Sunoco Tank Farm Fire

[mikea7531]

West Deptford - 1.4 Million gallons of fuel on fire in a tank that partially collapsed in the middle of a tank farm. State Fire coordinators heard on the NJSP system statewide on 'STATE FIRE'. 3 Foam tenders requested from UASI north region to respond down to the fire.

 

[jeff]

Sunoco FD not letting anyone in, they're letting it burn out. KYW had some great shots. The state guys were really going crazy for a while.

 

[stvnd53]

17:18 ,1 Tender stuck in traffic on Tpk @14.They might as well turn around!!!

 

[WA1CRZ]

The oil company execs are rubbing their hands together now I bet.
Watch for higher prices at the pump very soon.

 

[Tech792]

Last report I had was that it wasn't gas or oil. But some other chemical. It was also reported that this tank was struck by lightning.

 

[Dispatcher308]

You wont see this at the pumps

You wont see this at the pumps unless you vehicle runs on xylene.

 

[DELCOLHFC]

Sunoco FD not letting anyone in, they're letting it burn out. KYW had some great shots. The state guys were really going crazy for a while.

Not sure where you got that info but from monitoring Glouco fire freqs sounded like the usual good mutual aid between Sun's fire depts (Eagle Pt, Philly, and the Hook) and the surrounding municipal depts. The community fire depts were in the plant working with Sun's resources from very early on. At no time was the plan to let the fire burn itself out, the plan followed was the correct one and that was to get everything setup for a massive foam application to ensure total extinguishment, thats the way to handle tank fires. This plan did take some time due to the several 5" long distance lays (I think I heard command state they had 5 lays in excess of 3000' plus Sun's long lay of 7.25" supply line. I'll check to make sure later today with my brother who responded with Sun's Philly Dept.) From monitoring it sounded like around 2000HRS they had made the knockdown with the large bore foam monitors and just worked to maintain a foam blanket from there on.
I only had the chance to listen to KYW News Radio and see a Quick clip from Channel 6 News, WOW! The reporter on the radio (Sadas K.) stated that they would be using "styrofoam" to put the tank out (sounds like fun......) and the TV reporter (Dan C.) said that he had not been told what was in the tank (initial report from first-in Chief reported a xylene tank well involved) but he had been informed by an 'expert' that the tank held diesel or home heating oil, the 'expert' made this judgement based on how the burning tank looked (he actually reported this on the air!). I also liked how he expressed concern about the other tanks nearby might melt from the heat of the fire. You just can't make stuff like this up (unless you are a reporter) it's great entertainment, just not very good reporting.

 

[DELCOLHFC]

Who, What, Where, When.......

""State Fire coordinators heard on the NJSP system statewide on 'STATE FIRE'.""

What exactly is a "State Fire Coordinator" and what function do they serve on a job like this. I never heard anything on the Glouco or Sunoco freqs about them. I had heard of them but had always assumed their mission was to coordinate resources from around the state during forest fires.

""3 Foam tenders requested from UASI north region to respond down to the fire.""

Also what is "UASI" and who made the request for the 3 foam tenders (I hate that term, they are tankers, they should find another name for the airplanes!) I would think that between the 5 area refineries that way more than enough foam can be put on the street pretty quickly when needed at one of them. And the professionals in the oil refineries would be the best folks to make the request for additional specialty resources. Maybe I'm way off base here and I know that some things work differently in Jersey, I'm just trying to learn a little from this, thats why I'm asking.
Thanks,
Tom

 

[Skypilot007]

News reporters are the biggest idiots. They don't know crap about anything. I love watching the news when something like this happens. I sit and listen to the responders on scene who genneraly have a good idea whats going on and what they're going to do about it. Most of this info was broadcast over the air. Then I watch the TV coverage and its a completely different story all blown out of proportion. Don't these news stations have people that sit in front of a hole wall of radios and scanners listening for accurate information. I know its no alway s 100% accurate but in this case it was a lot better than the info they were getting form supposed "Experts".

 

[jeff]

DELCOHFC: I stand corrected, Sunoco did use their local mutual aid. It did take quite a long time to set up the relays, etc. On the 6 PM news, there was no firefighting activity shown. The State Fire Coordinators are another layer of beauracracy, developed after 9/11 when there was little coordination from departments responding or trying to respond to NYC. Many departments self dispatched. They're supposed to coordinate resources from multiple counties, not to take over an incident. They're not limited to specific incidents, you hear them all the time going up north.
I'm assuming they coordinated with the Sunoco folks prior to calling resources from up north.
They're employees of the Division of Fire Safety, actual job title is Principal Planner.
UASI is the Urban Areas Search Intiative, it's all up in North Jersey. Did the Iron Man Relay equipment get to the scene, I believe there's one set up in Gloucester County specifically for the refineries.

 

[jeff]

Correction: UASI is Urban Areas Security Initiative.

 

[robbinsj2]

To follow up to what Jeff wrote, at least around here, county mutual aid coordinators come in with a second alarm, and at some level the county MAC is supposed to notify the NJDCA Div. of Fire Safety "state coordinators." This is separate from the Forest Fire Service organization (under NJDEP Div. of Parks and Forestry), though for a substantial forest fire the state coordinators should also get involved with the mobilization.

There's more information on the northeast NJ UASI region here. Jeff just corrected the UASI acronym; to summarize it is basically a designation by USDHS which is geared towards improving public safety infrastructure, interoperations, and preplanning in the region. Scanner enthousiasts are most familiar with it through a handful of interop channels. The other four NJ regions are listed near the end of that page.

Jim

 

[DELCOLHFC]

Thanks for the education guys, just one more question, what is the Iron Man Relay equipment?

 

[kenisned]

Thanks for the education guys, just one more question, what is the Iron Man Relay equipment?

The IRON MAN is a large nozzle mounted on a trailer. It will flow large volumes of water.

The relay equipment is the pumps, etc to supply it.

 

[DELCOLHFC]

Thanks, I know Sun has several of the "Terminator" type trailered high volume guns and associated support equipment in the area.

 

[Tech792]

Photos and story:
http://www.1strespondernews.com/web....aspx?ID=7de8f314-9576-4064-8fa8-711905b17e05

 

[sfd901]

Foam Tenders

Under the UASI State and Federal Plan there are two types of foam "Vehicles". A Foam tender carries 3600 gal of foam and has its own foam proportioning system or pump which can directly supply the foam to the Iron Man system which has large bore nozzles. and Foam Tanker also carries similiar amounts of foam but must dump the foam into a large portable pool which supplies the foam using foam eductors or pick up tubes .