This particular refinery has been the scene of dozends of multi-alarm fires throughout it's long history. One of those fires killed 9 firefighters in 1975.
This particular refinery has been the scene of dozends of multi-alarm fires throughout it's long history. One of those fires killed 9 firefighters in 1975.
I remember that fire in 75. I was in Philly with my grandparents. It happened on a Sunday evening and we couldn’t get out of town because they had shut down the Passyunk Avenue bridge. The tank which ruptured was directly below and adjacent to the southbound lane on the city side. The fire companies were using the bridge to work the fire and were also hosing it down to keep it cool so the heat wouldn’t damage the bridge as well as hosing down the adjacent storage tanks.
If I recall correctly several emergency vehicles were parked next to an adjacent tank which when it too ruptured caused a wave of fuel to spill over the vehicles when that spill ignited. The morning papers showed melted steel fire engines. I dont remember if that second rupture was the cause of the firefighters deaths. It was indeed tragic.
We could see the orange glow of the fires from their house a few miles north.
This happened once before in the late seventies or early eighties. I remember flying from PHL to TTN and the flames looked to be at the 3000 foot level.
My grandfather worked for Philadelphia Gas and Electric at that plant until his retirement in the mid fifties. I remember visiting it and being thrilled at the burn towers where they burned off gas for some reason or another.
Driving and flying over that place after 9/11, I often thought about how easy it would be a lone person with a RPG to blow the place up.
I'm sure they will tell us that a squirrel ate through an electrical wire somewhere and started the whole thing.