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Taken from the Scenic Mountain Med center parking lot at the height of the fire |
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On Presidents Day, 2008, the oil refinery in Big Spring, Texas "celebrated" with a bang. A BIG bang; a large part of it exploded. There were no fatalities and only two serious injuries, largely due to it being a holiday. There were only 40 employees on site at the time.
The entire city of Big Spring knew something had happened that morning since the blast shook the whole valley. On the east side of town, doors were blown open, windows broken, and other damage.
Most of the east part of the refinery was destroyed. This Tabblo documents the event and the results. Many of the pictures are from other sources; only the "before" and 'after" shots are mine. The "before" pictures are largely from my Oil Refining Tabblo.
Virtually everything in a refinery, the tanks, towers, and pipes, are filled with something flammable. In this case, it was reported that a leaking hose allowed a huge cloud of polypropylene to form; polypropylene is a volatile and reactive gas used to make many products . When it reached a spark source or hot surface, the entire cloud exploded very much like a military "fuel bomb". This blast in turn caused more stuff to break open and tanks to leak, fueling the fire. |
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The before view on a clear day; the haze in the fire pictures is due to the moisture in the air from an inversion layer. |
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Taken across I-20 later in the day |
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This was taken from the west along the freeway. |
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This was later in the day as tanks and vessels continue burning the contents. The problem with fighting oil fires is the stuff floats on the water and actually will spread the fire. It is easier to let it burn and keep it contained. |
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The crane appears to be moving out of harm's way while firemen spray the rack of heat exchangers behind it. |
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A close view of the flames taken from the SE side of Big Spring. The plumes from the stacks are escaping steam and vapors. The fans are shut down. |
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A before perspective of the picture to the left to show how the stacks were arranged. |
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This picture is from the south side of Big Spring shortly after the fire got going. The fireball and smoke rose through the inversion layer and climbed high in the atmosphere due to the intense heat. |
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As devastating as it was, part of the plant is still running; they are still making diesel fuel and other heavy distillates. It will be months before gasoline and other light products will be back on line. The company has insurance but how long and how much wrangling will be involved in getting a settlement could make a difference in when the plant goes back in full service.
The employees are now working 7 days a week. They could have a long summer.
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The main entrance to the office building (lower left) in happier days |
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The entrance after the "remodeling" |
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The interior was a bit messed up as well |
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The shop (on the left) before |
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While some distance from the blast center, the shock wave took out the east wall of the shop. |
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The only non-employee injured was the woman driving this car. |
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There was so much debris flying around, traffic on I-20 must have been light or more cars and trucks would have been hit. |
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One witness I talked to who said he was driving on I-20 by the refinery at the time, related that he felt his truck "jump a foot in the air" and then saw the fireball flash across the freeway in his rearview mirror. The white car above was behind him.
The pictures below are of the resulting damage to the plant with any "before" pictures for comparison. |
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The towers are now black because the sheathing, insulation, and skin were ripped off them; the soot-covered tube bundles are clearly visible inside. |
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This covers most of the damage. Much of the stuff in the middle rear was not visible before; they were behind the cooling towers. |
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There is no trace of the cooling towers; all that material flew over the freeway. The white tank on the left and the black stack on the right are also in the picture above. The white tower on the right is also missing in the picture above. |
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How this white and blue tank (probably a water tank based on the overflow pipe) managed to escape destruction I have no idea! The one to the right of it obviously took a beating! |
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All those bent and damaged pipes have to be cut out and replaced. A lot of welders are gonna have work! There are "demo" (demolition) companies who specialize in this work if Alon wants to expedite the process. |
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The main tower looks unfazed by this event. The main force of the blast appears to have been to the right (east) and toward the camera (south), probably because the light wind at the time made the cloud of polypropylene move SE. |
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A lot of instant scrap metal. Even some of the apparently undamaged stuff may not be salvagable either due to heat or blast stress damage. |
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The refinery a few months earlier. |
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This is the main flare taken from my motel. There are three flares active as the operators release all the vapors trapped in the many out of service vessels. |
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