Volunteers Extinguish Gas Well Fire, Protect Drilling Rig in 9-Hour Battle
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Pockets of underground gas and oil are being tapped at an ever-increasing rate. In the 25-square-mile area of Deerfield Township, located in Portage County, Ohio, about 65 gas and oil wells have been drilled.
The Deerfield Volunteer Fire Department had made pre-fire plans on how a situation with a drilling rig would be handled. On Jan. 8,1980, the plans were dusted off and put to use. Volunteer fire fighters from Deerfield, Palmyra and Berlin Townships battled a natural gas fire for nine hours before successfully choking it out.
The Sherman Drilling Company had one of its rigs on Mottown Road in Deerfield Township drilling for natural gas. The crew reported that they were drilling at 650 feet and hit a pocket of gas estimated to be at 500 to 600 psi. A valve reportedly malfunctioned and the natural gas that escaped was ignited by operating equipment.
The emergency call came at 1323 hours from a Sherman Drilling employee who reported an explosion and fire with one man injured at the Mottown Road drilling site. Deerfield Unit 1, a 750-gpm pumper carrying 1000 gallons of water, was en route at 1325 hours. Unit 5, an ambulance; Unit 2, a tanker with 2100 gallons of water discharged through a PTO pump; and Unit 4, a four-wheel-drive grass fire truck, followed.
Mutual aid called
Led by Assistant Chief Francis Puck, the crew of eight fire fighters arrived on the scene at 1327 hours. Puck sized up the situation and called the Palmyra and Berlin Volunteer Fire Departments. The Sherman Drilling employee reported injured was examined by Deerfield EMT-As and found to be all right. The employee had been knocked from the drilling rig but landed in soft mud.
The fire was about 800 feet from the closest access to fire vehicles. A slight conflict occurred when the drilling crew wanted to pull the Deerfield pumper closer to the fire with a bulldozer. This is a common practice at well fires. Deerfield Fire Department rules prohibit its vehicles from leaving an established road or driveway unless such a move is needed to save a life. This rule was established after seeing damage to other departments’ trucks at similar situations when pulled by a bulldozer.
Puck decided that he would operate only one 2 ½-inch line from the Deerfield pumper. Water was not available in the area and the assistant chief decided that he would repeat applying about 200 gpm on the steel drilling rig for one minute and shut down for two minutes to buy time. This action conserved water and also kept the rig cool enough so that it would not collapse.
Wind hampers attack
The fire attack was made from the south side of the rig as there was a 20 to 30-mph wind from the south. The rig had a slight lean to it and luck was with us as the lean was to the north. Working conditions were poor. The temperature was 35° F and the fire area was a mass of clay-base mud. Gusting wind forced the fire fighters to remain about 50 feet from the rig as the fire whipped around it.
The Ed Lyons Trucking Co. was working at the drilling site, hauling water for drilling use. The Lyons Company was able to bring five 2000gallon water tankers into use in the first 15 minutes of the fire. The availability of the Lyons tankers eliminated the need to call other mutual aid department tankers. Lyons Trucking hauled water for the duration of the fire from a source about 2 miles away.
At 1338 hours, the Palmyra Volunteer Fire Department arrived on the scene, followed by the Berlin Volunteer Fire Department. Both departments brought 750-gpm pumpers with 750gallon water tanks. The mutual aid departments also brought 1000-gallon tankers with 500-gpm pumps. Palmyra and Berlin both put 900 feet of 2½ -inch hose into use for fire attack.
Situation discussed
The officers of the three departments conferred with each other and decided they would wait until all tankers were full and then attack with three 2 ½ -inch lines at maximum output. The plan was to push the fire away from the rig to allow dry chemical extinguishers to be brought in close to the escaping natural gas. However, the fire fighters couldn’t push the fire away because of the combination of wind and high-pressure gas and they were forced to retreat. The on-and-off cooling was then resumed.
I arrived on the scene from my regular employment at 1430 hours to take charge as chief of the Deerfield Fire Department. After being briefed on the actions taken, I decided that help would be needed in the form of equipment not normally available to fire departments, and I discussed the situation with Sherman Drilling officials at the scene.
Nitrogen truck requested
It was decided that Sherman Drilling would ask the Halliburton Company of Wooster, Ohio, to bring in a truck capable of pumping high-pressure nitrogen. Nitrogen had been successfully used in the past, according to Sherman officials, on this type of fire. Halliburton would need about two hours to transport its equipment to the Deerfield fire.
The on-and-off cooling continued while fire fighters were rotated on duty to prevent fatigue from the weather conditions. Our officers were asked to find out how many fire fighters needed to leave for full-time night shift jobs and how many fire fighters could be expected to arrive from their day work.
It came as no surprise to find that the night shift workers were staying even if they had to lose a day’s wages. Halliburton Company workers arrived at the fire at 1645 hours and with fire fighters arriving from day employment, we now had 50 volunteer fire fighters on the scene.
Nitrogen applied
The Halliburton crew began to set up their operations. Four-inch pipe available at the scene was connected to the Halliburton truck and run to the source of the natural gas leak. The pipe was tied down to prevent any movement should it crack under the pressure and cold of the nitrogen.
At 1730 hours, the nitrogen was ready. All tankers were full and the attack was ready. The nitrogen began to flow and water streams continued to prevent reignition from the hot steel. Daylight was fading and we hoped for a quick knockdown of the fire. To everyone’s surprise, the fire continued.
The nitrogen piping was moved to a different location and the attack was again made at 1815 hours. The fire continued and the piping was again moved for another unsuccessful attack at 1945 hours. The Sherman officials and the Halliburton crew and I conferred and decided that until the gas pressure dropped or the wind slowed, further attacks would be futile.
Everyone took what shelter he could while volunteer fire fighters rotated manning the cooling line. The temperature dropped to 25° F. At 2145 hours, the wind began to drop. It was decided that another attack would be made, this time also using dry chemical extinguishers.
The nitrogen began to flow and the three 2½-inch lines poured their maximum in water. The fire began to shrink. Four fire fighters moved in and simultaneously discharged their dry chemical extinguishers. As the extinguishers emptied, four more were brought in and also simultaneously discharged at the source of the natural gas.
It was 2210 hours and the fire was out. The nitrogen continued for about 30 seconds and was then halted. The Sherman crew moved in under cover of the hose streams and quickly rigged a pipe to divert the natural gas away from the drilling rig.
Cleanup problem
Each fire department was faced with the cleanup of 900 feet of 2 ½ -inch hose and hundreds of pounds of frozen mud on equipment. Everyone was caked with ice, yet there was not one complaint from the volunteers.
Sherman Drilling said that it would have had to pull out 650 feet of drilling rod, cap off the well, drag the burnt rig away, and set up a new drilling rig. Sherman reported that its loss would be about $1 million.
A critique of the operation was held during the cleanup of equipment at the Deerfield station. All present were satisfied with the way the situation was handled. Credit for the high morale of the volunteers at the fire scene was given to the ladies auxiliaries of the three fire departments, along with area neighbors, who provided sandwiches and coffee at the fire.
The only problem with equipment was a clogged relief valve from mud picked up during the tanker shuttles. We are confident that we could have gotten sufficient mutual aid tankers if Lyons Trucking had not had enough tankers on the scene.
The major factor that prevented stopping the fire was that the drilling rig could not be moved away from the fire. The Halliburton workers stated that they felt the excessive amount of pressure was a factor preventing extinguishment. The Halliburton crew also stated that they had stopped fires on drilling rigs before but had not found the excessive pressure that was present in the Deerfield fire.
One change we might make in a similar situation is to allow pressure to drop on the gas before too much effort is expended on extinguishment.
The most important lesson we learned is that we can operate for long periods of time under adverse conditions and we can do it safely. Not one person was injured.