Incident Report

Subject:           USA - Texas, Crews Extinguish fire at pipeline facility in La Porte

Date of Email report:   Wed 01/01/2014

Report Detail:

Fire crews have extinguished a large fire that broke out Tuesday morning at a pipeline facility in La Porte.  According to Jeff Suggs from La Porte Emergency Management, the blaze broke at around 10:15 a.m. after a liquefied petroleum gas product ruptured and caught fire. The facility, Enterprise Products, is located on North Broadway Street near the Fred Hartman Bridge.

No serious injuries were reported, but emergency responders said two contract workers were treated at the scene and released.  Emergency responders said there was never a shelter-in-place, but some workers were evacuated from the area of the fire.

The large blaze had some passersby fearing the worst had happened.  “That this plant had exploded, ‘cause we were listening on the CB (radio) and guys was talking about smoke. That’s all we could see from back there. Then we got here and saw the huge flames,” Olen Manning, a truck driver, said.  Company officials declined to comment about the incident.

The company did say the pipe holds small amounts of liquefied petroleum, and that it’s part of a system measuring how much gas gets onto barges.  All work at the facility stopped so investigators can try to find out what sparked this fire.

Additional Documentation: