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These are photos of a fire that occurred last week Wednesday.
This was a tank filled with 7 million liters of ethanol just outside the
southern boundary of the steelworks. The flames were quite spectacular,
sometimes leaping 50 meters into the sky. Fortunately, nobody was killed
when this happened; one person working nearby received minor burns. The
2 workmen who had been on the roof had just come down when the fire started,
they were not injured. That was a just as well, as the roof was blown
off the tank and was lifted some 30 meters intothe air, only to land next
to the tank and damage the firefighting equipment for the whole installation!!
One missing in Port Kembla fire
One person is missing, and another has minor injuries after an explosion
and fire at an ethanol tank at Port Kembla, south of Wollongong, in
New South Wales.The tank, containing several thousand litres of inflammable
liquid, blew up near the Port Kembla steelworks shortly before 10am
AEDT. Witness have reported seeing the top blown off a storage tank
containing thousands of litres of ethanol belonging to ethanol producer
Manildra.
There are concerns the flames will now spread to other fuel storage
tanks containing both ethanol and oil. Businesses nearby, including
the coke works belonging to Bluescope Steel, have been evacuated. A
police spokesman said they are still trying to confirm what is in the
silo that is on fire. "We're speaking with the management of the
business and no doubt the people at the site will have a better appreciation
of what's in there," he said. The fire service's Wollongong supervisor
Gary Pearce says there are grave concerns that the fire will spread
to adjoining oil and ethanol tanks.
"We have set up water curtains between the tanks to cool the air
between the tanks to alleviate the danger the fire will spread, but
as I understand it there are telegraph poles in the area and could catch
on fire," he said. Meanwhile, 11 firefighting units have been sent
from Sydney to help fight the blaze.
A helicopter is also flying fire command officers and the NSW Fire
Commissioner Greg Mullins to the blaze. Fire fighting foam is also being
sent to the scene under police escort. Fire headquarters response coordinator
Inspector Bob Brown says large amounts of foam are needed. "Because
it's an ethanol-based fire we put a foam blanket over the fire to cut
the oxygen out to break the combustion cycle," he said. "The
fire itself will break the foam down as you are applying it and it becomes
a case of getting as much foam on the fire as you can until the temperature
of the fire comes down and it can no longer stay ignited."
The NSW Emergency Services Minister, Tony Kelly, is also heading to
the scene.
Firefighters say Port Kembla fire will burn overnight
A large ethanol fire in a storage tank at Port Kembla south of Sydney
is not expected to be put out until early this morning. More than 100
firefighters have contained the blaze, which was sparked by an explosion
this morning. Superintendent Robert Comerford from the Fire Brigade
says another attempt to douse the blaze will be made tomorrow. "At
this stage we anticipate that the fire will burn all night and as the
fuel diminishes, in the early hours of the morning, we will re-establish
a foam attack on the fire," he said.
The blaze is being fuelled by millions of litres of ethanol, but emergency
workers have stopped it spreading to nearby fuel tanks. The blaze in
the ethanol tank has burned for most of yesterday and forced the evacuation
of local businesses and hundreds of residents. New South Wales fire
commissioner Greg Mullins believes the worst of the fire is over. "You
can never say until the fire is out that it's definite, but we're reasonably
confident that we've covered all the areas and we'll be able to extinguish
the fire," he said The cause of the fire is not yet known, but
a major investigation is underway.
Arson has been ruled out.
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