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Texas
town being evacuated after pipeline explosion
14
November, 2013
MILFORD
— Emergency crews are working at the scene of a pipeline explosion
where an active fire is reported south of Milford in Ellis County.
The
explosion was reported near FM 308. Evacuations in the area are
underway.
The
fire chief in Milford has reported no known injuries.
Milford
is located about 14 miles northeast of Hillsboro. The area of the
explosion is a rural area.
Texas
pipeline explodes as crew drills into line, causing huge fire
HOUSTON
— Officials are letting a fire burn out at a Chevron gas pipeline
line that exploded in the rural north Texas town of Milford on
Thursday and prompted evacuations.
14
November, 2013
No
injuries have been reported after the 9:40 a.m. CST explosion in
Milford, home to about 700 residents 50 miles south of Dallas,
officials said.
Sara
Garcia, special projects director for the county judge who has been
receiving updates on the fire, told the Los Angeles Times that
Chevron representatives were on site.
Officials
have evacuated a one-mile radius around the fire, including students
in the Milford Independent School District, who were moved to schools
in a neighboring town, Garcia said. The town will remain evacuated
for 24 hours.
Chevron
officials could not be reached for comment. They released a
statement:
“Chevron
has initiated its emergency response procedures and is currently
responding to the incident. Chevron's primary concern at this point
is to ensure the safety of its employees and the surrounding
community. As soon as there are further details, they will be made
available."
The
10 inch West Texas LPG line is operated by Chevron, and is an
interstate pipeline that falls under the jurisdiction of the Pipeline
and Hazardous Safety Administration, which was sending inspectors to
the scene, according to a Gaye McElwain, a spokeswoman for the Texas
Railroad Commission, which has inspectors at the scene.
Tom
Hemrick, director of Hill County Emergency Management, told The Times
that the explosion occurred after a construction crew accidentally
drilled into the line. None of the workers were injured, he said, and
emergency crews were not approaching the fire because of safety
concerns.
“We’re
not going to send anyone else in there with the danger,” Hemrick
said, "The people with the gas lines have told us it’s going
to burn for another 24 hours. They’ve shut it off at one end and
have evacuated folks at the other end.”
Another
14-inch line sits a few feet from the one that exploded and was still
flowing because stopping it would increase the risk of a secondary
explosion, he said.
"They
said the products in the other line actually cool the line [that
exploded], so it’s safer than shutting that line off," Hemrick
said, “The smoke is going to be the issue — people breathing it
in. If the wind shifted, people with breathing problems, it’s just
not good to breath that stuff in,” he said.
He
wasn’t sure how many residents had been evacuated. They were sent
to a concrete dome-style gym in the nearby town of Italy.
“They’re
far enough away — the fumes are going straight up in the air,”
Hemrick said as he stood at a command post Thursday afternoon within
site of the fire.
He
said officials from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency arrived
at the scene Thursday afternoon.
"EPA
Emergency Response personnel are assisting with the response efforts
to determine environmental effects of the explosion and provide
additional support as requested," said Joe Hubbard, a spokesman
for the EPA regional office in Dallas.
For
many, news of the explosion brought back memories of the massive
blast in April at a fertilizer plant about 30 miles south in West,
Texas. That explosion killed 15 people, including a dozen volunteer
firefighters, and injured more than 160 others.
West
had a population of about 2,800, some of whom were living in an
apartment complex and nursing home near the site of that explosion.
But in Milford, the explosion occurred in a rural area far from most
homes, officials said.
Some
of the emergency responders killed in West had rushed in to fight the
fire that followed that explosion. In Milford, emergency personnel
kept their distance after the blast, managing evacuations and
securing the scene, Hemrick said.
“Most
of the people here on this scene were at West. It’s amazing how
smooth the response has been,” he said, “We learned a lot from
West. It went by the book, everybody was accountable and we knew who
was here. Right now it’s really just a waiting game.”
HAZMAT Level 3 Fire Blazing at Chemical Plant in Detroit Michigan
They
have cleared off only a 300 yard radius, The problem is that this
toxic plume is drifting about 2,000 yards in 1 direction and not all
of those people have been evacuated!
Read more at http://investmentwatchblog.com/hazmat-level-3-fire-blazing-at-chemical-plant-in-detroit-michigan/#J3RvwxQ0XjkuDXpZ.99
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