Fourteen members of the Hastings Country Fire Authority (CFA) toured Australia’s first and only hydrogen liquefaction, storage, and loading facility at the Port of Hastings in April. For each of the local Fire Fighters, it was their first tour of a hydrogen facility.
Hirofumi Kawazoe, General Manager of Hydrogen Engineering Australia led the tour and said the group was keen to see demonstrations of the on-site fire-fighting equipment and deluge system (a fire sprinkler system). It sprays water on the liquid hydrogen (LH2) storage container and hydrogen gas (GH2) trailer.
Mike Willmott, second Lieutenant of the Hastings Fire Brigade said, “Following the Site Tour of the Hydrogen Liquification Plant, all firefighters were impressed with the level of safety and the amazing technology that was being employed.”
“The Brigade would like to sincerely thank Mr. Hiro for taking the time to allow us to tour the facility. I know that after the visit and from the talk amongst the firefighters back at the station, there would be more members who were not able to attend the evening, who would benefit from a visit.”
“I really enjoyed answering questions and giving the Fire Fighters a tour of the HESC site. There was great interest in our operations,” Mr. Kawazoe said.
At the engineering stage for the liquefaction plant, HESC Project Partner, Kawasaki Heavy Industries (KHI), and Iwatani Corporation (Iwatani) undertook various risk assessments to manage fire hazards at the liquefaction plant, including Hazard Operability and Hazard Identification assessments.
The plant has many safety devices such as sprinkler systems, hydrogen detectors, fire and explosion-proof equipment, and more.
Furthermore, the plant has been built at a far enough range from any bushland.
KHI has previously worked with the Hastings CFA by seeking and adopting feedback on its Fire Safety Study for the site. KHI has also worked with Coregas, which brings strong expertise in health, safety and environmental safety from managing hydrogen facilities around Australia.
The HESC Project continues to work with emergency service organizations in Hastings and Latrobe Valley to ensure safe operations.