Dubbed "the most serious U.S. refinery incident in recent years" by a top U.S. Chemical Safety Board official, an Aug. 6 flammable vapor explosion at a Richmond, Calif., refinery is under investigation by that agency.
In July 1984, explosions and fire at an Illinois refinery claimed 17 lives. Of those, 11 who died were industrial responders, the most ever lost in a single incident.
When a lightning strike ignited a 100-foot-diameter xylene storage tank at Sunoco's Eagle Point refinery in Westville, N.J., the refinery's chief exceeded the NFPA guidelines for foam application by nearly 40 percent.
Sunray should be a name that every industrial emergency responders knows and studies. But it is barely mentioned today. Sunray deserves to be more than just a trivia question shared among firefighters.
A burning crude oil storage tank not extinguished quickly enough is like stoking a volcano. Crude contains water that settles to the bottom of the tank. A surface fire slowly heats the oil until the thermal wave reaches that water. The result is instant steam that pushes the heated, burning crude up and out of the tank.
Amazing as it may seem, events as destructive as the Whiting, Indiana, refinery fire in 1955 have been consigned to the past quite easily. It takes a conscientious effort by those who least want to relive the experience to keep the memory alive.
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