To update my original post;
The old Texaco bulk terminal on the Ohio River at Cincinnati…………and "The Big Fire"……
The big petroleum storage tanks weren't the problem; the problem was the old antiquated tank truck loading rack;
for those unfamiliar with how gasoline and jet fuel tank trucks are loaded; at either a refinery, a pipe line terminal, or a river "bulk" terminal, tank trucks are pulled under, (or beside of) a big steel structure called a loading rack. A typical loading rack has a bunch of 6 inch pipes connecting it to a group of big storage tanks, (usually called a "tank farm");
After driving a tank truck for Texaco for several years, I transferred into the warehouse and got the job of operating the loading rack on the afternoon shift, Wed, Thur, Fri. and Sat. In those days, all tank trucks were loaded from the top, with a typical tank trailer having from 4 to 6 individual compartments, and each compartment having a "loading hatch" on the top of the tank trailer. Above each of four loading positions on the loading rack are two articulated loading arms, all made out of non-ferrous metal, (such as aluminum or bronze ), to prevent any sparks. Each loading arm had a 5 ft aluminum, 4" dia. "drop tube" that's stuck down into the tank trailer, through a 10 inch loading hatch; (this method was referred to as "open fill". )
On the day of the big fire, driver John Vanderpohl had just returned from delivering his first of two loads of jet fuel to Greater Cincinnati Airport, just across the Ohio River at Erlanger, Ky. John was parked in the front position on the right side of the loading rack; parked just behind John's truck and in both positions on the left side of the loading rack, were three more "driverless" tank trucks that I was loading for the next shift.
I should explain, when petroleum products are being loaded into a tank trailer, they are typically loaded using two drop tubes, with each tube delivering 600 gal per minute; gasoline flowing through a 6 inch pipe from the storage tank, then being "necked down" the last 15 feet through a 4 inch tube, creates a LOT of static electricity; jet fuel creates about three times as much static as gasoline does. For this reason, there is a large braided bronze wire bonding cable with a BIG bronze bonding clamp hanging from above each loading position on ALL loading racks. as long as the bonding clamp is attached to the tank trailer being loaded, all of the static electricity being generated by the flowing product is dissipated to ground.
At least that was "the plan" back in the 60's; the problem being…….drivers quite often forget to unhook bonding clamps, the bonding cable gets broken, and there is no connection to ground. Unbeknown to either John Vanderpohl or myself, the bonding cable in his position had been broken earlier in the day, supposedly "fixed", but apparently NOT fixed properly; at the same time John was loading his truck, I was loading all three of the other trucks, with two drop tubes in each truck, each one delivering 600 gallons per minute. (Each loading riser has a meter; you set the gallons wanted on the meter, pull the lever, it starts the loading, the meter counting down, and when it reaches zero, it shuts off.
When John was maybe half way loaded, he was in the process of sticking a drop tube into the next compartment; by this time, his aluminum trailer already had a BIG static charge……..and as the aluminum drop tube was passing through the 10 inch opening of the next compartment, a big spark "jumped"! Within 10 seconds, John and I found ourselves surrounded by more flames than you have ever seen in any Hollywood movie! In the next second, it became abundantly clear to me that everything about the design of that loading rack was backwards! (The fire-safety door leading from the loading rack into the small office opened TOWARDS the loading platform, NOT away from it, so you could "run through it" in case of a fire! John jumped off of the top of his truck into the parking lot, breaking one leg and the other ankle. I "ran" about 10 ft to get some momentum, jumped clear over the front tank truck on the left side, and landed on black top about 8 feet beyond the truck; oddly enough, I didn't break anything, but by the
next day, I was "dark purple" from my waist to my toes! (That lasted for the next six months.)
Within the next 10 minutes, every fire truck in Cincinnati was coming into our parking lot; an ambulance transported John, and tried to transport me; It occurred to me that being the ONLY Texaco employee in the whole place at that moment, the firemen had no earthly idea how to get all of the product that was STILL flowing into all 4 trucks, "turned off"; so I refused to leave until things were under control. I showed the Fire Chief which storage tanks contained which product, which ones were "open" and needed to be closed. etc etc etc.
The luckiest thing of all for me was; unbeknown to me, OR to the plant superintendent, a "big shot" engineer from Texaco's Corporate Office in NYC had come to Cincinnati that day and was staying in a motel right down River Road from the plant; he actually RAN to the scene when he started seeing all of the fire trucks! By the time the plant super arrived on scene, (about an hour later), he immediately began screaming how "everything was MY FAULT"! At that moment, the engineer from Corporate walks up, introduces himself, then says to the Plant Super, "Mr Smith…….allow me to introduce you to your employee here who just SAVED YOUR WHOLE DAMNED PLANT from burning down!
I actually ended up getting a letter saying "thanks" from the CEO of Texaco, and Smith got fired about 6 months later.
As a direct result of that fire, many things have changed; tank trucks are no longer loaded using "open fill"………and they are no longer loaded from the top; now they are connected by loading hoses beneath the tank; also, (and even more importantly ), nowadays, the electrical circuit that controls the shipping pump is wired into the grounding circuit;' if no ground occurs, the pump doesn't run, and no product goes anyplace.
After reading this, I'm guessing that many people will assume that gasoline tank trucks are "extremely dangerous"; actually, that's anything but true! Overall, petroleum tankers enjoy a safety record that is many time better than that of flat-bed steel trucks, ready-mix concrete trucks, dump trucks, or even ordinary van-type freight trucks.
