At Downtown Intersection JET FUEL TANKER BURNS
FIRE REPORTS
A four-alarm fire was touched off when an automobile and a tank truck carrying 3000 gallons of type A jet fuel collided at a downtown intersection in Tampa, Fla., last Oct. 14.
The car went underneath the truck just in front of the rear axle, rupturing the tank. The drivers of both vehicles escaped before the fuel ignited.
It has been raining for several hours at the time of the accident, and the runoff helped the ignited fuel to flow west and north in the rain gutters. Eleven automobiles parked along the street ignited, and the city sewer system was at risk.
The first alarm was received at Tampa Fire Stations 1 and 3 at 12:11 p.m., dispatching three engines, one aerial, a tower ladder with an 85-foot elevating tower and a 1500-gpm pump, and a rescue unit. Captain D C. Bonnano also started Foam 1 when he learned that the incident involved a tank truck.
Foam 1 carries 500 pounds of Purple K (a dry chemical extinguishing agent) and 50 gallons of premixed 6 percent AFFF.
Fire fighters could see heavy smoke after leaving the station, which was two blocks from the incident, and Bonnano immediately requested a second alarm.
Battalion Chief j. L. Stokes, responding from Station 4 two miles from the incident, also noticed the large amount of smoke and upgraded the second alarm to a third alarm at 12:14 p m.
Initial operations were to protect the exposures (automobiles and a six-story county courthouse annex with numerous plate glass windows) and lay a foam blanket over the tanker and roadways.
Tower 1 laid in with a 5-inch supply line while Foam 1 prepared to attack the fire with Purple-K and foam lines. Two 750gpm elevated master streams were placed to protect the courthouse annex.,
Chief of Training ). W. jones, who was nearby when the alarm came in, responded and after conferring with Stokes took a crew inside the annex to check for extension. He also started evacuation, but this proved to be quite a problem because court was in session and police personnel first had to accompany prisoners back to the jail.
Meanwhile, Engine 1 took a hydrant and stretched two 2 1/2-inch hand lines for exposure protection. Engine 1A laid two 2 1/2-inch supply lines from another hydrant and the crew advanced a 1 1/2-inch, 95-gpm foam line to the burning automobiles. They then used a booster line on burning shrubbery in front of the annex. Engine 3 brought in two 3-inch supply lines and used two 1 3/4-inch lines on exposures. With another two supply lines from Engine 5, crews stretched a 1 3/4-inch foam line and two 2 1/2-inch lines. The crew from Snorkel 4 helped set up Tower 1 and operated hand lines for the protection of crews.
Fire fighters had some trouble keeping the foam blanket intact because of the rain and the large amount of water used to cool the tanker and protect exposures.
At 12:30 p.m., a fourth alarm was requested.
A total of six engines, three aerials, three foam vehicles, three rescue vehicles, a ladder tower, a Snorkel unit, and an airport crash/fire/rescue vehicle responded to the incident. Also dispatched was a foam tender which carries 16 55-gallon drums of alcohol treated concentrated (ATC) and one 55-gallon drum of oil dispersant, and is equipped with a 50-gpm PTO transfer pump; and Trailer 6, which carries 37 5gallon cans of ATC and 19 5-gallon cans of high expansion foam concentrate.
All Tampa’s engines have a minimum pump capacity of 1000 gpm, carry 20 gallons of 3 to 6 percent ATC and 5 gallons of oil dispersant, and are equipped with adjustable 95-gpm foam eductors and automatic nozzles.
Danger of water contamination was present, and the Public Works [Department was requested to bring maps of the storm sewer system to the scene. The U.S. Coast Guard also was notified, and fire companies were dispatched to the Hillsborough River where the sewers empty. However, due to the application of foam and oil dispersant, very little contamination actually occurred.
A total of 275 gallons of ATC, 150 pounds of Purple-K, 100 gallons of premixed 6 percent AFFF, and 45 gallons of oil dispersant was used. The fire was extinguished at 1:51 p.m., and pumping off operations began.
Six thousand gallons of fuel, water, and extinguishing agents were siphoned from the formerly involved tanker into another vehicle. The last companies left the scene at 7:23 p.m.
Total loss was estimated at $250,000, which included the tanker, 11 automobiles, and exposure damage to the courthouse annex.
photos by Tony Moran, Tampa F.D. photographer
