carry product need a travel kit: gloves, absorbent, bags, shovel as practical, emergency list, and product information for the load.

Inspection routine

• Check kits on a schedule (for example monthly) and after every use
• Assign ownership so “somebody” is a named person
• Restock before the next job day—not “next time we order chemicals”

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Using the kit inside the 13.1 sequence

1. PPE on before you step into product (unless you must pull a person from immediate danger—then protect yourself as soon as possible).
2. Control with valves/overpacks while wearing kit PPE.
3. Contain with socks/booms toward drains.
4. Absorb and shovel into waste containers; bag disposables.
5. Decontaminate tools; doff PPE without contaminating clean skin/clothing.
6. Report using the phone list; keep product names ready.

Never use kitchen mops and then return them to the break room. Kit tools stay dedicated or are fully decontaminated.

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Pesticide fires: why they are different

Pesticides are chemicals—often with flammable solvents, oxidizers in some formulations, pressurized packages, or actives that produce highly toxic decomposition products when burned. A pesticide fire is not a simple wood-pile fire:

• Smoke and fumes can be toxic by inhalation at long range
• Exploding containers can project burning liquid
• Water runoff from firefighting becomes a contaminated spill moving to drains and waterways
• Heat can destroy labels just when identity is most needed—another reason inventory and pre-incident fire-department notice (storage chapter) matter

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Fire response rules for Core candidates

Call professionals; do not freestyle large fires

• For any significant fire involving pesticides or pesticide storage, call the fire department (911) immediately.
• Do not fight large pesticide fires yourself. Portable extinguishers may handle a tiny, incipient fire on non-pesticide trash only if you are trained, have an exit path, and the fire is not involving bulk pesticide—when in doubt, evacuate and let firefighters lead.
• Evacuate people and animals; account for staff at a safe assembly point.

Position: stay upwind

Smoke travels with the wind. Keep yourself and others upwind and uphill when terrain matters. Do not stand in the smoke plume to “get a better look.” Close vehicle windows if you must move past the scene.

Inform responders what products are involved

Firefighters and HAZMAT need identity:

• Product names and PCP numbers when known
• Classes/types if that is all you have (insecticide, herbicide, solvent-based EC, etc.)
• Approximate quantities and locations in the building or vehicle
• SDS/labels if you can retrieve them without re-entering danger
• Any waterways, wells, or drains downhill from the site

This is why inventory discipline and annual fire-department storage notification (Section 12.1 themes) are emergency tools, not paperwork hobbies. If product already burned and labels are gone, your written inventory may be the only accurate list.

Contaminated firefighting runoff

Water used on a pesticide fire—or foam/residue mixtures—can carry actives and combustion by-products into:

• Storm sewers
• Ditches and streams
• Soil and groundwater pathways
• Neighbouring properties

Core expectation: treat runoff as a spill requiring containment and reporting thinking, not as clean water. Fire crews may dike drains; property operators should cooperate, provide product info, and be ready for SAC notification when release to the environment occurs or is likely (Section 13.3). After the fire is out, contaminated debris, ash, and soil may need specialist cleanup—not a garden rake into the municipal trash.

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Small extinguisher reality check

Training sometimes mentions Class B/C extinguishers for flammable liquid and electrical fires. Core-level discipline:

• Know where extinguishers are at mix/load and storage
• Use only on small, contained, non-spreading fires if trained and safe
• If the fire involves pesticide inventory, grows beyond a trash-can scale, or produces heavy smoke—evacuate and call 911
• Never re-enter a smoke-filled pesticide store for “one more jug”

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Linking kits and fires to reporting

Ontario’s pesticides training page states that for any fire, accident, spill, or theft that may result in release of a pesticide into the environment, you must immediately notify the Spills Action Centre at 1-800-268-6060. A warehouse fire is both a fire department event and often a SAC event. Do not assume 911 replaces SAC when environmental release is possible—both pathways can apply.

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Exam-style scenarios

Scenario A — Kit contents. Preferred answer lists absorbent, PPE, waste containers, tools, bags, detergent, and emergency phones—not “only a mop and good intentions.”

Scenario B — Kit location. Kits at mix/load, storage, and product-carrying vehicles—not only in the manager’s locked office across town.

Scenario C — Large fire. Call fire department; evacuate; stay upwind; provide product inventory; do not “heroically” enter the smoke with a garden hose.

Scenario D — Runoff. Firefighting water from a pesticide fire is contaminated; contain and report thinking applies.

Scenario E — Empty kit. Using the last absorbent last week without restocking fails readiness—inspect and refill.

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Memory card for Section 13.2

With tools and fire rules in place, Section 13.3 makes the reporting duty concrete: who to call, what to say, and cleanup responsibility under Ontario law.