Explosions rock Superior oil refinery
No fatalities reported, but thousands evacuated after heavily smoking fires reignite
At least 20 people were injured and thousands evacuated when explosions rocked a northern Wisconsin refinery Thursday.
The initial explosion at Wisconsin’s only oil refinery — Husky Energy — happened shortly after 10 a.m. on Superior’s east side.
Over the noon hour, a fire reignited at the site as a series of seven or eight more explosions could be heard, police reported. More black smoke shot into the sky and police gave evacuation orders at 1 p.m. for homes and businesses.
Authorities then ordered a mass evacuation affecting thousands of people.
“The refinery is a very involved business, it’s just not what’s burning, but everything that’s around it,” said Superior Fire Battalion Chief Scott Gordon. “We want to make sure we’re doing it safely.”
The fire was extinguished and evacuation called off at 6:45 p.m., according to an update on the Douglas County government website Thursday night. Residents were asked to remain away from their homes for another two hours. No fatalities were reported.
Pushed by winds gusting to 20 mph, a smoke plume from the explosion and fires could be seen earlier in the day drifting south and southeast as far as Solon Springs in Douglas County, a distance of around 25 miles, according to radar at the National Weather Service office in Duluth. Shelters were opened for evacuees at University of Wisconsin-Superior and an elementary school.
Witnesses reported the initial blast Thursday
morning sounded like a sonic boom as black smoke billowed into the sky above Superior. A torrent of black liquid could be seen spurting out of the side of a ruptured tank on the site.
The initial explosion ignited asphalt, which emits black smoke when it burns, similar to burning tires. Officials said firefighters were not actively putting out the fire but closely monitoring it.
Officials declined to say what carcinogens might be in the smoke plume. But Superior Mayor Jim Paine said he was worried about the smoke, which is why the evacuation was ordered for such a large area.
“Weather changes quickly in this city, we all know that. We’re being safe rather than sorry,” said Paine.
The initial fire, caused by the explosion of a small tank containing either crude oil or asphalt, was out by 11:20 a.m.
Eleven of the injured are being treated at hospitals in the region. All employees were accounted for, according to the company.
Five were transported to Essentia Health-St. Mary’s Hospital in Superior and five others were being treated, including one person suffering severe blast injuries, at Essentia Health-St. Mary’s Medical Center in Duluth, a Level II trauma center, according to Maureen Talarico, a spokeswoman for Essentia Health.
One injured worker was taken to St. Luke’s Hospital in Duluth, said a spokeswoman who did not know that person’s condition.
Eric Mathews, a boilermaker for Wales, Wis.-based CTS Inc. that has contractors working inside the refinery, said he was about 200 yards away on break when the initial blast occurred, according to the Duluth Tribune.
It was like “a big sonic boom and rattled your brain,” Mathews told the Duluth Tribune. “I was running and then the debris started falling out of the air. ... I stopped under a pipe rack then waited for the debris to stop falling.”
The explosion happened when the company was in the process of shutting down the refinery and performing a complete work-over, which brings as many as 1,000 construction workers to the site, said Bob Jauch, who represented the area in the state Senate for 32 years until retiring in 2014.
Jauch, who lives in Poplar, was eating breakfast when he heard the blast.
“We felt it 20 miles away. It was like a big shake in the ground. We didn’t know what it was. There was a big plume of smoke in the sky,” said Jauch. “I thought it was thunder. My daughter said, ‘Was that an earthquake?’ ”
The Superior School District evacuated students and staff and Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College canceled classes and events.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration sent compliance officers to the scene and will investigate what caused the incident and whether safety standards were being followed, said agency spokesman Scott Allen.
A Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources spill coordinator responded to assess environmental impacts of the explosions and fires.
Built in 1950, the refinery is a big employer in the Duluth-Superior area with many people who either work there or have family and friends who do.
“They pay well, good benefits. They have a real reach in the community,” Jauch said.
The Superior refinery processes light and heavy crude oil from the Bakken shale formation in North Dakota and western Canada into fuel products and asphalt.
Husky Energy bought the 50,000-barrel-per-day refinery last year for about $496 million from Calumet Specialty Products Partners, which had purchased it from Murphy Oil in 2011. Murphy had owned the refinery for more than five decades.
OSHA issued four citations three years ago when the refinery was owned by Calumet. The company was fined $20,000 for violations involving flammable and combustible liquids, emergency response and hazardous waste operations.
Murphy paid penalties as part of environmental settlements it reached with government agencies in 2002 and 2010 for its operations in Wisconsin and Louisiana. The 2002 settlement was for $5.5 million and the 2010 settlement for $1.25 million.
The Superior refinery is considered small within the petroleum refining industry. But with crude oil and gasoline prices rising steadily in recent weeks, the fire could affect fuel prices in the region.
Patrick Marley, Don Behm, Rick Romell and Joe Taschler of the Journal Sentinel contributed.