Reports are there was an initial explosion at about 10:00 am this morning with a much larger blast at noon that has been burning fiercely since in 20 mph winds at the Husky Energy refinery in Superior, Wisconsin. 20 injuries reported, with one individual receiving severe burns, five take to local hospitals. Neighborhoods are being evacuated as officials report the blaze is consuming asphalt and fire fighters are staying back from the dangerous inferno.
I’ve got the local news on now. They are reporting another tank within the facility went up at 3:15 local time. They are also stating that today was “take your child to work day” and that about 100 students ranging from kindergarten to high school age had been at the facilities, but have all been evacuated by parents.
Updates from local network affiliates Here and Here
Some asshole was probably trying to show off for his kid.
Crazy to permit this in such a hazardous location.
Gas prices going up in 3…2…1…
I want Gordon Lightfoot to write a song about this. Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald…Ballad of Yarmouth Castle…The Husky Refinery Inferno.
Scott Walker’s traveling to Superior tonight. The fire dept. is waiting for professional’s to fly in from Texas to take charge of the effort to put out the fire. They were talking of evacuating Superior (27,000) and parts south (another 15,000).
Ricky G: Yup! Every year just around this time, it seems that a “refinery fire” is used as an excuse to jack-up gas prices. This time they took the ruse a little too far.
We lived nearly 3 miles away and I fell out of bed either from the explosion or because I was startled awake. Don’t really know for sure. I was sure the Soviet Union had finally ignited the cold war. Anyway, I remember it well.
Relatives lived near to this and thankfully weren’t fazed other than broken windows. My uncle worked at the refinery.
1955 Standard Oil refinery blast sounded like ‘end of the world’
full story: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/commentary/ct-whiting-refinery-explosion-standard-oil-bp-gas-prices-flashback-0823-jm-20150821-story.html
“On Aug. 27, 1955, an explosion at the Standard Oil refinery in Whiting, Ind., destroyed much of the plant and dozens of homes. The explosion occurred in a “hydroformer,” a 26-story-high tank used to convert low-octane gasoline into high-octane gasoline at what is now a BP refinery. The largest hydrorfomer in the country, it sat on the fourth largest refinery in the nation, surrounded by myriad storage tanks, some with a million-gallon capacity. Their contents were supposed to pass through the plant’s 20 miles of pipelines and onto the gas tanks of the nation’s cars and trucks. Instead, they fueled 18 acres of fires for eight days.”
By Ron Grossman Contact Reporter Chicago Tribune
BTW, This was written back when journalists actually could write and readers could read and follow a story. Interesting look at way back reporting.
How many Somalis work there?….Algerians?…Home grown Jihadi?…blah,blah, blah….???
I once received special firefighting training to deal with refinery fires. The instructors were with Boots & Coots which were the best in the world at fighting these types of fires and well blowouts. I’ll never forget how scared I was when I had a blazing inferno beating against the thin, cone-shaped sheet of water coming from the nozzle that was 18 inches from my face. The instructor had his hand on my shoulder and felt my shoulder muscles twitching as the fire tried to smash through the film of water and consume me. His calming words that the fire would not come through the water were all that kept be from dropping the hose nozzle and running for my life. If I had, we’d have all been burned. Fire fighting is under appreciated.
My bad. The flashback article was written in 2015 but obvious excerpts are from the original reporting.
Hambone, you ain’t just whistling Dixie. One of DH’s cousins, now retired, was a forest ranger who was ushered out west to fight fires. Scary stuff even if it is a science now.
Daughter who lives about 7 miles away called to say she was fine. The smoke is not coming her way, yet. Sheriff deputy knocked on all doors but hers in neighborhood. Figures. She will stay put for now. It was supposed to shut down for annual maintenance soon and was getting ready. Maybe something didn’t shut off correctly?
This place will be lucky to get permits to rebuild even the tanks that are lost. The usual suspects will probably file a bunch of lawsuits in Madison to stop it.
And Billy, what did you do on taking your kid to work day? We ran like a sumbitch Miss Kratchet.
anyone counting the ‘disasters’ befalling Oil Refineries, Pipelines, or other Oil facilities & assets?
Keystone Pipeline burst, Oil Platform fire in GoM …. seems like a lot of ‘coincidence’ lately …
The biggest danger to oil refineries is affirmative action and political correctness. Young people who never had a father who showed them how to use a pair of channel locks and were never taught critical thinking are working as process operators in places that will blow like a Saturn rocket on the launch pad. It’s all in the name of inclusion and diversity.