7 News Belize

The Butane Depot Fire That Could Have Been A Catastrophe
posted (August 24, 2012)
Today things were back to normal at mile four and a half on the Western Highway after a fire at an LPG or Butane Gas terminal that could have been catastrophic.

And that is no exaggeration: 40 thousand gallons of butane gas were exposed to naked flames.

But, thankfully, there was no disaster, no one was hurt and there was no major damage to property.

In fact - after all that excitement - we can say that it was a very minor blaze. But, it could have been so much worse! Monica Bodden looked back at the fire - and found out what caused it today. She got first hand amateur video from the first responder, Jorge Orellana of Belize MARINE AND MOORING SERVICES - who is building a house across the street from the scene of the blaze:

Monica Bodden reporting
At 4:55 Jorge Orellana and his staff were on the waterfront near his tugboats, where in the background beyond his home he saw a fire starting at Western Gas which is directly in front of his property.

He and his workers ran towards the fire and saw all the Western Energy workers running away.

Jorge Orellana - Businessman
"I was the first one who saw the tanks burning. Looks like the workers were not well trained because they ran away instead of minimized the damages, they just ran away. My workers are the ones who came and help the first truck from the firefighters who came to the scene. The fire started in a small house next to the tanks and instead of minimizing - they should have extinguishers just to minimize the damages but instead of trying to avoid that they just ran way and left the fire."

While they were running towards the western gas compound they saw a mushrooming flare that expanded into a fireball in the sky. It looked like an explosion - but strictly speaking, it was not. In fact Deputy Fire Chief Ted Smith explained it was a safety mechanism.

Ted Smith - Deputy Fire Chief
"Each one of these tanks has what they called relief valves on the top that would release the pressure. After certain pressure was built into the tank these relief valves - some of them burst between 200-250 psi. I am not sure what psi these tanks rated at to burst at. But the burst and release the excess pressure that were built up within the tank so that they can be safe. There were naked flames available around therefore the relief valve would ignite - once it burst it ignites and so people would see natural flames shooting off in the air. When that occurred we felt comfortable because that is telling us that certain pressure in the tank started to release."

Jules Vasquez
"It's a built-in safety feature."

Ted Smith - Deputy Fire Chief
"It's a built-in safety feature to let the pressure built off."

Emil Torres - Sales Manager, Bravo Motors
"It was throwing flames in the air every second and then it slows down. I'd say that went on maybe about 30-40 big gushes of flames and the flames came out and lasted for maybe 10-15 seconds in between and I am talking about maybe 100 feet in the air. You could have seen it from a distance just shooting gas in the air."

Those flares occurred every 20 seconds creating frightening bursts of flames and the thundering sounds of an explosion which understandably provoked widespread fear and hysteria in the area -that the 40 thousand gallon tank sitting in the yard would blow.

It never did, but the threat to public safety and property was tremendous.

The Fire Department was on the scene since morning and by noon they had found the source of the fire.

It was right here in this pump house, where an electrical switchbox set the spark that started the fire:

Ted Smith - Deputy Fire Chief
"The cause of yesterday explosion was within the LPG compressor room and as a result of a design flaw. We had a electrical breaker box and control box within a small 6x8 compressor room that was not properly ventilated. We had a gas leak within the room and when the young man that was transferring the gas from one bowser to the stationery tank engage the switch the electrical control box that contain what they called a contact engage and created a spark within the room an explosion occurred as a result of the gas that was already leaked within that period."

"They were transferring gas. They have just transferred 10,000 gallons of the liquid. They were in the process of transferring another 10,000 gallons of the product into the stationary tank. The explosion occurred - all the valves were open. The fire subsequently spread to both of the pipes that were feeding the gas within the area. As you said my understanding is that the operator that was there moved away from the area. Because of the extent of the fire he was unable to close the valve, so he moved away from the area."

"We came in and assess the situation. Since the fire was exactly under one of the tank - directly under one of the 10,000 gallons tanks and right beside the other tank that contained approximately 28,000-30,000 gallons - that's the big tank behind me."

"The amount of heat that these tanks were exposed to would definitely cause the liquid to boil within the tank and the expansion of vapor. That also brings to our attention the urgency of also trying to cool the tank which we did well and I must commend the members of the department who came out here and put their lives on the line and did it without second thought."

Emil Torres, who is the sales Manager of Bravo Motors which is located directly beside the Western Gas Compound - said it was one of his employees who alerted the Western gas workers about what was happening. He said it only took seconds for the workers to scramble - leaving the compound behind. According to Torres, it was every man for himself - and clearly the new company had no emergency plan in place.

Emil Torres - Sales Manager, Bravo Motors
"They never react any at all."

Marion Ali, reporter
"What did you see them do?"

Emil Torres - Sales Manager, Bravo Motors
"I saw them come to inspect it and they ran. That's what I saw. I don't mean to crush anybody but we really got under some serious harm - the entire staff, our vehicles, I mean millions of dollars that we have invested in vehicles, it could have been worse. Thank God it wasn't. We felt the heat in the office. We ran out the office and on the street."

The tanks in the compound carried up to 40 thousand gallons of liquid petroleum gas… enough to cause a massive explosion.

Jorge Orellana - Businessman
"If one of those tanks had exploded, that would be over for a lot of poor families around. Probably even my house would get damage. One of those tanks explode we are talking a distance of a mile would be damage."

Ted Smith - Deputy Fire Chief
"A total disaster which is what we would call a boiling liquid expansion vapor explosion. That did not occur. That would only occur if we were unable to cool the tank enough to bring the temperature down low enough so that it does not expand to the stage where it can cause a massage rupture of the tank. The department responded, recognizes the urgency of the situation and immediately got into operation in cooling the tank. Senior staff was requested on the ground - senior staff came out, did an assessment of the situation and came up with a plan and they isolate the gas source while we reduce the temperature of the tank itself or the product within the tank preventing a disaster from occurring. The method that we used to keep the tank cool did not allow that to even come close to occurred."

Emil Torres - Sales Manager, Bravo Motors
"It could have been prevented first and foremost. That right there is what we see every day, we are there every day watching them and the type of operation that they run - it's just not the best operation that there is. It could have been prevented; however it could have been worse."

The Western Gas Depot had a trade license which was granted in December of last year - after it passed inspection. Previously, that inspection was done by the BDF - but there's a new law now which stipulates that police should do it.

The owner Mike Reyes just returned to the country this afternoon - but we did not have a chance to speak with him today. We'll keep following the story of what happens next to make sure there is not a recurrence.

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