The flames and smoke are gone but on Monday morning, they prompted an evacuation when an apparent lightning strike ignited natural gas storage tanks at the Explorer Pipeline facility in Glenpool.
The Explorer site houses 31 large tanks in total and Mark Hurley, president and CEO of Explorer Pipeline said, “Due to the conditions at the time, we strongly suspect it was due to a lightning strike. We had no injuries whatsoever on site.”
The fire started in one tank and spread to two others containing the natural gas liquid.
The massive fire produced columns of black smoke that filled the air over parts of Tulsa after the lighting struck around 8:30 a.m. at the plant located near 1265h Street and Highway 75.
“”I actually saw it struck and it looked like it hit the ground,” Haley Honomichl told KTUL TV News. “I saw it strike, and I was like, you know, Oklahoma thought it was going to be a small storm, and here we are.”
It took several hours to extinguish the blaze as specialized firefighting teams used chemical foam to battle the petroleum-based fire. By late Monday afternoon, the crews were successful in knocking down the flames.
“One of the two tanks that was on fire has been extinguished, and they will be shifting efforts to the second tank,” said Mandy Vavrinak, public information officer for the Glenpool Fire Department. “You can see behind me that the smoke plume is noticeably less, and that is because that one fire is currently out.”
Explorer Pipeline issued a statement later Monday night.
“At the 8:30 p.m. press conference, Glenpool Fire Department and Explorer Pipeline leadership reported the fire is no longer actively burning, and no injuries have been reported in connection with the incident. The foam deployment was successful and has eliminated the smoke plume and all visible flames. Foam will continue to be applied on a maintenance basis for the next few hours to continue cooling the site down. Firefighter crews will continue working through the night to monitor the site and cool any hotspots that may remain. In addition, air quality monitoring will continue throughout the night.
