IRVING, Texas, May 21 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following is being released by American Concrete Pipe Association: The horrific brushfires last month located northwest of the greater Dallas/Fort Worth area -- where the entire town of Stoneburg was burned over by a 25,000-acre fire -- have quickly brought to light a debate regarding the use of certain drainage materials under roadways. The small town, with only about 100 residents, was designed with only two thoroughfares for evacuation: FM 1806 and US 81. FM 1806 collapsed when three plastic culverts, used for drainage and support for the road, ignited and melted sending one unsuspecting truck driver into the newly formed crater with significant injuries and a totaled truck. Also, a fire truck lodged in the collapsed roadway sustaining a broken axle and leaving only one main evacuation route out of the region. "I cannot believe that plastic pipe [high density polyethylene pipe or 'HDPE'] can be used in this setting," said Jason Ratliff of FX5 Construction and Excavation, the truck driver who fell into the ditch. "I do not understand how a product that catches fire and continues to burn can be used in an area so receptive to brushfire." HDPE is sometimes substituted for conventional concrete culverts in roadway construction where storm water pipelines serve as underground support. HDPE is a petroleum-based plastic that is combustible.
