LAKEPORT, Calif. – Several agencies are involved with the investigation into what caused a gas storage gas fire at a Lakeport business Sunday morning.
The fire at Westgate Petroleum, 3740 Highland Springs Road, was first reported just before 9 a.m., and contained about an hour later, with firefighters clearing the scene at around noon, according to Lakeport Fire Protection District Chief Doug Hutchison.
A large storage tank holding unleaded fuel – surrounded by five other large tanks containing diesel and kerosene – was the one that caught fire, with nearby tanks also sustaining some damage, according to Lake County Air Pollution Control Officer Doug Gearhart, who on Sunday afternoon was documenting the scene.
Caltrans and county roads crews closed nearby Highway 29 for nearly an hour and a half while firefighters worked at the scene.
Hutchison said the fire began while a tanker truck was filling the unleaded tank with fuel.
There were no injuries, said Hutchison.
“There's multiple agencies investigating just what exactly happened,” Hutchison added.
Other than the main tank that burned, there was surprisingly little damage to the rest of the storage tanks, which are grouped together about 50 yards from the consumer gas pumps.
“Everybody did the exactly right thing,” from evacuating to shutting down the roads, said Hutchison.
Gearhart said the fire – which initially was sending up a large cloud of black smoke – didn't appear to have done any damage to air quality.
“It looked like the smoke broke through the inversion layer and stayed aloft,” said Gearhart.
Firefighters were on scene for about 45 minutes before they could go into a direct attack on the fire, which Hutchison said was because they were waiting for fire agencies from around the county to bring all the available Class B fire suppression foam they could.
Foam is more effective on petroleum-based fires, explained Hutchison. That's because petroleum products will simply float on the water. “You're just going to spread the fire out.”
He said Class B foam increases the surface tension of the water, creating an aqueous film that helps seal off oxygen from the burning fuel.
“It basically smothers the fire,” he said.
However, to use it effectively, there needs to be enough of the foam on hand to entirely coat an area in the first 15-minute application, with a second application needed about 15 minutes later. The procedure is based on a formula firefighters follow, Hutchison said.
As a result, Hutchison said the rule is that firefighters don't actively start fighting such a petroleum fire until they have enough foam to knock it down.
Lakeport Fire, Kelseyville Fire and Northshore Fire brought all the foam they had available, Lake County Fire sent its hazmat rig, and South Lake County Fire and Cal Fire was sending foam as well when they were canceled because enough had arrived at the scene, Hutchison said.
While waiting for the foam supply, Hutchison said Pacific Gas and Electric was called as a precaution to shut down nearby transmission lines.
Hutchison said that the goal was to deenergize the lines in case the burning gas tank collapsed – which he said was a significant concern.
If there had been a catastrophic tank structure failure, the power lines – had they still been on – could have been a secondary source of ignition, he said.
Once the foam was on the fire, Hutchison said it took about a minute to knock it out.
After it was contained, Hutchison said firefighters remained on scene a few more hours to reapply foam and make sure there were no flashbacks.
“Fortune was on our side, that the way this fire started and was burning was a little bit different than a lot of fires you have,” he said.
Hutchison said the tank had fuel flowing out of the top of it when the fire started, which was a better situation than having the fire pool down below.
The tanks on either side of the burning tank were full, which also worked in the favor of firefighters, as liquid is able to absorb more heat than air inside an empty tank, he said.
The two nearest tanks also were filled with kerosene and diesel, which have higher ignition points than gasoline, he said.
Had one of the tanks only been half full – and contained gas instead of diesel or kerosene – “We could have had a different story,” Hutchison said, noting there could have been a big fire ball.
Westgate Petroleum was closed for the rest of the day on Sunday, and it wasn't immediately clear when the fueling station might reopen.
Hutchison said the business will have to have at least two to three of its tanks reinspected for structural integrity before they can use them.
On Sunday afternoon, it appeared that the tanks were being emptied, possibly for that inspection process.
Gearhart said Westgate Petroleum needs to hire an environmental company conduct the cleanup, and will have to do followup with his agency, which oversees local gas stations.
Hutchison said that, overall, “It was a good day. Nobody got hurt and the fire got put out.”
Email Elizabeth Larson at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. . Follow her on Twitter, @ERLarson, or Lake County News, @LakeCoNews.
Agencies investigate Sunday gas storage tank fire
- Elizabeth Larson
- Posted On