Marathon Office Building Catches Fire

August 3, 2004
By TJ Aulds
Texas City Sun

TEXAS CITY — A fire in a storage room of the main office building of Marathon Ashland's Texas City refinery was believed to be responsible for a late night blaze that required fire crews from the plant and four teams from Texas City Fire Department to extinguish Monday.

On-site fire personnel noticed smoke in the building, located at the front of the refinery around 9:30 p.m. Monday. No one was at work at the time.

The refinery's office building is located at the front of the complex in the 1300 block of Loop 197 South.

According to Texas City Fire Chief Gerald Grimm, the fire quickly made its way up into a false ceiling, eventually to the roof around the building's air conditioning unit and a series of the company's communication antennas.

Fire crews from TCFD worked in conjunction with Marathon crews to battle the blaze, with the city firefighters taking the lead. About half an hour after the first call, fire crews saw heavy black smoke give way to flames on the building's roof.

A Texas City fire truck with a large water boom was used to help knock down the rooftop flames. A second truck arced a steady stream of water over the building in an attempt to get the fire under control.

For the better part of an hour, though, flames continued to rise from the rooftop.

According to refinery manager Mike Armbrester, the fire was not expected to interfere with refinery operations. No major refinery control operations are located in the building, he said.

Armbrester said an investigation into the incident would begin sometime today. At presstime, he did not know how or where those who worked in the building daily would report to work today.

The fire was never a threat to any other building or unit at the refinery, according to Grimm. As a precaution, Texas City police shut down a large portion of Loop 197 from downtown south to the front entrance of Valero refinery at 14th Street.

As of 10:35 p.m., even with most of the rooftop blaze knocked down fire crews were hindered from entering the building as they waited for crews from Texas-New Mexico Power to come and shut down power to the building. A three-man crew was making its way to the roof from an outside ladder to assist in extinguishing the blaze.

A Level 1A alert was issued in the city, only because the fire was located at an industrial complex. Level 1 is the lowest of the city's emergency alert scale, meaning no immediate danger to the populous was present.

T.J. Aulds is the Sun's managing editor. He can be reached at (409) 945-3441 ext. 34 or by e-mail to tjaulds@texascitysun.com.

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