THE accidental fire at a liquefied petroleum gas storage facility in the coastal town of Calaca in Batangas has been effectively contained, according to the company that owns the facility.
“The fire that started around 4:00 p.m. Saturday was suppressed by 4:00 a.m. Sunday, at which point the fire marshal simply decided to allow the residual gas in the tanks to safely and gradually burn off,” said engineer Ronie Badidles, spokesperson for South Pacific Inc.
“There is nothing burning in the facility now, except the flare headers of the affected tanks,” Badidles said, adding that flare headers are safety devices on top of the tanks used to burn off the gas in a controlled manner during unplanned over-pressuring of the tanks due to excessive heat.
There were no fatalities, but two company employees were hurt when they first responded to the fire, he said.
“They were injured as they bravely tried to put out the initial flames. But they’re now okay and resting in the hospital. They did not suffer any burns,” Badidles said.
Only company-owned property were damaged by the fire, he said, referring to the storage tanks and the products inside.
“The storage facility in particular and the entire Phoenix industrial park in general were purposely built in isolation from residential areas for safety reasons, so at no point were communities in harm’s way even at the height of the blaze,” Badidles said.
Just the same, he said the company “deeply apologizes to the residents of Calaca for the unease and the disturbance caused by fire engines roaring in to quell the flames.”
“LPG is the second-cleanest fuel after natural gas, so air pollution was never an issue during the fire. In fact, we burn the cooking gas in our homes every day,” Badidles said.
Compared to coal, gasoline, and diesel fuel, he said LPG produces the least amount of carbon dioxide into the air when burned.
Citing U. S. Energy Information Administration figures, he said that for every million British thermal units (BTU) of energy produced, coal emits 228.6 pounds of CO2; diesel fuel, 161.3 pounds of CO2; and gasoline, 157.2 pounds of CO2.
He said LPG releases only 139.0 pounds of CO2; and natural gas, 117.0 pounds of CO2, per million BTU.
“In fact, LPG in liquid or vapor state contains no toxic components and therefore non-poisonous,” he pointed out.
He said the company does not store any other fuel, only LPG, so there was never any threat of potential ground or water contamination.
Badidles said the affected storage tanks as well as their flare headers and pressure relief valves behaved as they securely should during a fire.
“The tanks were built based on U.S. engineering and safety designs. They are set in sand and enclosed in a concrete barrier. The tanks did not fail or burn. As expected, the tank’s flare headers were the ones that controllably burned the gas coming out, as the pressure relief valves also did their job and opened up,” he said.
He said the flare headers are just slowly burning off the gas until the tanks run empty.
Badidles also clarified that the supposed “explosions” reported by the media “were actually the initial pressure relief valve discharges.”
The company will cooperate fully in the administrative inquiry to be conducted by the BFP, the National Police, the Department of Energy and the municipal government, Badidles added.