Washington, DC, April 26, 2018 –
A four-person investigative team from the U.S. Chemical Safety Board (CSB) is deploying to the scene of an incident that reportedly injured multiple workers this morning at the Husky Energy oil refinery in Superior, Wisconsin. The refinery was shutting down in preparation for a five-week turnaround when an explosion was reported around 10 am CDT.
According to initial reports, several people were transported to area hospitals with injuries. There have been no reports of fatalities. Residents and area schools near the refinery were asked to evacuate due to heavy smoke.
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SUPERIOR, WISCONSIN:
Here's the latest on the situation following an explosion and fire at the Husky Energy oil refinery in Superior, Wis.
• Full story: The explosion
The fire was reported out just before 7 p.m.Superior Mayor Jim Paine told residents they could breathe easy as he announced numerous firefighters had successfully extinguished the blaze after it raged for nearly eight hours Thursday.
Multiple explosions were reported.
The first blast came at about 10 a.m. The second was at about 12:30 p.m. and numerous explosions were heard throughout the afternoon.
Fires followed both explosions.
What caused the blast?
Authorities said a tank of crude oil or asphalt exploded at the refinery as it was shutting down the plant down for repairs. They have not speculated on what caused that initial explosion or what caused it to re-ignite.
No deaths were reported.
Initial injury reports were unclear. As of early Thursday afternoon, the injury toll was 11 and later dropped to six. The injured were taken to three area hospitals. One person's injuries were serious, an Essentia Health spokesperson said.
Federal agencies are investigating.
Officials from the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Chemical Safety Board will investigate.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration will work with state and local officials and has six months to complete its probe.
The Chemical Safety Board is an independent, non-regulatory federal agency charged with investigating serious chemical incidents.
Evacuations were widespread.
At least three miles surrounding the refinery and about 10 miles downwind were under evacuation orders Thursday afternoon. During a press conference, Paine said officials hoped to lift the evacuation Thursday evening.
The evacuation comes close to 26 years after another, larger mass evacuation in Duluth and Superior that is still vivid in the memories of many Twin Ports residents.
On June 30, 1992, several train cars carrying hazardous chemicals — a mixture containing benzene — derailed and fell into the Nemadji River just south of Superior, creating a toxic cloud of benzene vapors that eventually grew to 20 miles long and 5 miles wide, the Duluth News Tribune later recounted.
The refinery gets heavy crude from the Alberta tar sands in Canada, and lighter crude from North Dakota's Bakken region.
It processes around 50,000 barrels per day and has a storage capacity of 3.6 million barrels. It makes gasoline, asphalt and other products.
The Superior refinery, which dates back to the 1950s, is much smaller than the one near the Twin Cities.
Flint Hills oil refinery, south of St. Paul in Rosemount, processes 600,000 barrels
Calgary, Alberta-based Husky Energy has owned the refinery for about a year.
It purchased the facility from Indianapolis-based Calumet Specialty Products Partners last year for over $490 million. It is Wisconsin's sole refinery.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined the refinery's owner $21,000 in 2015.
That's according to the Duluth News Tribune, which said it was the only OSHA enforcement action against the refinery in two decades. The fine was for emergency response and flammable liquids violations, and the problems were resolved that year.
Authorities ordered an evacuation of much of Duluth, Superior and the surrounding area, affecting more than 30,000 people.
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Authorities said Thursday that a fire at a northwestern Wisconsin refinery where an explosion injured at least 11 people was out, but that an evacuation order for residents of Superior would remain and be re-evaluated throughout the night.
Douglas County officials said Thursday evening that the fire was extinguished and residents in the evacuation area were being asked to stay away from their homes for at least another two hours. But late Thursday night, Superior police gave another update, saying the evacuation order would stay in place.
The fire had poured thick clouds of noxious black smoke into the air after the explosion rocked the refinery. Schools and a hospital also were evacuated.
Authorities said a tank of crude oil or asphalt exploded about 10 a.m. at the Husky Energy oil refinery in Superior, a city of about 27,000 that shares a Lake Superior shipping port with nearby Duluth, Minnesota. That prompted them to order the evacuation of a 3-mile (5-kilometer) radius around the refinery, as well as a 10-mile (16 kilometer) corridor south of it where the smoke was heading.
It was unclear how many people evacuated, but Mayor Jim Paine said most of the city was being evacuated. The refinery is in an industrial area, but there's a residential neighborhood within a mile to the northeast. The corridor downwind to the south of the refinery is sparsely populated. Schools in Superior and nearby Maple, Wisconsin, canceled classes Friday as a precaution.
Hospital officials said only one of the injured was seriously hurt, with what was described as a blast injury. No deaths were reported, and officials said all workers had been accounted for.
Thick, black smoke poured from the refinery hours after the explosion. Refinery manager Kollin Schade said the smoke was from burning asphalt that was so hot that firefighters were unable to attack the fire to try to put it out. Emergency officials later said another tank had caught fire, too, though they didn't specify what was in it.
A four-person team from the U.S. Chemical Safety Board will investigate the blast. The board makes safety recommendations after serious chemical incidents.
The fire was put out about 11:20 a.m. but reignited, prompting police to urge residents living within an evacuation area to leave. Police blocked roads into the area around the refinery. Three schools and St. Mary's Hospital in Superior were evacuated as a precaution.
A contractor who was inside the building told WDIO television that the explosion sounded like "a sonic boom" and that it happened when crews were working on shutting the plant down for repairs.
Kara Tudor, 30, and Julia Johnson, 27, live about 2 miles from the refinery and were ordered to evacuate. They quickly scooped up their two dogs and three cats, grabbed their toothbrushes and drove to a friend's house in Duluth, where they were watching the news for updates.
Johnson, who was working from home at the time of the blast, said the windows shook.
"It felt like something had hit the house, like a vehicle or a branch from a tree. ... Our dogs started barking. It was a stressful moment," Johnson said.
Johnson also wondered if a plane had crashed and feared the house might collapse. Johnson looked around but didn't see anything — then a few moments later saw dense black smoke rising over the trees.
By lunchtime, they had to go. Tudor went home as the clouds in the sky were masked by thick, black smoke and the air smelled like burning tires.
"It was scary," Tudor said. "We threw our dogs in (Johnson's) car. I put the cats in my car ... we grabbed our toothbrushes and just left. ... We were mostly focused on the pets because it smelled like burning tires outside and we knew that wasn't a good smell."
Tudor, a scientist at a research company, said residents were not told much about the potential danger, what was in the smoke or why it was so black. But she said it was clear people should not have been breathing it in and she wondered how it will affect the water and air quality.
Oil smoke can contain a mix of noxious hydrocarbons and other chemicals with potential short- and long-term health effects.
National Weather Service radar showed the smoke plume extending south-southeast, taking it into sparsely populated areas. The weather service said winds were expected to weaken Thursday evening and eventually shift toward Lake Superior. It said the smoke probably would not affect Duluth, a city of about 87,000.
Calgary, Alberta-based Husky Energy bought the refinery from Indianapolis-based Calumet Specialty Products Partners last year for more than $490 million. It's Wisconsin's only refinery, and it produces gasoline, asphalt and other products.
The refinery had been fined by federal officials several years ago under its previous owners.?U.S. Department of Labor spokesman Scott Allen said the Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined Calumet Superior LLC $21,000 over emergency response and flammable liquids violations in 2015. The violations were settled and the problems resolved by the end of that year.
Allen said it was the only OSHA enforcement action taken against Calumet Superior LLC in the past 20 years. Calumet Superior operates as a subsidiary of Calumet Specialty Products Partners, which sold the plant to Husky Energy last year.?
The refinery, which dates back to the early 1950s, has a processing capacity of around 50,000 barrels per day and a storage capacity of 3.6 million barrels of crude and products. It processes both heavy crude from the Canadian tar sands in Alberta and lighter North Dakota Bakken crude.
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Updated: 7:05 p.m. | Posted: 11:12 a.m.
Residents, schoolchildren and hospital patients were evacuated from Superior, Wis., after a series of explosions at a massive oil refinery sent plumes of noxious black smoke into the air for miles and sent at least six people to area hospitals. There were no reported fatalities.
The fire was successfully extinguished using foam and water Thursday, said Superior Fire Department Battalion Chief Scott Gordon.
Authorities said Thursday evening the evacuation orders would stay in effect as they continue to monitor smoke levels and as firefighters work to cool the tanks.
In a press conference, Superior Mayor Jim Paine said officials were hoping to lift the evacuations orders sometime Thursday evening.
Evacuees were being sent to the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center, where cots and food were being provided. It was unclear how many residents and others were impacted by the evacuation orders.
Due to the refinery fire in Superior, officials advise evacuation of everyone within three miles in all directions and 10 miles south of the fire. National Weather Service Precautions and investigations
Paine said Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker was notified and state authorities were on stand-by if needed.
Investigative teams from two federal agencies were sent to begin probing the explosions and fires at Husky Energy that erupted around 10 a.m. and kept emergency workers on the perimeter of the refinery for hours.
The U.S. Chemical Safety Board said the refinery was shutting down in preparation for repairs when the explosion first erupted.
Authorities said a tank of crude oil or asphalt exploded at the refinery in Superior, a city of about 27,000 that borders Minnesota and the westernmost tip of Lake Superior. That prompted them to order the evacuation of a three-mile radius around the refinery, as well as a 10 mile corridor south of it where the smoke was heading.
The fire started after the blast and explosions could be heard throughout the afternoon as firefighters backed away from the scene. Authorities were weighing what to do about asphalt burning at the plant, Gorden said during an afternoon press conference.
"We've also been in touch with the National Guard. We put a potential plan in place where we might be utilizing the National Guard, we don't know if that's going to come to fruition or not yet," Gordan said. "But that's what we're doing here. We're trying to stay ahead of it, so if operations decides they do want to go offensive, that we're ready to support that."
Paine said the air is not dangerous to breathe. The evacuations are based on "potential risks," but he did not articulate what those might be.
The Superior School District announced on Facebook that all Superior Schools will be closed Friday.
A four-person investigative team from the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, an independent, non-regulatory federal agency charged with investigating serious chemical incidents, was on the scene.
Authorities from the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration were also headed to the refinery where they will work with state and local officials to look at workplace issues. The agency has six months to complete its probe.
Kara Tudor, 30, and Julia Johnson, 27, live about two miles from the refinery and were among those ordered out. They quickly scooped up their two dogs and three cats, grabbed their toothbrushes and drove to a friend's house in Duluth, where they were watching the news for updates.
Johnson, who was working from home at the time of the blast, said the windows shook.
The Husky Energy refinery burns as seen from the air Thursday afternoon over Superior, Wis, on April 26, 2018. Bob King | Duluth News Tribune "It felt like something had hit the house, like a vehicle or a branch from a tree. ... Our dogs started barking. It was a stressful moment," she said. She also wondered if a plane had crashed and feared her house might collapse. She looked around but didn't see anything — then a few moments later she saw dense black smoke rising over the trees.
Ulla Gustafsson-Carlson, who was picking up her 96-year-old mother-in-law to evacuate, said she first heard about the fire from friends in the Dominican Republic.
"I was sitting watching TV and I heard this boom and the windows started rattling, said Gustaffsson-Carlson who lives about 3 miles from the refinery.
"My brother-in-law works over there and I got really nervous."
But he called her mother-in-law to say he was not hurt.
Sounded like sonic boom
Observers said what sounded like additional explosions were heard around noon.
A contractor who was inside the building told WDIO television that the explosion sounded like "a sonic boom" and that it happened when crews were working on shutting the plant down for repairs.
Panger said the initial fire was out by 11:20 a.m., although smoke could still be seen rising from the plant. Superior police later said that the fire had reignited and urged residents living within a one-mile radius of the refinery to leave. The evacuation was later expanded to three miles in all directions and 10 miles south of the refinery.
Police blocked roads around the refinery. No damage estimate was available.
Evacuees were told to gather at the Duluth Entertainment Convention Center or at Four Corners Elementary School in Superior.
Essentia Health spokesperson Maureen Talarico said five patients were being treated at St. Mary's Medical Center in Duluth. One suffered a serious blast injury. Talarico said another five were treated at St. Mary's Hospital in Superior. None of the injuries were non-life threatening.
St. Mary's Hospital-Superior was evacuated as a precaution, Talarico said. Patients were transferred to St. Mary's Medical Center in Duluth. Inpatient transfers were made to St. Mary's Medical Center, as well as Benedictine Health System.
In Duluth, spokesperson Jessica Stauber said St. Luke's Hospital treated one person. She did not know that patient's condition.
Wisconsin's only refinery bought last year
Calgary, Alberta-based Husky Energy refinery bought the refinery from Indianapolis-based Calumet Specialty Products Partners last year for over $490 million. It's Wisconsin's only refinery, and produces gasoline, asphalt and other products.
The refinery, which dates back to the early 1950s, has a processing capacity of around 50,000 barrels per day and a storage capacity of 3.6 million barrels of crude and products. It processes both heavy crude from the Canadian tar sands in Alberta and lighter North Dakota Bakken crude.
In 2015 the facility was fined $21,000 by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for violations related to hazardous waste operations, emergency response and flammable and combustible liquids.
The company paid $16,800 for the violations after settlement talks. The issues were resolved in less than a year.
The 2015 violation was the only one under the facility's past two owners, according to a search of OSHA records.
However, prior owner Murphy Oil USA Inc. paid $179,100 in 2007 for multiple violations related to hazardous chemicals and emergency response, issues that were also resolved.
Data from the Environmental Protection Agency show the refinery has had both air and water pollution violations over the last three years, including for discharge of more mercury, oil and grease than allowed into the Allouez Bay.
The refinery has paid $31,937 in penalties resulting from Clean Air Act violations in the past five years.
Data from the U.S. Chemical Safety Board does not show any investigations at the facility prior to Thursday's explosion.