September 3, 2002
By MARLENE NAANES and PENNY BROWN ROBERTS
Advocate staff writers
Photo: Smoke billows and flames erupt after a pipeline containing two gasoline components caught fire Tuesday afternoon at ExxonMobil Refinery along Scenic Highway. The fire burned about 50 minutes. (Advocate staff photo by Mark Saltz)
Pipes carrying gasoline components at the ExxonMobil refinery caught fire Tuesday evening, sending a tower of flames and thick, black smoke high into the air for almost an hour.
The cause of the fire has not yet been determined, said Walt Eldredge, an ExxonMobil spokesman.
No one was seriously injured, but one ExxonMobil firefighter suffered a heat stroke, he said. No nearby residents were evacuated, and no off-site damage near the facility off Scenic Highway was immediately reported.
A piping manifold, a convergence of pipes, carrying MTBE and hexane caught fire about 5:30 p.m.
The chemicals are added to unleaded gasoline to prevent knocking in cars as they accelerate to high speeds, Eldredge said. They basically give unleaded gasoline power to reach those speeds, he said.
The fire, which Eldredge said was not caused by an explosion, lasted about 50 minutes.
Officials with ExxonMobil and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality monitored the air around the fire as it ran its course, said Howard Ward, a Baton Rouge Fire Department spokesman.
Valves around the pipes were shut off to bring the fire under control, Eldredge said.
Because pipes were involved, as opposed to a large tank, the amount of fuel the fire could burn was limited, Eldredge said. If a tank caught fire, the chemicals could have fueled a much longer-burning blaze, he said.
Nearby residents said they weren't warned and company officials said there was no need for a warning or a shelter-in-place.
Rhonda Holliday, 39, a food service technician who grew up in the neighborhood around the plant, said those who live there felt their homes vibrate on Tuesday before the fire erupted, but none of them ever heard a warning siren.
"We had a warning siren that woke us up on Sunday morning, and it was nothing. They came over the speaker saying, 'This is a test,' " she said. "But not once today did they say, 'This is an actual fire.' "
Authorities drove by Tuesday to tell residents to stay inside, Holliday said, "but we knew what to do. We just needed the warning."
Eldredge said emergency officials determined that because of weather conditions and the shut-down of Scenic Highway, the fire didn't warrant such a warning.
"The situation was such that this was very visible but very localized," Eldredge said. "The wind was such that it was blowing away from the homes. There was no community alert judged necessary."
Nathan Gray, a 64-year-old construction worker who has lived in the shadow of the refinery on Sherwood Street for 18 years, was driving home on Choctaw Drive when he saw black smoke lapping at the sky.
"I thought a house might be on fire; I didn't know," Gray said. "I was just hoping it wasn't mine."
Around the corner from Gray's home, 41-year-old Patrick McGee said he heard a whistling noise a little after 5 p.m. He went outside -- and decided against leaving -- when he realized neighbors were gathering in the street.
"I could see the fire and I thought something was going to happen," said McGee, who has lived in his father's house for 20 years. "I was afraid it was going to explode."
Residents who live around the ExxonMobil Refinery said their homes vibrated after a pipeline containing gasoline components caught fire Tuesday evening. No injuries were reported. Morris Womack, 56, was in his back yard when "there was a big bang and a whole lot of fire."
Joe Anna Holliday, 56, who had just returned home from work at Southern University, also feared an explosion would follow.
The fire will be treated by the same steps as any on the ExxonMobil site, Eldredge said.
ExxonMobil firefighters and ExxonMobil employees who serve as volunteer firefighters responded when the fire happened. Usually about a "couple dozen" volunteer firefighters are on site at all times, but Eldredge did not know how many firefighters responded Tuesday.
Baton Rouge firefighters also responded and gave some service and equipment, Ward said.
During and after the fire, ExxonMobil and DEQ tested the air. Witnesses on the site are interviewed, Eldredge said.
After an investigation is finished, Exxon determines the cause of the fire, he said.
While the fire burned Tuesday, police temporarily closed Scenic Highway between Mohican and Shelley streets and the Evangeline Street exits off Interstate 110, police spokesman Cpl. Don Kelly said.
Police reopened those streets about 8:20 p.m. as investigators continued to examine the fire site, Ward, with the Baton Rouge Fire Department, said.
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