NEWS ANNOUNCEMENT

Robert Andrews, who ended a 13-year career as vice president and fire chief at the Refinery Terminal Fire Co. in March, has begun a new business that will build fire terminals and systems like the one he left behind.

"Everything the RFTC is doing in Corpus Christi, we will be doing globally," Andrews said. "We think the time is right for this."

The new company, called Industrial Emergency Services, will staff a fire terminal, respond to spills and chemical fires, teach emergency preparedness, provide emergency medical services and rescue, provide environmental monitoring, oil spill response and marine firefighting.

Andrews said he made the decision to create his own company when the refinery fire terminal's board opted against broadening the fire company's scope beyond Corpus Christi.

"I would be there today if that growth opportunity were there," he said.

Andrews said several contacts he has made over the years have expressed interest in establishing fire services at industrial sites in other countries. And in an age with mergers fusing companies into downsized hybrids, employee fire brigades and fire staffs are reduced, he said.

The past five years have had significant rises in the number of companies looking to outsource fire services, Andrews said. Five years ago, the fire terminal had 27 employees. Now it has more than 120.

The firefighting business tends to be labor-intensive, he said. "The growth is not restricted to Corpus Christi."

Most refineries have a mutual aid agreement under which companies help each other in an emergency, said Richard Haase of Wood River, Ill., vice chairman of the International Association of Fire Chiefs industrial fire and safety section. The Fairfax, Va.-based organization represents 12,000 members in fire management, 250 of whom are in the industrial sector.

Andrews said if he did not grab the opportunity to bring the terminal beyond Corpus Christi, someone else would. He said his business will not interfere with the fire terminal already established in Corpus Christi.

"It is not our intent to compete with RFTC," he said.

Andrews now is following up on prospects for fire services in industrial areas of other parts of the United States. He expects his company to return contracts within 60 days.

The Refinery Terminal Fire Co. is unique because of the services it offers - marine firefighting, training, the way the business is run and the way it fights fires and spills, Andrews said.

"There is a tremendous need to duplicate that model," Andrews said. "A lot of people are excited about what we're doing."

Andrews hopes to sell his idea to areas that have large conglomerations of companies in one place - like Chicago, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Houston and Seattle. There, as in Corpus Christi, industrial companies can establish a fire fighting terminal to serve the industrial area.

He said the company eventually could hire more than 1,000 people, with branch offices in other cities.

Business writer Andrea Jares can be reached at 361-886-3678 or by E-mail at  jaresa@caller.com