FIREFIGHTERS EXTINGUISH WHARTON COUNTY OIL-FIELD STORAGE
TANK BLAZE AFTER IT BURNS DOWN
MARCH 6, 2015
WHARTON COUNTY, TEXAS
An explosion Friday morning at a Wharton County oil-field
storage tank burned for a couple hours and sent huge clouds of black smoke into
the air but resulted in no serious injuries, officials said.
One person was treated for minor injuries and released at
the scene about a mile north of the intersection of FM 102 and FM 1161,
northwest of the city of Wharton, said Andy Kirkland, Wharton County's
emergency management coordinator.
The cause of the fiery explosion was not immediately known,
Kirkland said. Lightning is a frequent cause of such fires, but that was not
the case in this clear-weather incident, he said. Other more common cause is built up of explosive vapors at the top of the tank. It only takes a spark (even from static electricity) to cause the gases to explode.
The explosion occurred in a 600-barrel holding tank for
saltwater used in oil drilling, one of four such tanks at the site, he said.
Saltwater stored in tanks of this nature typically has petroleum distillant
that rises to the top, he said.
According to a sign on the property, the lease operator is
XTO Energy Inc., Kirkland said. XTO Energy was founded in 1986 in Fort Worth
and in 2010 merged with Exxon Mobil, the XTO Energy website states.
The explosion happened at about 9:30 a.m., when responders
decided it would be safer to let the fire burn down to a manageable level than
to have contaminated water to dispose of afterward, he said.
The fire was out by about 11:30 a.m., he said.
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MARCH 6, 2015
EGYPT, TX (KTRK)
Eyewitness News has learned an oil tank exploded and caught
fire at an oil field in Wharton County this morning.
No injuries are reported.
Wharton County Precinct 2 Constable John Scymanski tells us the explosion happened around 9 am off FM 102 in the west central area of the county.
Authorities say people in homes about a mile away felt the blast, but no damage to houses is reported.
There's no word yet on what caused the explosion.
Wharton firefighters are on the scene, beginning to fight those flames with foam.
No injuries are reported.
Wharton County Precinct 2 Constable John Scymanski tells us the explosion happened around 9 am off FM 102 in the west central area of the county.
Authorities say people in homes about a mile away felt the blast, but no damage to houses is reported.
There's no word yet on what caused the explosion.
Wharton firefighters are on the scene, beginning to fight those flames with foam.
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EGYPT, WHARTON COUNTY, TEXAS
No injuries have been reported in a gas explosion near U.S.
59 in Wharton County, authorities said. Wharton
County, Texas, sheriff's office says gas line ruptured at the Kinder Morgan
facility;
Billowing black smoke can be seen from the oil field
explosion site near FM 102 and County Road 239, witnesses said.
According to preliminary information from the Wharton County
Sheriff's Office, the fire will be allowed to burn itself out.
Source: www.chron.com and www.abc13.com