University-based chemical safety program for firefighters to lose funding

DALLAS, TX -- Months after a fertilizer plant explosion in Central Texas killed 15 people, including 10 first responders, officials at a university-based program that provides information about chemical risks to firefighters say they're about to lose funding.

Federal funding for E-Plan, based at the University of Texas at Dallas, is scheduled to expire Aug. 31. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security had funded the program at about $900,000 annually, but has cut it.

E-Plan collects reports companies file about the chemical hazards at their facilities and makes them available through a secure network to first responders.

The Dallas Morning News reports that if the first responders to the West Fertilizer plant in April had had access to E-Plan they would have received a standard warning for an ammonium-nitrate fire: back away.

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