Storage tanks erupt as fires scorch fuel facility
No one injured in explosions as freeway shut down, people evacuated
CROCKETT >> Explosions and a large fire at an East Bay fuel facility sent a massive plume of thick black smoke pouring into the sky Tuesday afternoon, shutting down a major freeway and prompting public health officials to warn west Contra Costa County residents about potentially contaminated air.
The fire at the NuStar Energy facility in Crockett was first reported around 2 p.m., igniting two large ethanol tanks and spreading to the vegetation on a nearby hillside over the next several hours, firefighters said.
No one was injured in the blaze, but crews had to rescue one worker who was trapped at the facility, according to a spokesman for the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health.
Authorities evacuated a handful of residents from the small unincorporated community of Tormey and told others in the nearby Crockett and Rodeo areas to stay inside and close their windows because of the “hazardous materials emergency” created by the fire.
The explosions, which came within seconds of each other, could be heard for miles, ac
cording to witnesses, and created a fireball visible from nearby Interstate 80. The freeway was closed in both directions through the evening rush hour as crews battled the fire.
NuStar officials said in a statement that all workers at the Selby Terminal facility were safe and accounted for. Company records show the facility on San Pablo Avenue has 24 tanks with a total capacity of 3 million barrels of fuel.
Contra Costa Fire Protection District Capt. George Laing said one of the tanks that caught fire contained 167,000 gallons of ethanol.
According to NuStar’s statement, two of the tanks that caught fire “were holding very low volumes of ethanol — less than 1 (percent) of tank capacity.”
“NuStar immediately enacted its emergency response procedures,” the company said in its statement. The company also said it was working with firefighters to extinguish the fire.
Dramatic footage from the scene showed flames shooting from the facility while firefighters doused the area with water and foam in an effort to keep the flames from spreading to adjacent tanks. The blaze appeared to have died down by the early evening.
Shirley Negron said she was in her Crockett residence Tuesday afternoon when she heard a loud rumble followed by a shake.
“I thought it was another earthquake,” Negron said. “I looked out the door and then I saw black smoke.”
The cause of the explosions and fire was not clear Tuesday evening. Two other energy facilities in the area reported flaring earlier in the day, after a magnitude 4.5 earthquake struck Monday night near Pleasant Hill. NuStar officials did not respond to questions about how the fire started.
At a news conference near the terminal, Laing told reporters that the vegetation fire was “mostly extinguished” as of about 4 p.m. Tuesday but that an active firefighting effort was still underway to deal with the fire and black smoke billowing from tanks at the energy facility.
Laing said fire crews were trying to cool down nearby tanks and that fire crews with specialized resources for handling refinery fires had been requested to assist.
A hazmat crew was seen arriving at the scene around 2:45 p.m.
The fire in the wildlands around the facility prompted a second response from Cal Fire, with help from the Crockett Fire Protection District.
In addition to shutting down Interstate 80, authorities blocked off traffic on Cummings Skyway, San Pablo Road and other roadways leading to the NuStar facility. The closures created gridlock on many area roads and caused major delays for Western Contra Costa Transit Authority buses.
The Bay Area Air Quality Management District issued an air quality advisory for smoke in the areas east of Rodeo, including Benicia, Martinez, Baypoint and Pittsburg.
One factor that worked in crews’ favor Tuesday afternoon was the weather. Winds in the area were light, according to National Weather Service meteorologist Will Pi, blowing 5 to 10 mph in their typical pattern, moving air from the southwest through the Carquinez Strait toward the Central Valley. The light winds may have slowed the spread of smoke from the facility and limited the advance of the grass fire.
Laing also said “relatively” high humidity and cooler air temperatures had helped the firefighting effort.