Incident Report

Subject:                   Brazil, Ourinhos - Ethanol Tank Fire Burns for 2 Days…

Date of Email report:   Sun 03/02/2013

Report Detail:

The work to contain the flames and the heat exhaled through the tank fired on Sunday (6) in a plant in Ourinhos, Brazil. About 150 men of the plant's fire brigade with the support of the Fire Department, take turns at work which has lasted almost 48 hours. To make the containment of the flames and the cooling of the tanks they already used more than 10 million gallons of water, which equals one day of water consumption of a city with 100 thousand inhabitants.

The work does not have time to stop and there is still the risk of new explosions, due to heat radiated through the tank. To protect stored fuel the plant has dozens of lightning protection towers  in the area of the tank shells.   Even so, one of the facilities tanks was struck during a heavy rain that hit the city last Sunday. The RADIUS was so strong that the structure fell in flames on the tank, causing the explosion of five million liters of ethanol. The flames, who came to reach 20 meters, only began to decline in the late afternoon of Monday (7), but there is still no forecast of when the flames are extinguished.

Additional Documentation:

Video available here: http://g1.globo.com/sp/bauru-marilia/noticia/2013/01/em-chamas-ha-2-dias-usina-ainda-corre-risco-de-explosao-em-ourinhos.html