Refineries Division Head Quarter - HS&E DEPARTMENT 1 DISASTER MANAGEMENT OPERATIONS TO HANDLE MS TANK FIRE AT GUJARAT REFINERY

Refineries Division Head Quarter - HS&E DEPARTMENT 1

DISASTER MANAGEMENT

OPERATIONS TO HANDLE MS TANK

FIRE AT GUJARAT REFINERY


At 03.30 hrs , Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) guard at pipeline station in the

refinery felt the smell of hydro-carbon. On receiving information, Pipeline Shift

Engineer and CISF guards at Pipeline station (Koyali-Ahemedabad Pipeline - KAPL)

and Gantry moved towards the Motor Spirit (MS) tank farm and observed the Tank 76

overflowing and vapor clouds all around. The CISF guard reported this incident to

CISF Inspector at main gate , who, in turn, informed Refinery Shift Manager (RSM).

After informing RSM, the CISF inspector rushed to site of incident in a jeep. Fire broke

out at 03.50 hrs soon the jeep reached the site. Fire started first in Tank no. 76 (5000

KL nominal capacity) and another MS tank (no. 78) of identical capacity located in the

same dyke, also got ignited within no time.

Investigations revealed that the incident took place because of operational error in

making the line-up connections for circulation of Tank 76 causing overflow of the tank.

Ignition of MS vapors was provided by the jeep.

THE INCIDENT


Since Gujarat refinery is processing /handling/ storing large volume of

inflammable hydrocarbons, elaborate fire protection systems by way of fixed and

mobile fire fighting equipments as per norms have been provided.

Fire fighting facilities of neighboring industries like Petrochemical, fertilizer and

other industries are also available under mutual aid scheme.

Detailed On-site Disaster plan is available for the whole refinery.

Offsite Disaster plan is available.

Central Control Room (CCR) has also been set up by the contributory efforts &

manpower arranged by major industries in the area. This CCR functions round

the clock.

Periodic Disaster mock drills with full involvement of all members of CCR /

concerned agencies for handling various emergency scenario in the area are

conducted.

FIRE PROTECTION / DISASTER MANAGEMENT SYSTEM


On receipt of fire call at main fire station, first turn out of 2 foam tenders, one each from both the fire

stations moved out under the leadership of Fire & Safety Officer.

Subsequently second turn out of 2 foam tenders along with a foam nurser reached at the scene of

fire.

Fire & Safety Manager and other personnel from township reached the fire site followed by

Executive Director (ED), General Manager (GM) and officials from other department.

Fire Crew carried out the following operations on reaching at fire site :

- Cooling of 2 nos. tanks (on fire) & 2 nos. adjacent tanks started.

- 4 nos. fixed water monitors operated.

- Semi-fixed foam system of TK 76 & 78 ( on fire) operated.

- One Jeep was found under fire; fire was extinguished and jeep was pushed away to a

safer location.

Mutual Aid Industries & CCR were informed and industries reported immediately at the

scene of fires.

IMMEDIATE ACTIONS TAKEN


After initial control and lining up of fire fighting operation, stock of the situation was reviewed and

specific action oriented strategy was chalked out under the leadership of ED & GM and in consultation

with fire chief of Gujarat Refinery, Petrochemical, Gujarat State Fertilizer Corporation (GSFC), Baroda

Municipal Corporation (BMC).

Main aim was to contain the fire within TK. 76 & 78 (on fire) dyke area and protection of other facilities

in nearby areas such as valve manifold, other tanks, pipeline terminal, TEL shed etc.

Strategy adopted was to divide the available fire crews in three groups with specific task in containing

the fire within dyke area of Tank 76 & 78 (on fire) and ultimately extinguishing it without any further

damage.

STRATEGY ADOPTED


Actions taken based on this review meeting were as follows:

- Continuous cooling of Tank 83 & 84 (adjacent tanks) and intermittent foam application on the roof of

Tank 83 & 84. The job was assigned to a group of fire crew from Petrochemical with assistance from

Operations Dept. of Gujarat Refinery.

- Fire fighting in Tank 76 & 78 ( on fire) and tank dyke area along with creating a fire water curtain

between TK 76 & 78 ( on fire) and TK- 83 & 84 (adjacent tanks ) side & beyond. This job was assigned to

2nd group of fire crew (Gujarat Refinery & GSFC).

- There is a valve manifold located in the eastern side of TK 76 & 78 (on fire) dyke. This valve manifold

was very critical. Protection of valve manifold was prime aim as the receipt & dispatch of MS from Gujarat

Refinery is fully dependent on this valve manifold. Besides, in case of manifold caught fire, there could be

a possibility of spreading the fire to other areas viz., Tetra Ethyl Lead (TEL) blending plant, followed by

Wagon loading gantries. The 3rd group of fire crew (Gujarat Refinery + Baroda Fire Brigade / Heavy water

/ Western railway) was assigned the responsibility to look after the manifold.

STRATEGY ADOPTED


While the battle of fire fighting near TK 76 / 78 (on fire) was being fought by fire fighting personnel

and other employees, large no. of other personnel from various departments / agencies worked

with equal dedication to support this marathon operation as under:

Fire Water Supply:

Supply of adequate fire water at the scene of fire was most essential for successful fire fighting

operation. This was done in an excellent way by Power & Utility Dept. in close co-ordination with

Fire & Safety Control room and fire marshal at the fire site.

Food Services:

Food services were arranged uninterrupted by Gujarat Refinery Canteen till the fire was

completely extinguished. Time to time snacks, cold drinks, water was served by the canteen boys

to all personnel at the fire site.

SUPPORT SERVICES


Refuelling of Fire Vehicles:

Mech Maint. arranged for on the spot refuelling of all fire vehicles throughout the fire

fighting operation. This was carried out in very smooth way, without any scarcity at any

time.

Arrangement of Casual labourers :

Casual labourers were made available by Civil Dept. to help replacing of empty fire

vehicles with foam compound, putting sand bags for making temporary routes and other

miscellaneous jobs of cleaning / house-keeping etc.

Installation of additional foam monitors :

4 additional High Volume Long Range (HVLR) monitors were installed during the fire

fighting operation with the excellent help from Project / Mech. Maintenance and outside

agencies of Baroda.

SUPPORT SERVICES


Arrangement of Foam Compound:

Around 1 lakh litres of foam compound was arranged by Materials Dept. after the occurrence of fire

incident. The foam compound was arranged not only from nearby industries and Baroda based foam

compound suppliers but also from Bombay based foam compound suppliers, Bharat Petroleum

Corporation Limited (BPCL) and Mathura Refinery.

Medical Assistance :

2 nos. of ambulance with 8 nos. of staff moving round the clock extended all medical helps e.g. supply

/ application of soframycin cream on the faces and putting drops in the eyes of fighting crew,

distributing chewable medicines etc. This help was besides round the clock arrangements in the

hospital for receiving any casualty.

Handling of Press Media & Other Govt. Officials:

Time to time briefing to Press / Media with latest information and also receiving the Govt. officials and

dignitaries and explaining them the situation of fire fighting was handled amicably and in professional

manner by ED/GM with the help of Public Relation Dept. This action helped in avoiding any panic in

nearby localities and adverse publicity.

SUPPORT SERVICES


Security:

- Commandant & Asst. commandant were camping at the site during fire fighting

operation.

- Traffic control / movement of vehicles and personnel to & fro from scene of fire

was controlled effectively by CISF personnel. This was done keeping in view the

objective of ensuring unobstructed movement of vehicles & personnel required at

fire site and not allowing the spectators to just assemble near the site.

- Besides the CISF personnel on normal duty, other CISF jawans helped the fire

crew in various fire fighting operations.

SUPPORT SERVICES


- After the final extinguishment of fire in tank on 5.8.95 at 7 AM, cooling

operation was continued till 1300 hrs of 6.8.95 as smouldering / smoke emission

was continuing.

- Simultaneously, actions were taken for removal of damaged pipelines and

restoring operation of Fluidized Catalytic Cracking (FCC) Unit and MS dispatch

operation without much delay.

- Team work of Process, Engineering Services and Project / Maintenance /

Production departments made this difficult task feasible in short time.

REHABILITATION AND RESTORING DESPATCH OPERATION


GUJARAT REFINERY

FIRE & SAFETY DEPARTMENT

MAJOR FIRE INCIDENT IN TANK FARMON 4TH AUGUST 1995, AT 0350 HRS, A MAJOR FIRE

BROKE OUT IN TWO MOTOR SPRIT TANKS


GUJARAT REFINERY


BOTH TANKS WERE POSING DANGER TO BOTH TANKS WERE POSING DANGER TO NEARBY TANKSNEARBY TANKS


GUJARAT REFINERY


FIRE FIGHTING IN FULL SWINGFIRE FIGHTING IN FULL SWING


GUJARAT REFINERY


TANKS AFTER FIRE


THANK YOU

Documents

Refineries Division Head Quarter - HS&E DEPARTMENT 1 DISASTER MANAGEMENT OPERATIONS TO HANDLE MS TANK FIRE AT GUJARAT REFINERY