LyondellBasell Provides Two Tuscola Firefighters with Advanced Training

TUSCOLA, Ill. – Feb. 9, 2018 – When team members at LyondellBasell’s Tuscola Fire Department were presented with the prospect to train outside their typical perimeters, alongside two professionals from the Tuscola Fire Department, they jumped at the opportunity. For three days 15 firefighters trained with live fires at Texas A&M, home to a comprehensive training facility used to train over 81,000 firefighters a year.

“This training is an invaluable experience,” said Brian Moody, Tuscola Fire Chief. “It was an amazing opportunity for two of our Tuscola Fire Department members to extinguish large industrial fires in a controlled, safe environment.”

The training for the two Tuscola Fire Department members was courtesy of a grant provided by LyondellBasell.

“This is unlike any training we can experience in Illinois,” said Chip Haake, Assistant Chief, Tuscola Fire Department. “Spending time alongside the fire fighters at LyondellBasell strengthens the bond between the two groups even further, and makes us more cohesive as a team.”

Learning safe practices and fine-tuning their skills around extinguisher, nozzle and hose handling, the first responders also took on more challenging training, like using wind direction as an advantage during a live fire.

“This training builds camaraderie with both LyondellBasell and the Tuscola Fire Department, but more importantly it provides knowledge of valuable skills one may only gain by years of first responder experience,” said Aaron McKee, the manager of LyondellBasell’s Tuscola Plant.

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About LyondellBasell’s Tuscola Plant
The Tuscola plant employs around 100 people and occupies nearly 900 acres. The site produces ethyl alcohol, diethyl ether and specialty polymers. Ethyl alcohol, or ethanol, is used in many health care and personal product applications such as hair spray, capsule manufacturing, hand sanitizer, and pharmaceutical cleaning. Diethyl ether finds applications as a laboratory reagent solution, usage in chemical synthesis, as an ammunition drier, and starter fluid. The specialty polymers produced here include microfine powders used as additives in personal care products, lubricants, binding agents, water filtration systems, and moisture barriers.

LyondellBasell (NYSE: LYB)
LyondellBasell (NYSE: LYB) is one of the largest plastics, chemicals and refining companies in the world. Driven by its 13,000 employees around the globe, LyondellBasell produces materials and products that are key to advancing solutions to modern challenges like enhancing food safety through lightweight and flexible packaging, protecting the purity of water supplies through stronger and more versatile pipes, and improving the safety, comfort and fuel efficiency of many of the cars and trucks on the road. LyondellBasell sells products into approximately 100 countries and is the world's largest licensor of polyolefin technologies. In 2018, LyondellBasell was named one of the “World’s Most Admired Companies” by Fortune Magazine.  More information about LyondellBasell can be found at www.lyondellbasell.com.