Blast Starts Flowing Gasoline Fire At Pipeline Company Tank Fire
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An explosion at the largest petroleum storage tank farm in Minnesota triggered a raging fire that killed one workman and seriously burned three others.
The Roseville Fire Department and seven neighboring fire departments from north suburban St. Paul responded to the $2.9-million blaze at the Williams Pipeline Co. terminal complex, which contained 37 large storage tanks with a combined total of 2 million barrels of gasoline, jet fuel, diesel fuel and home heating oil.
The initial explosion occurred shortly before 4:45 p.m. last April 16, when a four-man Williams pump installation crew was testing a newly installed 1750-gpm product pump in the central manifold and pumping station. Gasoline had been introduced into the pump at 85 psi when the bottom of the pump apparently ruptured.
Explosion occurs
The employees evacuated the area immediately and attempted to reach emergency power shutoffs, but after an estimated 2000 gallons of gasoline escaped under pressure, the vapors reached an ignition source and exploded.
The Roseville Fire Department was notified of the explosion at 4:45 p.m. Many of the department’s 75 paid-oncall fire fighters heard the blast and were already responding to their stations when the alarm was transmitted. Due on the first alarm were three engines, two ladders, one rescue squad and the department’s foam truck. The foam unit was out of service at a nearby repair garage, but shop foreman David Jertson—a member of the neighboring Vadnais Heights Fire Department— drove it to the scene immediately.
Engines 731 (1500 gpm) and 722 (1250 gpm) arrived at the scene with seven fire fighters at 4:50. James Dougherty, first-in acting officer, reported that the fire involved the entire pump/manifold area (pumps, valves, controls and incoming pipelines) and ordered all companies to lay out a 4-inch supply line and protect neighboring gasoline storage tank exposures north and south of the fire.
Master streams set up
The section of the terminal involved was built in 1932 with no internal water supply. (One was under consideration.) Therefore, E-731 laid out from County Road C, 1400 feet south of the scene, and then returned to a hydrant. E-722 laid out, starting with a 4-inch relay valve and then went to the scene. At 4:53 p.m., E-723 (1250 gpm) arrived and completed the first 4-inch relay (via the relay valve) to the fire. Engine crews went to the scene and set up two 500-gpm master streams for protection of the gasoline tank exposures.
Chief of Department Floyd LeCuyer also arrived at 4:53 and assumed command. He ordered Ladder 738 (an 85-foot elevating platform with 1250gpm pump) to the scene for aerial stream protection and Squad 727 to the scene for command post establishment.
At 4:56, he transmitted a mutual aid alarm, calling for engines from Little Canada, New Brighton and Lake Johanna. St. Anthony E-6981 (1250 gpm) already was on the scene, and served as the starting point for a second 4-inch water relay from County Road C.
Roseville Deputy Chief John Schmidt and District 3 Chief Henry Klausing were placed in charge of exposure sectors, and District 1 Chief Robert Koehn took over staging operations, ordering County Road C closed to traffic for this purpose.
Photo by Roy Oerichson, St. Paul Pioneer Press
Photo by Bruce Rossini, Roseville, Minn., F.D.
By 5 p.m., Little Canada E-749, New Brighton E-795 and Lake Johanna E-765 had arrived. They were ordered to complete the second 4-inch relay that the St. Anthony’s engine company had started. St. Anthony supplied a third deluge set, and supply lines were charged to L-738.
The ladder company was placed in position to protect the valve of an incoming pipeline from the northeast in the hope that the valve—and the fuel supply—could be shut down. Fire fighters donned proximity suits and attempted to close the valve but found it had been damaged beyond use in the initial explosion and fire.
This meant the flow of gasoline from the incoming pipeline would continue for some time since the next nearest shutoff valve upstream of the damaged valve was some 10 miles away. One set of manifold controls downstream of the pumps had been destroyed, but tank valves had been closed manually, so the fire would also be fueled by about 10,000 gallons of the four products remaining in each of 35 manifold pipes.
Fire allowed to burn
Based on this information, LeCuyer ordered all companies to let the fire burn.
“We felt that there was a much greater disaster potential with unburned fuel continuing to leak and generating flammable vapors, than in allowing the fire to burn itself out and continuing exposure protection,” the Roseville chief explained.
At 5:11 p.m., LeCuyer struck as second mutual aid alarm, calling for engines from Parkside and Vadnais Heights to stand by at two of Roseville’s three Fire stations. Roseville Reserve Engine 735 (750 gpm) covered the remaining station with standby personnel.
By this time, fire fighters had set up a fourth deluge set west of the fire area to protect a small tank of paradene, a combustible liquid used as an anti-icing agent in fuel and diesel oil. When that master stream was charged, engine operators reported a drop in pressure. A post-fire investigation revealed that the County Road C hydrants were on a 12-inch looped main, but the main had been closed a few days earlier during road repairs—turning the system into a 12-inch dead end. Therefore, the fourth deluge gun was shut down.
Third relay established
District 1 Chief Koehn reported to LeCuyer that the Little Canada engine was not needed for the second 4-inch relay, so LeCuyer ordered E-749 to County Road C-2, 1700 feet north of the scene to begin a third 4-inch relay. He also requested another mutual aid alarm, which brought Falcon Heights Engines 752 and 753 to the scene to complete this relay from the north.
Drawing by Captain Doug Strong, Roseville Fire Department
By 5:30, three 4-inch supply lines had been laid, providing more than 3000 gpm to four deluge sets and one aerial stream, all protecting exposures. A total of 116 fire Fighters were working with nine engines, two aerials, one squad, 11 support vehicles (including two Roseville grass fire rigs, each equipped with portable master stream devices) and 9000 feet of hose.
The Fire was declared under control at 6:30 and the Ramsey County Coroner was called to begin the process of removing the body of Richard Dale, 29, the employee who died in the fire.
As the evening wore on, status reports from sector and company commanders indicated that the fire was gradually burning itself out. At 11 p.m., LeCuyer ordered the north 4-inch relay shut down and began releasing mutual aid companies. At 1:50 a.m. April 17, LeCuyer declared the fire in a controlled burn state and ordered all but two master streams shut down. All supply lines and deactivated master stream lines were left in place.
Watch crews assigned
Throughout the night, fire fighters and Williams Pipeline officials tried to determine how long it would take for residual fuel in pipelines to burn out. By 6 a.m. April 17, everyone had given up predicting, so 10-man watch crews were assigned to standby duty. Roseville fire fighters found themselves coming home from work, eating dinner and reporting to the fire scene for four to six hours of standby duty. Several fire fighters worked more than 50 hours at the scene as pipe flange and rupture site fires continued to burn.
Early on April 19, the fourth day of the blaze, fire and company officials checked some of the manifold pipes, and determined that much of the fuel—a total of 147,000 gallons—had been consumed. At 7:30 a.m., the last of the fires was knocked down with AFFF, and an AFFF blanket was laid over the entire manifold area.
Two Williams pipe welding crews then began to cold-cut, drain and plug each pipe at the rate of six pipes every four hours. Fire fighters used three l 1/2-inch foam lines and one 2 1/2-inch foam deluge line to protect the employees and to freshen the foam blanket as needed. When the pipes were drained, welding teams moved in and welded flanges and caps onto each pipe.
End of operation
Cutting and capping operations continued until 7:30 p.m. April 20. By 10 p.m., all apparatus and equipment had been returned to service. Approximately 2.75 million gallons of water had been used on the fire.
A detailed post mortem of the fire was conducted among Roseville Fire Department officers and officers from mutual aid departments on May 12. All agreed that a mutual aid drill at the Williams terminal in June 1979 had provided valuable experience in dealing with a difficult water supply situation. Once the water supply was secured and priority exposures identified and protected, the only major decision was whether to put out the fire.
“The decision to let the fire burn was probably a little on the conservative side, and it meant providing volunteer manpower for an operation that lasted more than four days,” said LeCuyer. “But the result was a controlled fire and only one minor injury—a cut—among all the fire fighters on the scene.”
