Evacuations ordered due to explosion and fire at South Side refinery
Could this horrific event been prevented if API RP1004 was followed? Was this facility using secondary shutoff controls? Did the driver overfill the truck and then used a bucket to remove fuel from the truck compartment effected? Was there a spill due to human error and/or mechanical valve failure? Could the SpillGuard's GuardDog TM systems prevented this?
These facilities operate under industry recommended practice... API RP1004. This practice recommends use of independent secondary shutoff controls. It is highly unlikely that this facility was using such controls.
1. A driver overfilled a tanker compartment and attempted to remove enough fuel from the compartment to allow him to load fuel into the rest of the tanker. (Overfill probe becomes wet when you overfill.) When a driver off-loads fuel into a plastic five gallon bucket which allows static electricity to form creating the ignition source and ultimate fire.
2. There was a mechanical valve failure coupled with human error leading to a spill followed by an ignition source.
3. Spill followed by a truck driving into the facility... This truck sucked in vapor causing a runaway engine; providing the ignition source.
For solutions check www.sgtinc.com
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Truck explodes at San Antonio refinery
By PETER HOLLEY and MICHELLE MONDO SAN ANTONIO EXPRESS-NEWS
May 5, 2010, 3:10PM
John Davenport Express-News
Cindy Campbell, the controller at AGE Refining Inc., confirmed that a truck caught fire while at a loading dock at the plant at Southeast Military Drive and South Presa Street.
SAN ANTONIO — Firefighters are trying to control a two-alarm blaze raging at a fuel refinery on the city’s south side where a tanker truck exploded at a loading dock, injuring at least two workers and forcing widespread evacuations.
A black plume of smoke was visible 40 miles away as firefighters went door-to-door urging residents to stay at least one mile from the fire, which threatens to ignite nearby fuel supplies.
“We’re trying to pull everything back until we have a better idea what’s going on,” Fire Chief Charles Hood said Wednesday afternoon.
“Our main concern is not the fire but the materials of combustion. It’s a very dynamic situation and we’re still trying to get our arms around it,” the chief said.
He added: “A larger explosion could basically kill a bunch of people that are close by.”
Firefighters were weighing options on how to control the blaze, which was still raging two hours later. Hood said the 100 firefighters at the scene mainly were trying to keep nearby combustible materials from igniting.
Cindy Campbell, the controller at AGE Refining Inc., said a truck caught fire while at a loading dock at their plant at Southeast Military Drive and South Presa Street.
The company, which serves the U.S. Air Force, handles jet fuel and diesel, Campbell said. The facility is the city’s only refinery.
The fire department asked police keep people at least one mile away from the site. Evacuations included buildings at Brooks City-Base and two Center for Health Care Services facilities, said an employee, who added that patients inside the clinics were taken to their homes. The clinics are located at 5802 South Presa Street at Story Lane, north of the fire. It was not immediately clear how many patients were inside the clinics when they were evacuated.
The fire also affected plane and bus travel in the area, according to officials.
Bus routes in the one-mile radius had to be redirected, said Andy Scheidt, public information coordinator for VIA. Scheidt said three VIA supervisors had five buses at the Emergency Operations Center.
“We’re doing the best we can to keep the buses moving,” Scheidt said.
And while nearby Stinson Municipal Airport remains open, flights in and out of the general aviation facility have been stopped, said spokeswoman Nora Castro.
“Because of the smoke, officials have issued a 2-mile flight restriction surrounding the refinery fire,” she said.
About 350 planes use the airport daily, Castro said.
No flights at San Antonio International Airport have been affected by the fire.
The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality dispatched a team to the site to help the city’s hazardous materials team, which is taking the lead on the fire. The responders’ main concern is potential harm from fine particulate matter, which can be a lung irritant, and potentially hazardous hydrocarbons which are associated with any petroleum fuel fire.
Staff writers Eva Ruth Moravec, Vianna Davila and Vicki Vaughan contributed to this report.
