Series of Explosions Triggers Large Fire
SHORTLY AFTER NOON Central TODAY (Tuesday) A SERIES OF EXPLOSIONS led to a fire at a Texas natural gas production facility. A pipeline within the Enterprise Products plant blew up and product within the line started burning leading to about 12 more explosions and more product exposed to the fire.
KHOU-TV
The pipelines leading into the facility have been shut off and the residual chemicals and liquids that are used in natural gas production are being allowed to burn off. The responding fire departments are protecting the exposures while the fire burns. A spokesman for Enterprise says that the lines were operating under capacity, so it won’t take as long as otherwise to burn out.
Enterprise officials say that there are usually about 8 to 10 employees working there at that time, but one of them who is believed to have been in the area of the explosion is still unaccounted for.
KHOU-TV has filed this interesting raw video that shows some exposures igniting from the convection:
The Houston Chronicle tells: The facility in Chambers County is a natural gas fractionation facility, where natural gas liquids are separated into different components before being put into storage or injected into pipelines. It has a capacity of about 305,000 barrels of natural gas liquids per day. Recently, it has become an important hub to oil and gas producers in South Texas’ Eagle Ford shale formation, where large quantities of natural gas liquids are being extracted and processed for usage by Gulf Coast petrochemical plants and other customers.
The Houston Chronicle has the early STORY.
KHOU-TV has a 32-image photo gallery HERE.
Also on FireGeezer…
- Building Ka-Boom in Mexico City Kills 2 Dozen + – February 1, 2013
- Explosion Triggers Fire at Oklahoma Trucking Company – August 12, 2012
- Foundry Ka-Boom Injures Ten in Illinois – March 8, 2013
- River of Burning Oil Takes Down Several “Factories” in South Africa – October 25, 2012
