History Repeats Itself: Buncefield, Puerto Rico, Jaipur
November 5th, 2009 | by Dr. Saraf |
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In December 2005, fire and explosion at Buncefield oil storage depot injured 40 people. Overfilling of a fuel storage tank (Tank 912) led to release of unleaded gasoline (petrol) which formed a cloud of flammable vapor that subsequently ignited.
Puerto Rico Fire
Four years after Buncefield, around midnight on October 23, 2009, a major fire was reported at the Caribbean Petroleum Corporation (CBC) oil depot in San Juan Bay, Puerto Rico. The initial fire destroyed eleven storage tanks at the facility and the fire spread to adjacent tanks. The explosion was heard 5-miles away. The tanks contained jet fuel, oil, and bunker fuel.
Click here for further details on CBC fire and explosion.
Jaipur Fire
Exactly a week after the San Juan fire on October 29, a fire broke out at Indian Oil Company (IOCL) storage depot in Jaipur, India. Six people have been killed and 150 are reported injured. The fire lasted for around six days and neighboring residents are complaining of health problems. IOCL is facing negligence charges.
Click here for further details on Jaipue fire and explosion.
Fires in Storage Facilities
It is worth nothing that all the above three major incidents (Buncefield, San Juan, and Jaipur) occurred in a matter of four years at liquid hydrocarbon storage facilities .
Why does history repeat itself…and in such a short time?
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3 Responses to “History Repeats Itself: Buncefield, Puerto Rico, Jaipur”
By Paul Gruhn on Nov 5, 2009 | Reply
How much would you like to bet that any of the people at those facilities in Puerto Rico or India ever read any of the reports or recommendations made after Buncefield. There will no doubt be plenty of “but we couldn’t afford to change anything”, “our facility is different”, and all the other excuses we’ve all heard for a long time. Ignorance is bliss, but will no doubt lead to more regulations if more accidents happen.
By Richi on Nov 10, 2009 | Reply
such accidents keep taking place but people do nothing about it. the reports of Buncefield could have been read and the facilities and Puerto Rico and India would not have been so bad after all.
i also came accross http://www.arco.com and many other sites which offer protection but nothing is done about it. eventually it is we who suffer.
By Erik on Dec 5, 2009 | Reply
Note, a small outline of the Buncefield accident that we released a few weeks ago: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDVdipBgKSY