Texas Petroleum Explosion Linked to Offloading

Investigators say a massive explosion and fire was set off while one fuel truck was offloading product into another.

The Harris County Fire Marshal’s Office told KTRK the explosion came as liquified petroleum gas was being offloaded because the first tanker had an unintentional leak.

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Hazmat teams were called out to help contain the fire, Chron reported.

an official from Harris County Pollution Control said air quality was not a concern. There was no shelter in place or evacuation ordered.

“Fortunately, we have good wind blowing whatever was up high and aloft in the flame, and the fire, the smoke,” Dr. Latrice Babin said. “So, we are not expecting there to be any impact.”

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The explosion happened at the INESO Phenol plant near Houston in Pasadena, Texas Wednesday. One worker from an outside company was injured; that was the only injury reported.

“At the time of the explosion and fire, liquid bulk trucks were delivering raw materials, specifically liquid petroleum gas, to the facility. The LPG was a mixture of propylene and propane, a raw material used in the production of cumene. Cumene is an intermediate chemical used to produce phenol, which is a refined product used to produce everyday consumer goods and construction materials,” INEOS Phenol said in a statement.

Here’s a look back at our three tips to handling a tanker fire from a hazmat point of view.

ONE

Keep it small. That was Retired Fire Chief Leigh Hollins’ advice in his 2018 two-part article that ran in Fire Engineering. Hollins acknowledges that keeping the spill small is often easier said than done. But the smaller the incident’s footprint, the fewer resources needed to bring it under control and the lesser the risk to all involved.

TWO

Mix up training evolutions. Avoid falling into doing the same tanker training every time. Yes, repetition is an important part of learning. But how much is anyone learning if the same training spill material is leaking from the same area of the tanker in the same crash scenario and impinging on the same hazards every time? Make the placards inaccurate, change the runoff threats, alter the time of day and weather, and tweak the number of responders available. Change the scenario based on responder mistakes — planted or organic. Different scenarios require different tasks and give more opportunity for hazmat team members to think on their feet and do different hands-on skills. And train for drilling the holes needed to off load remaining fuel into another tanker. This, Chief Hollins says, is a very dangerous operation.

THREE

Go big early. One of the keys to keeping the incident small is overwhelming it with resources early, and not finding yourself playing catch up. That could mean getting wheel loaders from public works to drop loads of dirt in the fuel’s path. With that said, ERG reminds us not to rush in; life safety is still priority one. And there are times when letting it burn itself out is the best option.


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