Frac tank fire
The black smoke is from tires on the tank that caught fire when a worker was using a propane torch to thaw out a valve. No injuries were reported. Photo courtesy Sublette County Unified Fire.
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Fire at Anticline Disposal ends with no injuries
by Sublette County Unified Fire
March 8, 2018
On Monday, March 5 at 1:46 PM, Sublette County Unified Fire Battalions were dispatched to a report of a "frac" style tank that was on fire with additional exposures threatened at the Anticline Disposal LLC Facility near Boulder, Wyoming. A total of 15 Unified firefighters from Battalions 1 (Pinedale), 2 (Big Piney) and 4 (Boulder) responded with one class A Pumper and 3 water tenders. R&R Transport was also utilized to provide an additional 5 fresh water transports to supplement the water flow needs in the event of an extended cooling/suppression operation.
Tires from the tank ignited when a driver was attempting to thaw out a frozen valve on the "frac tank" using a weed burner (propane torch). There were no injuries from the incident but the tires on the adjacent tank were also involved.
Units from Unified fire were on scene by 2:15 PM. While the initial fire produced large amounts of black smoke and flame, the fire appeared to have only involved the tires on two of the six tanks in the area. When fire units arrived most of the flames had died down and the involved tanks were still extremely hot. Firefighters, under the direction of the on scene Incident Commander, began fire suppression and cooling of the tanks while remaining resources set up a water shuttle operation in the event the fire spread to the other tanks. The flames were extinguished, the tanks in the area cooled with water and emergency operations were concluded by 4:04 PM.
Industrial type fires, such as these, have the potential to be large in scale due to the amounts of flammable hydrocarbons on site. Fresh water is a critical resource during large scale fires, not just in the oil and gas field but also in town. Sublette County Unified Fire has been conducting trainings and developing procedures to efficiently provide the large amounts of water (up to 1500 gals/min) required to suppress large fires even without the availability of hydrants.
In this case the water shuttle operation wasn’t needed but the chance to set up and put these new skills to use is invaluable for the next time it is needed.
How to Join
• Call the main office at 307-367-4550 for more information or apply online at http://www.sublettewyo.com/DocumentCenter/View/1002
Authority
Shad Cooper
Sublette County Unified Fire Chief
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