Incident Report

Subject:                        Lightning Ignites New Jersey Refinery Blaze

Date of Email reporting Incident:   12/07/2007

Report Detail:

Firefighters are on the scene of a four-alarm fire at the Sunoco Oil Refinery in Gloucester County, New Jersey.  A lightning strike sparked the blaze at about 4:45 p.m. at the refinery located at Route 130 and Interstate 295 in West Deptford. As a precaution, residents of Westville are being asked to keep their windows are doors closed. However, officials said Westville residents can keep their air conditioning running.

Gerald Davis, a Sunoco spokesman, said lightning struck a chemical storage tank that contained 1.5 million gallons of Xylene, a highly flammable petroleum product. Xylene is colorless and is used as a solvent in printing in the rubber and leather industry. According to Davis, the chemical is not considered hazardous. Davis said no injuries have been reported and no evacuations have been ordered.

The blaze was contained to the single tank. Sunoco emergency response personnel and fire crews from nearby municipalities were protecting surrounding tanks and there was no danger of the fire spreading, said John McCann, a Sunoco spokesman at the scene. Fire crews were using foam to fight the flames, but McCann said he could not estimate how long it would take to extinguish the blaze.

The Gloucester County of Emergency Management said there are no immediate threats to surrounding neighborhoods. The state Department of Environmental Protection said officials were en route to the scene to study the situation, according to spokeswoman Darlene Yuhas. The smoke from the fire could was visible for miles including parts of Philadelphia and Washington Township, New Jersey.

Ironically, a fire broke out at the same refinery almost three years ago to the day. In the 2004 fire, several firefighters and an employee suffered minor injuries.