MSTankFireatGujRef.mr.Bhowmick..IOCL

7/27/2019 MSTankFireatGujRef.mr.Bhowmick..IOCL

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Refineries Division Head Quarter - HS&E DEPARTMENT 1

DISASTER MANAGEMENT

OPERATIONS TO HANDLE MS TANK

FIRE AT GUJARAT REFINERY
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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, PipelineShift 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 errorin 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


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

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


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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


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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 withspecific task in containing the fire within dyke area of Tank 76 & 78 (on fire) and

ultimately extinguishing it without any further damage.

STRATEGY ADOPTED


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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 firecrew 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


7/16Refineries Division Head Quarter - HS&E DEPARTMENT 7

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 thefire 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

NEARBY TANKS



GUJARAT REFINERY


FIRE FIGHTING IN FULL SWING



15

GUJARAT REFINERY


TANKS AFTER FIRE



THANK YOU

MSTankFireatGujRef.mr.Bhowmick..IOCL

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