Chevron Tank Farm Fire 1980 by Paul Fox
Paul Fox is a past firefighter, fire photographer and hardcore fire buff. Paul talks about the 1980 Chevron Tank Farm Fire. This was the largest fire department response in Honolulu’s history. All City, State and Military fire departments on the island had personnel actively involved at this fire! It resulted in the largest civil settlement in Honolulu’s history at the time. There was a lot that happened at this fire and a lot of lessons learned. At the time of the fire, Paul was the official fire photographer for the Honolulu fire department, but at the fire he also played an active role in the firefighting operations.
Index:
00:26 Introductions
02:36 Map
03:13 Speaker Paul Fox Background
05:23 1st Fire 2 year before
06:13 Largest Law Suit
06:52 Honolulu Fire Department
08:18 Storage Tanks Designs
09:40 Video - Lamasa Tx Tank Failures
11:17 UK Tank Rocket
11:37 Seal Fires Open Top Tanks
12:46 Tanks Involved
14:04 Video - 1st Arrived at Fire
17:59 Tanker Ship Evacuates
18:50 Video - Directing a Crash Truck
22:04 Video - Fighting Pressure Fires
27:28 Command & Control Lesson
29:10 Tank Farm Staff Essential
30:51 Foams Concentrate, Solution, Product
33:10 Tank Roof Sinks
36:06 Video - Flash Back Miracle
39:30 Shell Fire Fight
40:40 Video - Fire Out
42:12 Tank Farm Foam System
43:26 AFFF Elephant in the Room
47:36 Never Mix Different Foam Types in the same tank
48:29 Air Aspiration Nozzles
49:54 Take-A-Way 1 Radiant Heat is Over Rated
50:29 Take-A-Way 2 Water & Foam Don't Mix Unless..
51:16 Take-A-Way 3 Control the Ground Fire
51:48 Take-A-Way 4 Consolidate Foam Resources
Clarifications by Paul Fox:
I have discovered there are still a few things that I need to correct or further state. At 06:53 I meant to imply that the Honolulu Fire Dept. has evolved greatly since it's beginnings in 1850, NOT that in 1980 HFD was using horse-drawn steamers. At 07:44, I meant to say "The Mechanics Engine Co. No.2 in 1852". At 10:00, on the far right of the screen, note after the one tank rockets, the next tank, the roof explodes off of it like is designed too. At 15:00, E-31 is actually right behind E-4 (the yellow truck in the foreground), where the monitor water stream is coming from. At 25:11, I meant to say "Pressure Fire #2". At 25:37, correction; the Refinery Fire Truck had 500 lbs. of dry chemical on it. At 27:28 to further clarify, since the dry chemical was so badly caked in the Refinery Truck, here the firefighter is trying to use the straight nitrogen, by sticking the nozzle right into the fire, to literally "blow" the fire out. It failed. At 30:51, again to further clarify: A Dike Wall serves two purposes. First, to keep any spilled fuel contained, and secondly, to keep people OUT! Inside the dike area is an extremely dangerous area. You (including firefighters) should NOT go in there...unless you absolutely have too. And then EVERYBODY needs to know: when you are going in, what are you doing in there, and when are you coming out! At 32:18; I mention later that the military crash trucks do not have the ability to have proportional foam out of their 1 1/2" & 2 1/2" outlets. They are water only. This line here is the 1" booster line off the P-15 which did have proportional foam. At 53:54 I misspoke. According to the NFPA standard, the application rate is .16 gpm/sqf. BUT, it is now recognized that tanks greater than 150' in diameter might require a larger application rate! Feel free to contact me at 808-528-2733 with your comments, suggestions and/or recommendations.