Pasadena Citizen - News
Plant fire lights up sky
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| Flames rise from Kinder Morgan early Wednesday morning following a tank explosion. |
By YVETTE OROZCO
A fire erupted at the Kinder Morgan Terminal in Pasadena around 10:30 p.m. Tuesday, injuring at least one employee.
“It was a fire and we have not determined the cause of the incident,” said Emily Thompson, spokesperson for Kinder Morgan.
Kinder Morgan would not release the identity of the injured employee or the person’s condition.
The fire started about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday and was extinguished by 9:30 a.m. the following morning.
“It was a fire that occurred at a manifold, which is a place where pipelines interconnect,” said Thompson.
At times, the fire took on dramatic proportions and about 11:50 p.m., a large fireball erupted over the tank and the heat was felt by onlookers a mile and a half away.
Kinder Morgan provides storage, transfers product and has more than 35,000 miles of pipeline and the Pasadena facility is one of 165 terminals.
“This is our Pasadena terminal facility and we store liquid petroleum products here,” said Thompson.
The thick plume of black smoke hovering over the area was visible in the night sky, but according to Kinder Morgan, the fire was immediately contained and no toxic chemicals were released during the incident, posing no danger to nearby residents.
No shelter-in-place was issued at any time during the incident.
Emergency personnel from Deer Park, Houston and Pasadena responded to the scene.
Kinder Morgan Energy Partners reported Wednesday it expects to resume supplying oil products to the Colonial and Explorer pipelines within the next two days.
The company’s facility at Galena Park, which serves the Longhorn and Magellan pipelines, was not affected by the fire and was currently operating, Kinder Morgan said in a release.
“The manifolds serving the Colonial and Explorer pipelines are on the opposite side of the facility and have been temporarily shut down, but the company currently expects to resume operations at those manifolds in the next 24 to 48 hours,” the company said.
Kinder Morgan’s Pasadena terminal is located at 530 N. Witter.
“It was a fire and we have not determined the cause of the incident,” said Emily Thompson, spokesperson for Kinder Morgan.
Kinder Morgan would not release the identity of the injured employee or the person’s condition.
The fire started about 10:30 p.m. Tuesday and was extinguished by 9:30 a.m. the following morning.
“It was a fire that occurred at a manifold, which is a place where pipelines interconnect,” said Thompson.
At times, the fire took on dramatic proportions and about 11:50 p.m., a large fireball erupted over the tank and the heat was felt by onlookers a mile and a half away.
Kinder Morgan provides storage, transfers product and has more than 35,000 miles of pipeline and the Pasadena facility is one of 165 terminals.
“This is our Pasadena terminal facility and we store liquid petroleum products here,” said Thompson.
The thick plume of black smoke hovering over the area was visible in the night sky, but according to Kinder Morgan, the fire was immediately contained and no toxic chemicals were released during the incident, posing no danger to nearby residents.
No shelter-in-place was issued at any time during the incident.
Emergency personnel from Deer Park, Houston and Pasadena responded to the scene.
Kinder Morgan Energy Partners reported Wednesday it expects to resume supplying oil products to the Colonial and Explorer pipelines within the next two days.
The company’s facility at Galena Park, which serves the Longhorn and Magellan pipelines, was not affected by the fire and was currently operating, Kinder Morgan said in a release.
“The manifolds serving the Colonial and Explorer pipelines are on the opposite side of the facility and have been temporarily shut down, but the company currently expects to resume operations at those manifolds in the next 24 to 48 hours,” the company said.
Kinder Morgan’s Pasadena terminal is located at 530 N. Witter.
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