Man-Made Disasters
Chemical spills
Ramsey County is home to many businesses that use or manufacture a variety of chemicals. Chemicals are also shipped through the county on railways and highways on a regular basis. Some of these chemicals are dangerous to the environment or people if they are accidentally released. These toxic chemicals are called "hazardous materials".
A large hazardous material spill is very rare. If such a spill were to happen the local fire department would make the decisions on whether it was safer to evacuate or shelter-in-place based on a range of conditions, such as wind direction, weather, the type of chemical, location of the spill and so on.
Chemical Spill Preparedness
Follow emergency instructions. Officials will give instructions about whether it is safer to stay in place and what precautions to take, or if it is safer to evacuate and where to go to. Have your household and business plans and emergency kits ready for either option.
Pipelines
Ramsey County has multiple underground pipelines carrying products through the county, mainly petroleum products and natural gas. You can find out more about the pipelines and pipeline safety through the Minnesota Pipeline Community Awareness and Emergency Response.
Many homes and businesses in the county use natural gas. Make sure you know the warning signs of a gas leak such as the smell of rotten eggs. Check with your gas utility company for important safety information. If you suspect a gas leak near you immediately evacuate the area and call 911 for help.
Always call before you dig. Call Gopher State One Call at 811 or log on to their website to have someone come out and mark any underground utility lines before you begin a dig.
High-hazard flammable trains
Ramsey County has several rail lines on which high-hazard flammable trains travel. To find out more about community safety and emergency preparedness around crude oil and fuel trains, visit the Minnesota Department of Transportation's website.
In the event of an incident involving a high-hazard flammable train, you may be asked to evacuate or to shelter-in-place depending on the situation. Make sure your household and business emergency plans and emergency kits are ready for either option.
Structural collapses and failures
The 2006 collapse of the 35W bridge in Minneapolis put a national spotlight on this disaster hazard. Buildings and structures can fail for a variety of reasons, including damage from other disasters. It is very important to stay out of the damage area of a disaster until officials have determined it is safe to return. Even then care must be used when entering any building impacted by a disaster. There are many structural collapse response teams in the Twin Cities, including MN Task Force-1.
Dam and levee failures
Ramsey County has one major dam in Saint Paul. To find out more about planning around a dam failure, visit the Saint Paul Emergency Management website. There is also a dam in Maplewood. The local watershed district manages the dam and its emergency plans.
Power and utility outages
Utility outages can include the loss of electricity, gas or water and sewer services, communications (telephone, cell phone and internet) and fuel. Outages can involve a single type of utility, or multiple services; one type of outage can often lead to the loss of other services over time. For example, a long term power outage may eventually affect water and sewer services and access to fuel.
Power and utility outages are often a result of another disaster, such as an ice storm or tornado but can also be caused by accidents involving a utility station. Short term power outages (lasting a few hours to a day) are fairly common, and Ramsey County is affected by disasters that could cause longer term outages lasting many days or even weeks.
Your household and business emergency plans should include what you would do if you lost one or more of these services, including how you would stay warm in the winter or cool in the summer and how you would communicate.
See the extreme heat and winter storms pages for more ideas.
Transportation accidents
Transportation accidents, from train derailments and large highway accidents to boat and airplane crashes, can occasionally become large scale disasters.
The Metropolitan Airports Commission handles all emergency planning for their operations, as do the rail lines for their trains. The Minnesota Department of Transportation manages highways and state roads and the planning for any large scale accidents, in coordination with the Minnesota Department of Public Safety.
The Ramsey County Sheriff's Office provides public safety on waterways and coordinates with the City of Saint Paul, the Coast Guard and Army Corps of Engineers and local tour boat operators on safety on the Mississippi River.
Nuclear accidents
The State of Minnesota Department of Public Safety, through Minnesota Homeland Security and Emergency Management, manages a program for Radiological Emergency Preparedness at the state’s two nuclear power plants.
Ramsey County is within the ingestion pathway planning zone of those plants. This means that while we are outside the danger zone for human evacuations, there may be concerns about exposed food and agricultural products. Our plans include safeguarding food supplies if an incident occurs at either nuclear power plant.
For information about radiological terrorism, see the section on terrorism and mass violence.
Ramsey County is highly developed and densely populated. Within it boundaries are many businesses, including those that use or manufacture chemicals or other hazardous materials.
The county also has interstate highways, a river with an international port, an airport and an international airport on its border, several major international rail lines and pipelines, large buildings and major utility systems. It is within 50 miles of two nuclear power plants.
All of these structures and systems can fail or be disrupted by accidents. Most of the time, accidents are small and easily managed, but on rare occasions they can be very large and impact or endanger many people. These types of disasters are called man-made, or technological disasters. They can occur on their own or as a result of another disaster, such as a blizzard that causes a power outage.
Large-scale structural fires
On rare occasions, building fires may require the evacuation of many people and the involvement of multiple public safety agencies from across the county. While the local fire department would be in charge of the incident, emergency management may be needed to help coordinate the many agencies that come to assist and to provide care to the evacuees.
Your household and business should have an emergency plan that includes what you would do in a fire, such as a meeting location, a communication plan, and fire evacuation drills.