Oil production facilities are probably a bad place to light up a cigarrette. Probably shouldn't be climbing on the equipment even if you aren't smoking. The woman is reported to be on life support.
Yep, 3AM just out for a stroll and probably never even saw the oil storage tanks. Last time I remember this happening was when some kid stuck a lighter down inside a tank to see what was in there - killed his two buddies, but he survived. With all the local thieves, vandals and Trans-Canadian pipeline protesters for hire running around loose in East Texas anything could happen.
The news here is reporting that they were sitting on the tanks or the catwalk while smoking. I can't speak for out there, but in my urban area all the pads are fenced and many have remote cameras.
How does anyone know they were smoking and it wasn't an intentional explosion that went off early? Probably their identities and history would provide a likely scenario.
jud
I ran the fuel dock in Chignik for a summer. Caught two kids (college age)on top of the 25,000 gallon gasoline storage tank ...... smoking a joint!
Couple of years ago, a couple of teenage girls in Gambell stole gas from the fuel farm for their 4 wheeler. Used a Bic to check how full the tank was ..... sigh!
-JD-
Is this why gas prices in Ohio shot up 27 cents this morning?
The fire department responded to a tank battery fire. In the meantime, the male subject drove himself and the female to the fire department for aid. He was able to tell them what happened. No report as to the contents of cigarrette.
The mole people have been attacking our energy infrastructure for years; the "cigarette" story is just to throw the press of the trail.
These burn/explosion stories connected to smoking and energy production are legion. The guy who was blown up as he lit a cigarette exiting a compressor building, or the guy looking at a monitoring well who pulls out a lighter to light up and sets himself on fire. The stories go on and on.
Frankly, I don’t know why a gas or oil company even bothers to hire anyone who smokes, as worried as they seem about safety. Heck, the no polyester policy is kind of silly when the guy not wearing it is a chain-smoker.
I was at the gas station this weekend and two guys were filing up some snowmobiles on a trailer. They were both smoking and the guy with the nozzle was peering into the tank to see if it was full with a lit cigarette in his mouth. I took a look and left for the next station down the road.
NO DARWIN
award for these two - they both survived...
> ...I was at the gas station this weekend and two guys were filing up some snowmobiles on a trailer. They were both smoking and the guy with the nozzle was peering into the tank to see if it was full with a lit cigarette in his mouth. I took a look and left for the next station down the road.
Was it these guys?.....
[flash width=420 height=315] http://www.youtube.com/v/CDNdWFV2s2c?version=3&hl=en_US&rel=0 [/flash]
Pretty close.
They looked like a couple of guys that could cause a Saturday with them to be one of the longest weeks of your life.
You'd be surprised how often these things go up. In four years, I've fought fire at two different locations, but from lightning not smoking.
We were just working by that facility the other day on a pipeline.
HONORABLE MENTION
At the time I posted it sounded like the woman was in bad shape, but the lasted report indicates she is in good condition.
There was a similar event in western Anderson county a few years ago with 3-4 teenagers smoking on the catwalk. One died.
We had one in our area a couple of years ago that was started by two kids shooting at the tanks with a BB gun. One had minor burns. The other kid got snakebit not long after that playing under the house after dark.
Those damned mole people.. is anything beneath them?
