We hear a lot of safety professionals talking about bonding and grounding and this safety function is by far the most common means of controlling static electricity during the transfer of flammable liquids; however, it is also very often the cause of flash fires because facilities either do not fully understand or fail to manage the systems properly (e.g. poor connections, loss of continuity due to damaged parts, etc.). This article is just a brief listing of significant fire events where static was found, or thought to have been, the ignition source. PLEASE HELP ME UPDATE this page with any reliable information…
Static spark started fire that heavily damaged Cuyahoga Falls factory
By: Scott Newell, newsnet5.com
CUYAHOGA FALLS, Ohio – An early morning fire at a Cuyahoga Falls factory heavily damaged the building Friday.
It began at around 4:15 a.m. at the Technicote factory on Marc Drive. All the employees were able to get out safely: no one was hurt. The plant was full of paper rolls, glue and silicone used to coat label stock. Technicote supplies that stock for other companies. According to a Technicote spokesman, during a routine changeover of silicone, the material was accidentally hit by a static spark, and firefighters had a real challenge on their hands. “It was through the roof already when we got here and we knew a building using solvents and inks and dyes as they do here that the fire spread was going to be very expedient,” Cuyahoga Falls Assistant Fire Chief Fred Jackson told NewsChannel5’s Scott Newell. Several fire departments helped fight the fire. As morning passed into afternoon, huge rolls of paper continued to burn. Demolition crews began the process of saving what could be saved. Mike Rysh, a maintenance tech at the plant, is one of about 45 employees affected. “It’s devastating ’cause it’s Christmas time and it’s the holidays and you were working yesterday and today you can see it,” Rysh said. “It’s just, it’s heartbreaking.” Technicote president Doug O’Connell was also on site, trying to evaluate what parts of the plant could be salvaged. “We’re trying to determine what we can do here,” O’Connell said. “It’s too soon to say exactly what we’re going to do with all the employees located here.” The company has nine manufacturing and distribution locations, including another in Ohio. O’Connell said they were trying to figure out how they can satisfy their customers with the capacity they have in their other locations. Read more: http://www.newsnet5.com/dpp/news/local_news/oh_summit/static-sparked-fire-that-heavily-damaged-cuyahoga-falls-factory#ixzz1gnw9yfn6
Blast at Ohio oil well sends tank flying 300 feet, explosion heard up to 10 miles away
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NEW HARRISBURG, Ohio — Witnesses say an explosion at an Ohio oil well shot a fuel tank 300 feet into the air, sending it into a pond across a road. No one was hurt in Monday morning’s blast and fire in New Harrisburg, 65 miles southeast of Cleveland. According to the Times-Reporter (http://bit.ly/rwE78S), people reported hearing the explosion from as far as a restaurant 10 miles away. Carroll County emergency director Tom Cottis said the accident likely resulted from static electricity. Carroll County emergency director Tom Cottis said the accident likely resulted from static electricity. The fire was contained quickly. A fire department tanker truck slid off a road and overturned while making a turn on the way to the blaze. The driver was uninjured. Tank owner Petrox Oil had a crew on the scene within hours to clean up spilled oil.
Estimated $30,000 damage reported at D&K Coatings
By FRANK SCHULTZ
JANESVILLE — A fire Monday at D&K Coatings in Janesville apparently will shut down production there temporarily. The Janesville Fire Department estimated $30,000 in damages to the building at 1400 Venture Drive on the city’s south side, and a $6,000 loss to its contents. No one was injured. The fire started when a product was being transferred from one barrel to another, with one of the barrels not properly grounded, said Janesville Fire Department shift commander Scott Morovits. Morovits said static electricity probably started the fire. An employee tried putting it out with several extinguishers before the general manager intervened, ordering an evacuation and activating the plant’s carbon dioxide fire-suppression system, Morovits said. The system automatically closes doors to isolate the fire, but a semitrailer parked next to the building caught fire before the system was activated. In hindsight, it would have been better to activate the suppression system right away, Morovits said. The plant’s water-sprinkler system also was activated, and the fire department pumped water into it, Morovits said. Some solvents ran off with the water, but a code-required dyke held the mixture, as it was designed to do. “So all the safety systems that the code requires anybody to put in place all worked the way they were designed to work,” Morovits said. D&K manufactures laminates and adhesives. Its website describes its Janesville plant as “our pressure sensitive manufacturer and custom coating and converting facility.” Company officials could not be reached for comment. Morovits said he was told none of the materials were toxic, but he said some were volatile. The factory operates two shifts daily, according to a fire department report. The downtime will cost an estimated $1,200 an hour. Morovits guessed there would be no production today. Firefighters were called at 10:16 a.m. Monday. The building’s fire-suppression system kept the fire in check until firefighters arrived and finished the job, Morovits said. Firefighters found black smoke coming from the building. The fire could be smelled as far away as downtown Janesville. Firefighters were on scene until 1 p.m. Janesville received mutual aid on scene and to cover other calls from the Milton, Beloit, town of Beloit, town of Turtle and Edgerton fire departments.
Officials Investigate Explosion at Calif. Gas Station
Randi Rossmann – The Press Democrat, Santa Rosa, Calif.
An investigation into a gasoline explosion and fire at an east Santa Rosa gas station early Wednesday became increasingly suspicious as a surveillance tape showed three men when only one was located by emergency crews. The 4 a.m. fire destroyed a van, a fuel island, pump and canopy of the Lawson’s Corner Union 76 station, said John Lantz, Central Fire assistant fire chief. No one was at the burning vehicle when Santa Rosa firefighters arrived. But an ambulance crew found an injured man walking west along Highway 12, not far from the station. That man, who officials believed was injured in the van fire, suffered burns to his face and body and was taken to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. The fire was being treated initially as a possible crime as fire investigators and sheriff’s deputies attempted to sort out what had happened, said Lantz. It remained suspicious as details developed and the Sheriff’s Office was continuing the investigation, he said. Multiple calls of the fire came in at 3:55 a.m. including from neighbors reporting hearing a loud explosion. Preliminarily it appeared the vehicle was at the station getting gas when something sparked the fire. An investigation by late Wednesday morning found that a large container carried in the back of the van was being filled with fuel from the gas pump. The lack of grounding of the container could have sparked the blast, Lantz said. “Either static electricity or something like that caused it to ignite,” Lantz said. The explosion was powerful enough to blow the locking mechanism from the back of the van door 55 feet across the parking lot. The 24-hour station is unmanned during part of the night. Customers still can get fuel, using a credit card. Investigators had initially thought the man found on the highway could have been the driver, but a video surveillance tape of the front of the station showed three men with the van. The trio apparently left the scene after the explosion and fire, and two men remained unaccounted for, Lantz said. Filling containers with fuel requires the container to be grounded, to avoid the chance of static electricity sparking the fuel. Lantz said containers should be taken out of vehicles or removed from the bed of trucks and put onto the ground, with the gas nozzle making contact with the container.
Oregon fines company in worker deaths
Shelly Strom
The Oregon Occupational Safety and Health Division cited H2O Technologies for 10 alleged “serious” safety violations relating to an explosion that killed two workers in July. A civil penalty of $15,100 accompanies the citation. The company is appealing OSHA’s decision. “To us, it was no surprise. We’ve been working with OSHA for several months. We let them know we will appeal because we think it’s the right thing to do,” said H2O spokesman Greg Justice. “At the same time, however, we want to make our business very, very safe and we will take a rigorous approach.” The blast killed 61-year-old Kit Baldwin and 38-year-old Aaron Johnson. It occurred at approximately 7:50 a.m., July 8, in H2O Technologies’ laboratory at 4011 S.E. International Way, Suite 604 in Milwaukie. H2O, headquartered in Ontario, Canada, employs eight people in Portland. The company devises equipment that oxygenates water using electrolysis. Its devices are used in animal husbandry and groundwater remediation. Baldwin and Johnson, who began ork with the company weeks before the accident, were conducting an animal husbandry-related experiment. Oregon OSHA investigators responded to the scene and conducted an investigation to determine the cause of the accident and whether any violations of state workplace safety and health standards were involved. Investigators found that excessive hydrogen gas inside an eighty-gallon fiberglass holding tank ignited and caused the explosion. The tank contained a mixture of gas and liquid, and was being used as an experimental apparatus outside of its designed operating parameters, according to OSHA. No specific ignition point was identified in the investigation, but based on evidence investigators believe a static charge in the tank caused the ignition. The violations, of which all but the last were deemed “serious” by OSHA, allege the company failed to: *develop and carry out a written chemical hygiene plan capable of protecting employees from the health hazards associated with hazardous chemicals present in the laboratory. *have standard operating procedures relevant to safety and health considerations for routine and experimental laboratory work. *have a written plan to address engineering controls, personal protective equipment or chemical hygiene practices during laboratory experiments. *did not have provisions to provide information to employees about the specific hazards in the laboratory and testing area of the facility. *did not specify which particular laboratory operations would require prior approval from the employer or their designee prior to being performed. *have a written policy or procedure to assess that fume hoods and other protective equipment were functioning properly, and that routine or preventative maintenance was performed on schedule. *officially designate a chemical hygiene officer prior to the time of the explosion. *did not use all means and methods necessary to safely accomplish work where employees are exposed to a hazard. *electrical conductors entering boxes, cabinets or fittings were not protected from abrasions and unused openings in boxes were not effectively closed. *one electrical junction box was not fitted with a cover. *The employer, who had more than 11 employees, had not established a safety committee. OSHA dubbed that an “other-than-serious” allegation.
Dusty air in plant caught fire
By RICHARD STRADLING AND JERRY ALLEGOOD, Staff Writers
KINSTON — A volatile mix of air and suspended dust caused the explosion and fire that killed four workers at the West Pharmaceutical Services plant last week, federal investigators said Monday. What sparked the blast remained a mystery. Investigators said the explosion began in a mixing area where small fires had occurred in the past. They also said they had identified several possible sources of dust, but could not say which was responsible. The plant, which made synthetic rubber stoppers and other medical supplies, used a variety of chemicals to cure rubber. Nine workers were listed in critical condition at the N.C. Jaycee Burn Center at UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill late Monday. Family and friends of Kevin M. Cruiess, 22, who died at the burn center Friday, gathered for his funeral in Kinston. Officials of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said they had ruled out a bomb or other criminal act and would surrender the investigation to the state Department of Labor and the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, known as the CSB. CSB investigators first theorized last week that a dusty byproduct from rubber-making triggered the explosion. Board investigators said Monday that the explosion was centered on the lower level of the plant’s rubber compounding area, where workers mixed crude rubber with chemicals, then rolled, coated, dried and cut the finished rubber. They said several chemicals used in the process could produce explosive dusts. Stephen Selk, the CSB’s lead investigator, said the dust could have been ignited by a spark from static electricity, from machinery, a tool or smoking, though smoking is prohibited inside the plant. “It doesn’t actually take very much energy to ignite a flammable fuel-air mixture,” Selk said. CSB investigators said they were examining whether a mixing machine on the upper level of the compounding area could have caught fire or exploded, setting off the massive blast below. Workers told investigators that the mixer had caught fire before and that one fire was strong enough to blow off the mixer’s door. Investigators will also look at whether a drop ceiling installed above the lower level of the compounding area might have caused dust to reach unsafe levels. Selk said that investigators do not know when that ceiling was installed. The state Department of Labor inspected the West plant in October but did not test the air for dust. The state had no reason to suspect a dust problem and the inspector did not notice one, said Juan Santos, a department spokesman. The company had made changes to the plant since the inspection, said Kevin Beauregard, assistant deputy commissioner for occupational safety and health. Beauregard would not elaborate Monday. “I can’t get into the details of the investigation,” he said. Efforts to reach West officials were unsuccessful Monday. The dust of almost any organic material, including wood, flour, coal and sugar, can become explosive under the right conditions. A fine dust, stirred up in the air in a confined space, can be set off like gasoline in a motor’s cylinder. “Take flour: By itself it’s not a problem,” said Beauregard. “Suspend that in air and make enough surface area around it, then all you need is an ignition source.” Some of the country’s worst dust explosions have occurred in grain elevators. In 1977, two grain elevator explosions in Texas and Louisiana during the week of Christmas killed 54 workers. Peter O’Connor, an ATF special agent, said the Kinston plant has a dust suppression system, and investigators must determine whether and how it was working. O’Connor said there was no evidence yet that the system was not functioning properly. Selk said the CSB has not received company documents that would shed light on the ventilation system. “The company is trying to recover the documents from the scene,” he said. “As soon as they do, they will provide them to us.” Before turning over the explosion investigation, the ATF ruled out several possible causes, said O’Connor. “It was not the result of a criminal bombing, a gas leak, explosion of machinery or utility infrastructure, or an explosion involving bulk chemicals in the plant,” he said. Just as the National Transportation Safety Board investigates airplane crashes, the CSB is an independent agency that finds the causes of chemical accidents and makes recommendations to industry and government to prevent them. “Regardless of what everybody else does, we continue on with our investigation,” said spokesman Sandy Gilmour. The Labor Department also will look for the cause and could fine West Pharmaceutical Services if it finds the company negligent. The department enforces federal worker safety regulations in North Carolina. “Our goal is to find out what happened and to keep it from happening a second time anywhere else in the state of North Carolina,” Santos said. The department fined West $8,690 for 30 safety violations uncovered during the inspection in October. Santos said the department sees no connection between those violations and last week’s explosion. Most of the citations were for lack of procedures, signs and equipment required to keep workers safe around machinery.
UPDATE Death toll from North Carolina factory explosion rises to five
CHAPEL HILL, N.C. (AP) – A man burned in last month’s explosion at a North Carolina plastics factory died Tuesday, bringing the death toll to five. Three people died Jan. 29, the day of the explosion and raging fire at the West Pharmaceuticals Services plant in Kinston. A fourth victim died Jan. 31. The latest victim, Milton Murrell, died at the North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center. Four other patients remained in critical condition. Federal officials are still investigating the cause of the blast, including the theory that an accumulation of rubber dust may have been sparked by static electricity, a small fire or something else. About 130 people were inside the medical supply factory at the time of the explosion.
Wamsutter burn victim improving
By TARA WESTREICHER Star-Tribune staff writer
The condition of a Casper man who was severely burned in a flash fire in January while working in the oil and gas fields north of Wamsutter has improved, his parents said Thursday. Brett Doherty, an employee of the Cobra Well-Testing Co., was injured just before daylight Jan. 29 during a brief explosion while working at a Samson Resources Co. well site. He was flown that afternoon to the University of Utah Hospital in Salt Lake City, where he remained unconscious until Tuesday morning, said Doherty’s mother, Arlene Johnson. She said her son was still conscious Thursday and that he may be able to leave the hospital in about four to six weeks. He will undergo physical therapy. Doherty is on a ventilator in the burn-trauma section of the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit. His condition is still critical, though he has stabilized, Johnson said. “He has to learn to eat again, he has to learn to swallow again, he has to learn how to talk, he has to learn to write — everything,” said Johnson’s husband, Dwayne. Doherty’s lungs and the condition of his hands continue to be major concerns, but his facial burns are healing, his family said . After the accident, authorities said they were unsure if static electricity caused the flash fire or if gas was ignited with a lighter. A lighter was found near Doherty’s burnt clothing, investigators said. But Johnson contends the lighter may have dropped out of her son’s pocket. Furthermore, she said, he wasn’t close enough to the gauges to take a reading. After regaining consciousness, Johnson said her son indicated that he hadn’t used the lighter. The well site where the accident occurred is approximately 28 miles north of Wamsutter in southwestern Wyoming. After the accident, Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Deputy Don Taylor said Doherty and another employee were checking a separator unit at the well site when Doherty went to the separator unit and opened the door. That’s when the gas fumes exploded, he said. The co-worker assisted Doherty and then put out the fire with an extinguisher.
Two workers burned in Akron plant fire
AKRON: Employees evacuated SIA Adhesives Inc. after a fire began Monday afternoon on the second floor of the tri-level building at 123 W. Bartges St. Firefighters received a call at 4:03 p.m. and were able to get the blaze under control in about 30 minutes. Two employees suffered burns and were transported to the burn unit of Children’s Hospital Medical Center of Akron, firefighters said. The fire began in a solvent room because of static electricity in a mixing vat, firefighters said. A damage estimate was not immediately available.
Plant fire likely caused by human error
ROCK SPRINGS, Wyo. (AP) — Human error likely caused a trench filled with molten sulfur to catch fire at a phosphates plant and was also likely why the plant’s fire suppression system was not working properly, officials said. Static electricity apparently ignited molten sulfur in a trench leading from a truck deposit area at SF Phosphates southeast of Rock Springs on Thursday. The truck, however, was not likely grounded the way it was supposed to be, plant manager Rick Laurentius said. The fire continued to burn after the automatic fire suppression system activated. “Somebody, for some reason, lifted a lid off they shouldn’t have lifted off,” Laurentius said. The company’s fire brigade controlled the blaze by the time Sweetwater County Fire District No. 1 officials arrived on scene. Moist fire blankets were placed on the fire, creating the steam needed to extinguish it. No one was injured and the gas posed no danger to nearby communities.
Static suspected in glue plant fire
Wednesday, April 23, 2003 By RICHARD COWEN STAFF WRITER
TOTOWA – Investigators suspect that a buildup of static electricity sparked the blaze that heavily damaged a glue factory on Maltese Drive on Monday night. Totowa Fire Chief Jimmy Booth said static electricity may have built up in a hose connecting a vat of chemicals to another container at Ashland Chemical. The fire forced the evacuation of neighbors within a half-mile of the plant, which is in an industrial park. Firefighters from seven towns battled the blaze for nearly four hours, until around 2 a.m. Tuesday. Firefighters wore a breathing apparatus to avoid inhaling the fumes, Booth said. “It was a very dangerous situation,” Booth said. One volunteer firefighter from West Paterson suffered minor burns on his neck from flaming debris, but was not hospitalized. Ashland Chemical produces adhesives for stamps and Scotch tape. The plant suffered “extensive damage,” Booth said. Firefighters from Little Falls, Wayne, Paterson, Prospect Park, Totowa, Hawthorne, and West Paterson responded to the fire.
UPDATE Glenpool storage tank fire forces evacuation of area
4-9-03
GLENPOOL, Okla. (AP) — A fire at a fuel storage tank farm spread Tuesday morning to a second tank, prompting evacuations and sending a funnel of thick black smoke roiling into the sky. Officials evacuated homes and businesses within a 1 1/2-mile radius of the tank farm and closed down U.S. 75 in both directions, police said. Glenpool Schools also canceled classes. Former State Senator Lewis Long and his family live approximately three-quarters of a mile from the tank farm, on 126th Street, west of Highway 75. Long said that the Glenpool firefighters and Tulsa County deputies advised everyone on 126th Street to evacuate around 6:00 a.m. Tuesday morning. “I have several head of horses and really didn’t have anywhere to go with them, just had to leave them and hope for the best” said Long. “We just grabbed our granddaughter and great-grandson and left.” Long, his wife Pat and their granddaughter Kaylynn, along with Kaylynn’s 14-month old son, David, traveled to a friend’s home that is several miles from the explosion site. “We stayed away about five hours before they gave us the go ahead to come back home,” stated Long. “I understand that everyone living east of Highway 75 is still evacuated.” Long said that he could see the flames from the fire and they appeared to be shooting into the air, up to 150 to 200 feet. The main concern Long said was a gas tank filled with unleaded gasoline that is located close to the tank that originally exploded. That tank was becoming so hot, it was starting to “vent”. The fire began around 9 p.m. Monday with an explosion in a ConocoPhillips tank holding diesel at the farm south of Tulsa. Firefighters were still trying to douse the flames when the blaze spread around 6 a.m. Tuesday to a second smaller tank holding a light oil product called naptha, said ConocoPhillips spokesman Kenneth Ray. Ray called the evacuations a precaution and said the smoke was not believed to be hazardous. Facilities manager David Hladik said Monday night that all ConocoPhillips personnel were accounted for and no one was hurt. The exact cause is not known, although he said static electricity is suspected. The tank had taken delivery from a pipeline of 8,400 barrels of diesel fuel at the time of the explosion. The pipeline was shut down after the blast, Hladik said. Winds contributed to the spread of the fire Tuesday morning, said Tulsa Fire Capt. Hubert Rouse. “It’s just real hard to try and cool the tanks down and keep it contained,” he said. Rouse said residents who could smell the smoke should leave the area or take shelter, closing windows and shutting off air systems that could pull the smoke inside. About 10 people evacuated from their homes went to a shelter set up at First Baptist Church in Glenpool on Tuesday, said Brett Land, a student pastor. Another shelter at Faith Freewill Baptist Church had only one evacuee Tuesday morning. The first explosion shook the windows at Land’s home about 1 1/2 miles from the tank farm, he said. He could see the flames shooting from the tanks. “This morning, you could tll it was a lot larger,” he said. “The plume of smoke is double the size.” Firefighters from Glenpool, Jenks and Tulsa responded to the blaze, and the Sun refinery sent a foam truck. ConocoPhillips firefighters from the company’s plant in Ponca City also fought the blaze, Hladik said. A stiff wind drifted black smoke from the blaze across Glenpool. The fire raged for more than two hours, but began to die down by 11:30 p.m. It appeared under control before flaring up again Tuesday morning. Tim Felt, president of Tulsa-based Explorer Pipeline Co., said the company’s 1,400-mile, 28-inch main pipeline was shut down “as a precaution.” The line that was pumping fuel into the tank was a branch from the main pipeline, which is a key conduit from the Gulf Coast to the upper Midwest, he said. Ray said the fire was not expected to curtail the flow of ConocoPhillips products because the storage facility is not at the terminal itself. The tank farm is operated remotely. D.L. Hunter, who lives about a mile south of the tank farm, said he was so concerned that the wind might push the fire toward his home Monday night that he had his family packed and ready to go to Broken Arrow to stay with relatives. “Everything was glowing,” he said. “The entire sky was just lit up.”
Perilous blaze quelled at plant; Huge chemical explosion feared, Factory blast in 1995 spread toxins
CAL MILLAR STAFF REPORTER
The threat of a massive explosion was averted early yesterday when Toronto firefighters extinguished a blaze at a Scarborough chemical plant. The fire erupted in a large vat at Schenectady Canada, on Comstock Rd. in the Warden and Eglinton Aves. area, as an employee was manufacturing a chemical product. Platoon Chief Jack Walford said the employee was burned when the vat caught fire and was taken to Scarborough General Hospital for treatment. Hospital officials said the man, who was not identified, was released after treatment but may require further medical attention to prevent scarring. The fire, caused by a buildup of static electricity, was extinguished with firefighting chemicals. Once the vat was closed, safety features allowed fumes to vent into the atmosphere, but the area was covered with nitrogen to prevent any further fire. There were no injuries among the 45 firefighters at the scene, but the fire could have touched off a “catastrophic” blast if it had spread to other containers, Walford said. Several employees working overnight at the sprawling plant were ordered out and plans were made to evacuate the area if firefighters weren’t soon successful. The closest homes are about one kilometre away, well away from the danger. Most of the firefighting vehicles were positioned about half a block from the plant to protect them in the event of an explosion, and traffic was rerouted during the more than two hours firefighters worked at the scene. Yesterday’s incident came eight years after a blast at the same factory sent a red mushroom cloud of poisonous chemicals into the air. Hundreds of workers and about 1,400 students were evacuated from five schools following the April 11, 1995 explosion, which scattered pink dust containing phenols and formaldehyde on the neighbourhood. “It created a large gas cloud, which is toxic and corrosive. It went with the wind,” said then-Scarborough fire Chief Tom Powell on the day of the blast. Formaldehyde — suspected to be cancer-causing — is an irritant that can cause headaches and a burning sensation in the eyes, throat and skin. No one was seriously injured in that blast, but it blew a 4-metre-square hole in the plant’s roof and ripped apart a wall.
Tuapse refinery blast injures 8 (Part 2)
ROSTOV-ON-DON. June 3 (Interfax-South) – The explosion at the Tuapse oil refinery, which occurred around 11:50 a.m. on Tuesday, injured eight people, Russian Emergency Situations Ministry official Oleg Grekov told Interfax. The victims have been hospitalized in Tuapse and will be transferred to a hospital in Krasnodar shortly, he said. The explosion occurred when workers entered a reservoir to clean its interior of gasoline. “The accident was most likely caused by a spark, which was produced by static electricity generated by the MAZ vehicle used in the work,” Interfax was told. The fire was contained by 1:00 p.m., the Tuapse emergency situations department told Interfax.
UPDATE Static electricity sparked blast; Grain derivative ignited in silo
By Kevin Eigelbach Post staff reporter
Static electricity caused the explosion that ripped through a storage tower at the Perfetti Van Melle candy company in Erlanger early Tuesday morning. That’s what investigators with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, the Kentucky fire marshal’s office and the Point Pleasant Fire Department concluded Tuesday afternoon. “We had a perfect atmosphere (for ignition) with that product and the way it enters into the silo,” said Point Pleasant Fire Chief Mike Giordano. The charge built up in spite of many safeguards in place to reduce static electricity, he said. Investigators ruled out every other possible source of ignition, he said. “It was just one of those one-in-a-hundred chances,” said Perfetti Van Melle Vice President for Manufacturing Bill Stepan. The explosion happened inside a silo where a grain derivative similar to cornstarch is stored. It’s used in the manufacturing process for the plant’s product, Airheads fruit candies. In dust form, the derivative becomes volatile and can explode, much as explosions sometimes happen in grain silos on farms or at grain elevators. The explosion did a lot of damage to the silo and storage area, Giordano said, but apparently not to the manufacturing and office areas. The company was still trying Tuesday to put a dollar figure on the damage, Stepan said. Candy wrapper Leonard Bickers, who was inside the storage area during the explosion, was the only person injured. He was taken to St. Luke Hospital West, where he was expected to be kept overnight for observation. It will take a week or two to resume production, Stepan said, but he expected that the plant’s 150 employees would go back to work today, doing cleanup and other projects. The plant makes 3 million packages of Airheads every day, using about 20 tons of sugar.
Explosion rocks St. James ammonia plant (no one was injured after an explosion at an ammonia plant – explosion could be felt several miles away – blast occurred in a pipe carrying hydrogen to be mixed with nitrogen and then converted into ammonia – static electricity ignited the flammable hydrogen escaping from the piping)
Cable plant worker hurt by chemical explosion (a woman employee was hurt by an explosion fueled by fumes from a barrel of volatile chemicals – she was thrown eight feet while filling a milk carton with isopropyl alcohol, a chemical used to clean assembly equipment – the chemical, stored in a 55-gallon drum, is volatile, and likely was ignited by a static charge created by improperly grounded pumping equipment)
Fire Incident at American Biofuels Bakersfield Biodiesel Facility (the accident happened outside of the plant building when, during a transfer of methanol, a small spill occurred that ignited (ignition source unknown, probable cause static electricity) – the plant was in full production mode when the outside fire spread into the building – the operators followed their training and safety procedures and quickly shut down operations – then, when they could not contain the fire with on-site extinguishers, they left the premises and quickly notified the Fire Department and personnel in the other buildings located on the property – no other buildings were affected because they were not in close proximity – unfortunately the plant suffered a total loss of the building and equipment)
Officials offer details in solvent explosion (an investigator with the state fire marshal’s office, has said that the explosion occurred about 9 a.m. as two employees were pumping 3,100 gallons of the solvent naptholite from a truck into a 24-foot-tall tank that was nearly empty – the truck was properly grounded as it was unloading, and documents on file showed that the plant’s 43 storage tanks were certified as properly grounded six months ago – static electricity nevertheless built up in the tank and when the vapors inside ignited, the tank blew several hundred feet into the air – the two employees emptying the truck escaped injury – the initial blast caused an explosion in an adjacent tank, which flew into the air and fell straight back down – a chain reaction of explosions followed – those explosions blew the tops off of three tanks, and one of the tops struck a mobile home – there were only 16 inches of liquid in the first tank that exploded – he said there are no regulations on how full the tanks must be kept)
Static electricity blamed in propane fire (it appears static electricity played a role in the massive fire at a propane gas company – further investigation showed that an electrical charge ignited the spent gas while workers were emptying 20-gallon tanks causing a fireball that shot 100 feet into the sky and led to evacuations.- fire inspector initially believed human error might have caused the spark, perhaps by containers being tossed and striking each other – now he believes static electricity caused by the tanks resting on plastic pallets led to the fire – it sparked when a worker used a screwdriver to empty a tank – none of the tanks were grounded – the worker touched the tank and an arc jumped from the screwdriver)
Bedford propane plant erupts into an inferno (a spectacular fire at a propane plant burned one employee, destroyed at least two buildings, blew small propane tanks hundreds of feet into the air, and forced a three-hour evacuation of homes and businesses within a 1 1/2-mile radius – the fire was considered so dangerous that firefighters withdrew from the scene for about three hours – the worker suffered first, second, and third degree burns and drove himself to seek treatment without firefighters’ knowledge – the fire started where a worker was draining gas from propane tanks – he blamed the blaze on static electricity or a spark created by the screwdriver he was using to loosen a screw from a propane tank – he paints, fills, and washes propane tanks at the firm where he has been employed for almost 11 months)