Report blames faulty tank for ITC fire
Extensive problems with key piece of equipment cited
A key piece of equipment at the center of a massive chemical fire at a Deer Park tank storage facility had been fixed several times in the months prior to an explosion last March, investigators have found.
Workers replaced the pump on the tank on December 2018, about three months before the fire, following several work orders saying it was making loud noises. There were no reports of any issues the day of the fire.
But investigators found “prior problems associated with the power frame of the manifold of the tank in question,” according to a report released Friday by the Harris County Fire Marshal’s Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Through interviews with workers they also learned of maintenance practices that “potentially lacked sufficient quality control measures.”
The agencies concluded the fire was accidental, but could not say exactly what caused the equipment to fail, beyond that a malfunction had occurred “within the manifold power frame, somewhere between the electric motor and the impeller of the pump.” This resulted in the release of a combination of butane and naphtha, a highly flammable liquid typically used as a feedstock for the production of gasoline .
The fire at the Intercontinental Terminals Co. burned for three days, sending a black plume of smoke visible for miles, temporarily shutting down the Houston Ship Channel and leading to several shelter-inplace orders in the area due to air quality concerns. It was the second of what would become five fires in the Houston area since the spring. There were no fatalities or injuries reported.
“As expected, the Fire Marshal’s report confirms that this fire was accidental. ITC contin
ues to work closely with all engaged regulatory and investigative agencies to better understand the circumstances leading up to the fire,” Intercontinental Terminals Company, which owns the storage facility, told The Associated Press.
This is the second report issued on what might have been behind the blaze. Underscoring previous preliminary findings by the independent Chemical Safety Board, the Harris County Fire Marshal’s office and ATF, have said ITC did not have an automatic fire alarm system in the tank farm that caught fire. There were no alarms that went off either that could have alerted workers of the fire.
About 9,000 gallons of the naphtha-butane mixture had been leaking for 26 minutes prior to catching fire, but workers were oblivious to what was going on. Several ITC employees told investigators neither the leak nor the fire that followed prompted any visible or audible alarms in the control room where they were monitoring the tanks.
Jeremy Dickerson, who has been employed with the company for about 18 years, told investigators everything was within normal operating limits when the fire started. “He said all the screens showed normal,” the investigator wrote. The worker found out about the fire after he heard another colleague called it in on the radio. “He said he then looked out the window and could see fire and smoke.”
Workers in the control room were supposed to do rounds and walk their tank farms once an hour, an employee told investigators. But it’s unclear when was the last time someone checked on this particular spot because no logs are kept.
‘Be good neighbors’
Witnesses also stated that low water pressure hampered initial efforts to suppress the fire.
“The fire marshal’s investigation report supports our contention in our lawsuit that the company was grossly negligent,” said Rock Owens, special assistant Harris County attorney for environmental matters. “Leak detection and fire fighting capability are essential to the safe operation of a bulk petroleum terminal storage and processing operation.”
The state and county are suing ITC for violating the
Texas Clean Air Act and the Texas Solid Waste Disposal Act, among other regulations. The Harris County District Attorney’s office also hit the company with five misdemeanor counts of water pollution.
“We should never let accidents like this become a routine part of life in Harris County. We expect companies to be good neighbors, and that means playing by the rules when it comes to doing business safely and responsibly,” County Judge Lina Hidalgo wrote Tuesday in a statement.
“We’ll continue to do our part by increasing enforcement and monitoring to protect our communities, but we cannot do this alone,” she added. “Industry, state and federal authorities need to recognize that when it comes to protecting the health and safety of our residents, they need to do their part too.”
ITC, a subsidiary of Mitsui & Co. USA, Inc.,owns and operates two terminals in Deer Park and Pasadena. At the time of the fire, the ITC Deer Park terminal had 242 storage tanks with an overall capacity of 13.1 million barrels. The tanks, which ranged from 8,000 to 160,000 barrels, were used to store petrochemical liquids and gases, fuel oil, bunker oil and distillates.
Following the incident, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued four serious citations to ITC, saying the company violated the Process Safety Management Standard by failing to, among other things, have written procedures and to correct equipment deficiencies. ITC is contesting the citations.
‘Lessons learned’
Some workers described hearing a noise that sounded like “rail cars coupling” shortly before seeing the smoke. “This sound would indicate a moving part that was in motion and then suddenly stopping that motion. The instant stopping of the moving part would or is likely to produce friction, heat and sparks from the metal to metal contact,” investigators wrote, which could be enough to spark a fire.
Harris County Fire Marshal Laurie L. Christensen said she was proud of the work investigators had done, and added, “our hope is that lessons are learned from these findings, and these types of incidents will be prevented in the future.”