shut down by the Santa Ana fire department

Are you currently making biodiesel or considering making it in a commercial facility? If so, I hope that you talk to all of the fire and commercial building authorities in your area.

You may want to think again after reading about friend of mine who has been processing biodiesel in his small warehouse here in Orange County, California for a number of years, who didn't.

One day this spring, Dan Maitland's employee was washing his fryer oil collection truck in the street in front of his building. Apparently, an annoyed neighbor called the city fire department and complained. Before Maitland knew it, four hazmat trucks and an ambulance rolled up.

The firefighters first wanted to know what substance was being washed from his truck. Once they learned that it was recycled fryer oil (RFO) they sprang into action and sucked some water out of the nearby storm drain and proceeded to test it for the presence of any hazardous materials.

Please don't kid yourself in thinking that RFO is not a hazardous material. Literally any substance in concentration is considered a hazardous material by the state of California.

Maitland, being the smart and well prepared professional that he is, always keeps containment tools and supplies on hand. He immediately put down an absorbent barrier to create a berm around the wash water that was running from his truck and heading for the storm drain.

In California, anyone that causes any sort of "hazardous material" to enter the storm drain system is immediately exposed to possible $50,000 fine for the release of any hazardous material in "any quantity into a sewer, storm drain, ditch, drainage canal, creek, stream, river, lake or title waterway or on the ground, sidewall, street, and/or a highway or into the atmosphere." Fortunately for Maitland, the firefighters didn't find any RFO in their sewer drain water sample.

Maitland was in the clear as far as the storm drain was concerned. But the next thing he knew, the firefighters were poking around his warehouse and questioning him about what he was up to.

He was straightforward with them and told them that he was making biodiesel.

Upon hearing that, the firefighters turned up the heat. "We need to get the white shirts out here," someone said. Sure enough, ten minutes later the "white shirts" were there, performing a spontaneous site inspection.

A seven page letter arrived in the mail a couple of weeks later, citing 23 separate code violations. The letter's began with a "STOP WORK" order. It noted that "the non-permitted manufacturing of motor fuels or related products poses a significant life and safety hazard" and "the use, mixing, blending, storage and dispensing of flammable, combustible and hazardous materials poses a significant life safety hazard."

The letter next cited the lack of the proper occupancy permit and moved from there to the lack of a permit for the use of "flammable and combustible liquids." Then it addressed building code violations relating to "automotive motor fuel dispensing facilities." The letter moved on to code violations related to spill control and secondary containment, the handling and use of spill control and damage control provisions, a lack of hazardous material (e.g., methanol) identification signs, and markings. Next came violations of the plumbing and mechanical codes (because they relate to the pipes and pumps used in making biodiesel). Finally, door operations and hardware and inspections testing and maintenance were addressed. The letter finished off by citing a fire code violation for the improper use of extension cords.

Obviously, these guys were looking for every possible code violation that they could find. The City Fire Marshall told my friend directly and in no uncertain terms that he "did not want this stuff in my city."

A big part of the problem stems from lack of outreach from the biodiesel community to fire officials in our area. This leads to a lack of understanding and fear of the unknown.

Fortunately, there is a happy ending. The processor and supplies were moved out of the building and the fire inspector was called back out to take a look. "The fire marshal never came back for the final inspection," Maitland reported. "He delivered the letter and said he would be back after April 17. That was the last contact from him. That's O.K. with me."

Maitland moved production to a large trailer in another city in southern California. According to the DMV, as long as he is 50 feet away from any buildings, he is not breaking any laws. 

The lesson here is: if you're operating in commercial space and are not compliant with all applicable codes, permits, licenses and regulations you can get yourself into some very expensive "hot water."

Reach out to work with your local authorities before someone gets spooked and shuts you down. S