The Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation provided additional information regarding the Crowley tanker truck fire that took place on Monday, June 27. An explosion and fire happened in the truck loading rack at the Petro Star Refinery in Valdez around 5:00 p.m. The tanker truck owner is Crowley Fuels Alaska, and the facility owner/operator is Petro Star Inc.
The tanker truck released approximately 5,000 gallons of ultra-low sulfur diesel as a result of the fire. An unknown amount of fire suppressant foam and water mixture used to put out the fire was released onto a gravel surface. The cause, according to a DEC release states that Crowley Fuels Alaska was loading a tanker truck at the tanker truck loading rack at the Petro Star facility at the time of the explosion and subsequent spill.
Source control for the contaminated fire foam/water mixture was achieved at 6:00 p.m. that evening when the fire was brought under control. The truck loading rack had been secured.
The Valdez Fire Department and Alyeska Pipeline Service Company Fire and Rescue team responded to control the fire caused by the explosion. Petro Star refinery personnel responded by closing the canal valves and built dikes to mitigate the spread of diesel and contaminated water. The fire consumed an unknown amount of the diesel released from the truck. Vac trucks were used to recover a combination of 5,000 gallons of liquid with ultra-low sulfur diesel and fire foam/water. The recovered liquids were transferred to interim storage tanks. The refinery operations have not been impacted. The truck loading rack has been taken out of service until inspections and repairs have been completed. At this time, it is unknown how long the truck rack will be out of service. There were no reported injuries.
The cause of the explosion is still under investigation.