Incident Report Subject: Cal-Osha Investigating Arvin Tank Explosion that Kills One, Critically Injures Another Date of Email report: Wed 20/06/2012 Report Detail:
No evacuations were required. Iram Rocha was in the area talking to an Arvin police officer when it happened. He said he saw a big piece of the tank fly and a man’s body fly through the air. “You could feel it all over,” Rocha, speaking through a Spanish translator, said of the blast. The person he saw had suffered obvious head trauma, Rocha said. Rocha was so shaken by what he observed that he walked to a patch of grass behind a nearby Burger King just to be alone and get his emotions under control. Cal-OSHA investigators determined the two men were assigned to demolish the tank and that Martinez was removing pipe that was to be recycled as scrap metal, agency spokesman Peter Melton said. “He was using a cutting torch on an enclosed pipe, and apparently gas might have escaped and it ignited,” Melton said. It was unclear who owned the tank and when it was decommissioned, he added. Sky-Brand partner Dale Hill said Martinez and Robles were removing steel pipeline from the exterior of the tank. He said the company has done similar work on numerous oil tanks and hasn’t had problems. “We do everything we can to make sure every precaution is being taken,” Hill said. In the oil industry, however, the common practice is to keep all flames at least 50 feet away from an oil tank, said Bakersfield oilman Chad Hathaway. “Fire and gas, they don’t make a good combination,” he said. Sky-Brand specializes in site cleanup and demolition work, removing scrap metal and selling it, Hill said. He said he hadn’t yet been able to talk to the Martinez family, and they were being looked after by family and friends. He said the accident has left him and others devastated and the business is looking to see what the final investigation turns up. Martinez had been employed by Sky-Brand for two years, Robles for six months, Hill said. The tank’s operator of record was Davis-based Sun Mountain Oil and Gas, according to the California Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources. The division also reported that the accident took place in the H.S. Jewett lease in the Mountain View oil field. Sun Mountain Oil and Gas could not be reached for comment Tuesday. Arvin Police Chief Tommy Tunson walked around the blast area, surveying the scene. Arvin police provided traffic control and made sure residents didn’t cross the yellow emergency tape roping off the area. Tunson described the incident as very tragic and he expressed his condolences to the family of Martinez and Robles. He said firefighters responded immediately and did an excellent job. Police will not be involved in the investigation as it’s an industrial accident, he said. “If the wrong thing is done I guess anything can happen,” Tunson said regarding the power of the explosion. The explosion was not close enough to impact Arvin High School operations, but some kids who walk home on Campus Drive were rerouted, said John Teves, spokesman for the Kern High School District. Fourteen county firefighters responded to scene, where they were assisted by the county’s Environmental Health Services Department, Hall Ambulance, Arvin Police, Pacific Gas & Electric Co. and a chaplain from Kern Medical Center, Tisinger said. Cal-OSHA’s Melton said the agency’s investigation could take up to six months, during which time it hopes to find out exactly what the two men were doing, what safety precautions were taken, what regulations apply to demolishing such equipment and whether the right tools were being used. Additional Documentation:
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