Big O' Fire!

[Sparky-Watts]

I was just finishing up a job in Derby this morning around 9am when I heard what sounded like distant thunder. As I drove out onto the highway to head north to Wichita, I could see the smoke plume over Valley Center, where the Barton Solvents Plant had just blown up. Barton Solvents makes BarSol, among other things, a solvent used pretty much all over the US in many different businesses from auto repair to aircraft painting to machine shops to common paint thinner. Mind you, Derby is 20 miles south of Valley Center as the crow flies, and I heard the initial explosion quite clearly. Witnesses around the plant said the first blast blew a tank the size of a semi trailer 200-300 feet in the air, where it exploded again. Within minutes there were dozens more smaller explosions as other containers that size and smaller in the "tank farm" burst. It's still burning, 12 hours later. Here are some pics of the scene:

Surprisingly, nobody was killed or even injured in the initial explosions, although later on there were several people treated at local hospitals for symptoms from exposure to the toxic smoke, mostly irritated eyes, noses, throats, and lungs, but nothing serious.

In the first two pictures at the right side, you can see a tanker truck with the cab burned to the ground. The driver was standing behind that truck filling it with chemicals when the place exploded. He lives a few blocks away, so he drove home, took a shower and changed clothes, then drove himself to the hospital where Sunshine works and checked in because his eyes, nose and skin were irritated from the fumes and smoke! :shock: Incredibly, he had no burns or other injuries from the blast itself!

 

[Red Neckerson]

wow! Have you heard what caused the blast?

 

[Sparky-Watts]

Here's a few more pics. They brought in two chemical "foam tankers" from Boeing and McConnell AFB to fight the fire. These trucks are fitted with heavy duty cages on the front to protect them from debris from explosions as well as heat shields to withstand the intense heat from jet fuel fires, and were able to drive in very close to the flaming tanks to shoot foam on them before they could cause a BLEVE (Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion). If you've never seen a BLEVE, you've missed one of the most awesome explosions you'll ever see in your life! Here's one I found on YouTube: BLEVE Video.

 

[Sparky-Watts]

wow! Have you heard what caused the blast?

They don't know yet. They're figuring it'll be 2-3 days before they can safely go in and investigate, but in instances like this, with that amount of heat, it's not very likely they'll ever know. They've evacuated homes for 2 miles around the plant, and those folks will be out for 2-3 days at least, according to the latest reports.

 

[JeepMonkey]

Holy Crap! That's big! It reminds me of the chemical fire scene in the 3rd Superman movie. I'm glad that no one has been seriously injured.

 

[90Xjay]

that Bar-Sol is virtually the same as a fluid Exxon made called Varsol and is really just naphtha solvent. They used to use a similar odor-free fluid for dry cleaning.

It has a flash point of around 130F so it's pretty easy to ignite

 

[jeepless20]

wooooow. BOOOM, hehe

 

[90Xjay]

I expected to hear something of this on our local news today, but nothing.
That was a big story, but it never made our paper or TV

 

[dandoc]

:shock: That's a big fire! The last time I saw a smoke plume like that was when the old Alcoa Aluminum plant outside of Lebanon, PA went up in flames last fall. Saw the smoke from about 15 miles away, and it was reported to have been seen at least another 10 miles away. Hopefully there will be no life-threatening injuries from the burning chemicals. That truck driver that was filling his tanker sure is lucky.

Best wishes to the fire crews on the scene for an effective stop to the fire and chemical run-off. Also to the medical personnel, and fire investigative teams.

On a side note, an observation based on the photos: I imagine those holding tanks (the ones on fire) held liquid. However, there appears to be no retaining wall surrounding the tanks to hold liquid in the event of a tank rupture. I know that is a common feature for oil and petroleum fuel tank fields. Perhaps none was required for the liquids stored at Barton Solvents.

 

[Sparky-Watts]

I expected to hear something of this on our local news today, but nothing.
That was a big story, but it never made our paper or TV

I would attribute that to the lack of deaths or serious injuries. If they can't show charred bodies in the rubble, they don't bother reporting on it. Although, CNN and CNBC both ran a few 15 second blurbs about it yesterday while it was still burning.

They closed down the town last night to all traffic. The residents who were evacuated were each given 5 minutes to gather their "necessities", i.e., medications and some clothes. They were not allowed to gather any pets, but there were a couple of local veterinarians that were going in and rescuing what pets they could find. The residents were escorted in by KHP officers, and the officers were very strict on the time limits. They opened up 3 of the 4 quadrants of town at 8am today, and finally opened the SW quadrant (the one that had been evacuated) around noon.

 

[Sparky-Watts]

On a side note, an observation based on the photos: I imagine those holding tanks (the ones on fire) held liquid. However, there appears to be no retaining wall surrounding the tanks to hold liquid in the event of a tank rupture. I know that is a common feature for oil and petroleum fuel tank fields. Perhaps none was required for the liquids stored at Barton Solvents.

I don't know what the state regulations are on retaining pits. I do know they are required for oil and gas refineries and tank farms. I would have to guess that there are different types of chemicals that don't require them, as the state and the EPA strictly enforce chemical laws here in Kansas. The EPA did bring in some heavy equipment last night to build berms to hold the run-off from the tanks and fire hoses, although their main purpose was to keep the specialized firefighting foam in place over the top of the liquids that spilled from the ruptured tanks. It wasn't your average type of fire suppressant foam, either. McConnell and Boeing both ran out of it and more had to be trucked in from El Dorado, about 30-40 miles from Wichita. El Dorado has several large refineries, so they keep quite a lot of it on hand.

They got the fire out last night around 9:30pm. It all started at 9:04am yesterday morning. Quite the wild weenie roast!

 

[90Xjay]

On a side note, an observation based on the photos: I imagine those holding tanks (the ones on fire) held liquid. However, there appears to be no retaining wall surrounding the tanks to hold liquid in the event of a tank rupture. I know that is a common feature for oil and petroleum fuel tank fields. Perhaps none was required for the liquids stored at Barton Solvents.

The tanks could have been double contained, meaning a tank within a tank.
in that case no secondary containment was required.
The federal standard for a tank farm is that the containment area only has to hold 110% of the largest single tank in the farm. Otherwise, for a tank farm that size the walls would be 10 feet high!

 

[dandoc]

The tanks could have been double contained, meaning a tank within a tank.
in that case no secondary containment was required.
The federal standard for a tank farm is that the containment area only has to hold 110% of the largest single tank in the farm. Otherwise, for a tank farm that size the walls would be 10 feet high!

I was unaware of a double containment tank design. Perhaps these tanks were of such construction. I've heard of the retaining berm/walls needing only hold the volume of the largest tank, plus a bit extra. Some berms are designed with permanently mounted deluge guns (designed to rapidly flow a high volume of water/foam)... those are a nice and effective touch.

 

[Sparky-Watts]

It's not very apparent from the pictures, but there is some type of containment "bowl" around the tank farm. I saw on the news last night that it is holding about 200,000 gallons of contaminated water from the fire hoses that they are going to have to pump out into tankers and haul away to be treated. Then they're going to have to remove 6-12" of soil to be hauled away and treated to comply with EPA regs.

Also, they were saying last night that a static electricity discharge caused the fire. The trucker that was loading chemicals apparently was the one that caused it. They said that he was following proper procedure, and that the truck and tank were both grounded to eliminate static buildup. How they determined it was a static spark is beyond me. I think they're just guessing, to be honest.

 

[redrooster]

A lady in our church caught her car on fire from static. She was filling up, got back in the car, the pump shut off, got back out to remove the handle. When she touched it, it sparked and ignited the vapors. It singed her hair and burned the side of the car. Craziness I tell ya.
Here's a question for you EMT, fire and police guys: Is the story about the plastic gas jug on a plastic bedliner causing fires true? I understand the potential, but has anyone ever seen it first hand? I have done this a million times before I ever heard or even thought about the static between the two plastics. Then I heard about this myth and it bothers me every time I go get gas for the mower.

 

[JeepMonkey]

A lady in our church caught her car on fire from static. She was filling up, got back in the car, the pump shut off, got back out to remove the handle. When she touched it, it sparked and ignited the vapors. It singed her hair and burned the side of the car. Craziness I tell ya.
Here's a question for you EMT, fire and police guys: Is the story about the plastic gas jug on a plastic bedliner causing fires true? I understand the potential, but has anyone ever seen it first hand? I have done this a million times before I ever heard or even thought about the static between the two plastics. Then I heard about this myth and it bothers me every time I go get gas for the mower.

I would have to say that the gas can in the bed of the truck with a bedliner would be a great place for a static fire. When I had my bedliner I was always get shocks when I would put stuff in and out of it. The other day I was fillin up the Jeep before wheelin and I had one of my 5 gallon cans filled and had started on the other when the attendant came over and told me I had to have them on the ground to fill them. I have the cans attached to the trail rack. As far as I can tell these cans should be grounded since they're on the rack that is bolted to the frame. I told her this and she said it didn't matter. I think it was just a matter of them covering there butt.

 

[90Xjay]

I saw a fat guy wearing corduroy pants burst into flames from friction onceurple: urple:

 

[Sparky-Watts]

Here's a question for you EMT, fire and police guys: Is the story about the plastic gas jug on a plastic bedliner causing fires true? I understand the potential, but has anyone ever seen it first hand? I have done this a million times before I ever heard or even thought about the static between the two plastics. Then I heard about this myth and it bothers me every time I go get gas for the mower.

Yes, it's definitely true. The documented cases of this happening number in the hundreds. I've never seen it, but I've seen videos of it, as well as the end result of it happening.

 

[Sparky-Watts]

I would have to say that the gas can in the bed of the truck with a bedliner would be a great place for a static fire. When I had my bedliner I was always get shocks when I would put stuff in and out of it. The other day I was fillin up the Jeep before wheelin and I had one of my 5 gallon cans filled and had started on the other when the attendant came over and told me I had to have them on the ground to fill them. I have the cans attached to the trail rack. As far as I can tell these cans should be grounded since they're on the rack that is bolted to the frame. I told her this and she said it didn't matter. I think it was just a matter of them covering there butt.

As far as having the cans attached to the trail rack, that doesn't really matter when it comes to federal law. The law states that no container can be filled while in or on a vehicle (excluding permanently mounted gas tanks). Doesn't matter whether it's attached to a grounded rack or not. So, it wasn't just a CYA for the station, but also enforcement of federal law. The law is also very plain about putting gas in a glass container for good reason, too. Glass can create a spark when it breaks. If you dropped a glass container full of gas, the resulting spark would be hot enough to ignite the gas. I always figure it's better safe than sorry, no matter what, when dealing with flammable liquids.

 

[dropseys]

When i worked for Ford all bedliners came with a warning decal stuck on them for the new owners. It said that the friction could cause a fire. I can see how, just never seen it or heard about it here.