HOUSTON (KTRK) -- A chemical spill closed about a mile-long portion of Tidwell in northeast Houston for hours on Thursday.

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The eastbound lanes of Tidwell Rd. between the Eastex Freeway and Lockwood were shut down due to a chemical spill.

According to the Houston Fire Department, it appeared to be some type of used oil product from a tanker truck. HFD responded to the report of a chemical spill in the 4100 block of Tidwell about 2:20pm Thursday.

Spill occurs at BP processing facility
The Associated Press
ANCHORAGE, Alaska — A state agency says thousands of gallons of crude oil and oily water have spilled at a BP processing facility on the North Slope.

The Anchorage Daily News says a tank at Prudhoe Bay overflowed on Monday, spilling about 4,200 gallons of crude oil and oily water into a containment area. The overflow was stopped and the Department of Environmental Conservation says the liquids did not leach out onto the tundra.

Officials say instruments and valves used to control the level of fluids in the tank malfunctioned.

BP spokesman Steve Rinehart says an alarm went off. A BP worker checking on the alarm discovered the spill at the processing facility where oil, natural gas and water are separated.

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — A fire with flames 100 to 200 feet high erupted Friday at an oil well east of Cheyenne owned by SM Energy.

The fire at 1781 County Road 136 started in an oil treater containing 20 to 250 gallons of an oil and water mixture, Laramie County Fire District 2 spokesman Lew Simpson said. The treater overflowed and was ignited.

An oil treater removes sediment and water from crude oil before it is transported to refineries.

"It ignited, and it was threatening about 42,000 gallons of other oil fuel stored nearby," Simpson said. "We managed to control it — we shut off the fuel to the fire."

About 60 firefighters responded to the scene from several agencies, including six Laramie County fire districts, the Torrington Fire Department and F.E. Warren Air Force Base. Firefighters from the local Frontier Oil refinery also helped out.

The fire was extinguished in about an hour. No injuries were reported.

PIKE TWP., Ohio — A massive blaze at an oil company took firefighters six hours to get under control Thursday and will require an extensive environmental cleanup.
...
The fire started about 11 a.m. as R.D. Holder crews loaded a semi-tanker, said company owner Bob Holder.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but King believed it ignited while workers transferred a fluid from one tank to another. It was not immediately known what type of fluid was being transferred.

After about 45 minutes, firefighters ordered first responders and company employees back as the blaze spread. Transformers exploded and electric lines fell on the scene about 12:45 p.m., forcing firefighters back even more. And as the fire spread, the building began to collapse.

A section of Shell's southern Victorian oil refinery has been shut down following a chemical leak.

About 20 firefighters were called to the plant at Corio, southwest of Melbourne, about 11pm (AEST) on Saturday when super-heated flammable sand, used in fuel production, began leaking from a pipe.

Part of the plant was shut down and roads in the vicinity closed as a precaution while authorities responded to the leak, Country Fire Authority (CFA) spokesman Ian Beswicke said.

The area was declared safe about 2am and air monitoring equipment was used to confirm that no dangerous substances had escaped from the refinery.

A major explosion at a CPC Corp., Taiwan plant in Kaohsiung has caused local residents to worry about their safety and disrupted the local petrochemical supply chain.
The explosion, which occurred at about 3:28 a.m., sparked a fire that gutted the plant for about five hours before being extinguished.

No casualties were reported. The state-run firm also claimed that no pollution was detected because of the accident.

Operations of the plant and other areas of the same refinery complex were halted, with Kaohsiung Mayor Chen Chu instructing that the heaviest possible penalties be imposed on CPC over the accident.

VILLAGE OF WOODVILLE, Ohio (WUPW) - A Sandusky County farmer tiling his field Wednesday afternoon hit an old underground well, causing it to spill into a ditch.

The incident took place at around 5:30 p.m. in the Village of Woodville.

EPA and Hazmat officials who were dispatched to assist in recapping the well. They said it's fairly common for underground wells to crack and spill during farming.

Crews have put absorbents out to hopefully suck up the oil.

The oil leak is not a risk to the public, the EPA said.

A weekend fire at 901 Richwood Road No. 2 in Monroe has prompted a Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality investigation.

The fire was Saturday at the old Chauvin chemical plant. A burning tanker contained a dark fluid. After Monroe firefighters controlled the fire, representatives from the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality responded to the scene.

DEQ spokesman Rodney Mallett said Monday the incident remains under investigation.

Mallett said the site was once an ink processing plant. All containers had been removed from the building, which was later used as a storage area for paper. The containers that were removed were being cut into scrap metal on Saturday, but inside some of those containers, there was sludged ink, Mallett explained.

This past weekend, workers were cutting the tanks, scraping the sludge out and then cutting the rest of the tank for scrap, but the sludge material in some of the containers at the plant may have caught on fire, Mallett said.

BUCHANAN – Entergy, the company that owns the Indian Point nuclear power plants at Buchanan, will pay a $1.2 million civil penalty to the state based on a consent order with the Department of Environmental Conservation.

The fine stems from violations of the Clean Water Act, Chemical Bulk Storage Regulations and Navigation Laws, when a 2010 explosion and fire at the plant resulted in petroleum released into the Hudson River.

Entergy also agreed to upgrade its containment systems which protect the river from accidental spills and unpermitted releases.

In November 2010, the #21 main transformer failed and resulted in an explosion that breached the walls of the transformer causing a fire and release of petroleum used to cool the transformers into the Hudson River.

The DEC said its investigation revealed long-standing structural conditions prevented the containment moat from retaining the petroleum as designed. More than 10,000 gallons of oil were recovered from the transformer, the containment moat and areas outside the containment moat including the discharge canal, the Hudson River shoreline and the river.

Modesto Regional Fire Authority crews responded to a call of an injured worker at a Bob's Marine on Oakdale Road on Monday night.
Battalion Chief Hugo Patino said a worker hurt himself while using a blow torch to cut a metal 55-gallon drum. Patino said the drum apparently contained residue from a petroleum product.
The gas vapors were ignited by the torch, which cause the drum to explode, he said.

MINEOLA — Fire investigators are working to discover what caused a long-time Mineola business to burn to the ground Sunday night.

Crews from Mineola, Quitman, Hainesville and Lindale fire departments were called to Pearce Petroleum Products, 302 S. Johnson St., behind Mineola's train museum, shortly before 8 p.m., Mineola Fire Department spokesman Steve Finley said.

Business owners were inside on the company grounds when the fire broke out and called emergency responders, he said. Finley said in the initial 911 calls, some reports of an explosion were made.

The fire was largely extinguished about an hour after it started, and Finely said an independent hazardous materials team was called in. A large amount of a petroleum product had poured out onto the company grounds and into storm drains, Finley said.

“We have some hazardous material response equipment within the department,” he said, adding that the area and size of the spill was too large for just the fire departments to handle.
Finley said no injuries were reported in the fire.

NEW YORK –  A fire Tuesday at Valero Energy Corp.'s (VLO) oil refinery in Memphis, Tenn., has injured three people, according to a local NBC television news affiliate report.

"The Memphis fire department is on the scene," the 4:00 p.m. CST report said.

The Memphis Commercial-Appeal newspaper said on its website that two of the three injured suffered burns over 90 percent of their bodies.

CALGARY (MarketWatch) -- The Syncrude oil-sands project in northeastern Alberta is operating at reduced capacity after a fire at its refinery, a spokeswoman for the project's largest stakeholder said Monday.

A fire late Friday at one of three coking units at the Syncrude project will reduce Syncrude's production to two-thirds of its normal capacity of 350,000 barrels of oil a day, said Siren Fisekci, a spokeswoman for Canadian Oil Sands Ltd. .

There is no word yet on when the coker will be restarted, or what caused the damage, Fisekci said.

The southbound Interstate 5 at McBean Parkway was closed temporarily Sunday after a truck containing fuel overturned on the freeway, according to officials.

For an unsubstantiated reason, a 2000 Freightliner truck crashed into an embankment and overturned, coming to a rest on its left side at about 1 p.m. according to a statement for the California Highway Patrol. The highly pressurized liquid-petroleum-gas tank it was pulling released some of its contents in gas form.

California Highway Patrol officers, Los Angeles County firefighters and hazmat trucks responded to the crash, and closed Interstate 5 for 50 minutes, Officer Tatiana Sauquillo said.

A fire at the largest oil refinery in Washington State took about 90 minutes to put out, fire officials said.
The blaze at BP's Cherry Point refinery Friday afternoon caused no serious injuries, The Seattle Times reported.
The refinery in Whatcom County on the Canadian border north of Seattle is the third largest on the West Coast. BP spokesman Scott Dean said production continued during the blaze, although the fire slowed operations.

HOUSTON (KTRK) -- An oil-contaminated water spill in east Harris County on Sunday left crews trying to clean up the mess and figure out what happened.

Highlands volunteer firefighters went to a Highlands-area flood canal around 10:15am Sunday after receiving calls about an oily residue in the water.

Firefighters then found a leak coming from the ZXP Technologies facility in the 400 block of East Wallisville.

According to officials, ZXP Technologies is a lubricant mixing and packaging facility.

A Harlingen man is dead after being killed in a Tuesday afternoon oil well explosion just southeast of Midland.

It all happened at an oil drilling site off County Road 125 about 11 miles southwest of Garden City around 12:30 p.m. Tuesday.

KWES-TV reported that 51-year-old Harlingen native Noe Cabriales died in the accident.

According to KWES-TV, Cabriales was fracking a well at a site belonging to Great White Pressure Pump when a high pressure line exploded.

KITTERY, Maine — A chemical reaction at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard brought its hazardous response team to Building 357 on Tuesday morning.

According to shipyard public affairs officer Dana Eddy, the team responded at about 9:30 a.m. About one pound of calcium hypochlorite had been placed in a hopper that had previously contained oily rags, she said.

This caused a chemical reaction within the hopper, which was immediately removed from the building. Eddy said the reaction subsequently ended, and there were no personal injuries.

Calcium hypochlorite is used to disinfect drinking water systems and is closely related to household bleach or pool chemicals, she said.

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Alaska environmental officials say a faulty gasket on a tank led to a spill of 6,300 gallons of crude oil and process water at the XTO Energy onshore facility at Nikiski, southwest of Anchorage.

In a situation report Tuesday, the state Department of Environmental Conservation said no resources have been affected. It says all of the spill discovered late Monday afternoon was captured within a secondary containment area.

The state says XTO Energy responded with contractors Monday night to recover free liquid from the secondary containment area — a bermed area with a 60-mil liner. On Tuesday, the company began removing contaminated snow and ice.

A fire at the Stavrolen petrochemicals complex of the Lukoil group, Russia’s biggest independent oil producer, in mid-December is set to affect Russian market supplies of polyethylene and polypropylene.
The blaze, the site’s second major accident in just over three years, left eight workers injured, one of them in a grave condition. In 2008, an explosion and fire in the PP plant at the same Lukoil site killed three employees and left three more with severe burns.

This incident comes weeks after Stavrolen site, along with other group Lukoil subsidiaries, was the subject of an industrial safety inspection by the Russian state environmental, technical and nuclear regulatory agency Rostekhnadzor.

A major headache on the Yellowhead caused a major backlog Thursday afternoon.

A HAZMAT team had to be called out to the scene westbound on Highway 16 at Range Road 222, after an oil tanker rolled and spilled its load.

RCMP Cst. Wally Henry says if you're headed into town, you will be delayed.

"Alberta environment and clean up crews were called to the scene, and we're advising people to avoid the area if they can and if they do have to drive through, they'll encounter some delays."

Southington, Conn. (WTNH) - A high speed police chase ended in a fiery scene in Southington, when a stolen vehicle crashed into a tanker truck Tuesday afternoon.

Evacuations were ordered in the vicinity of Routes 10 and 322 in Southington following the crash, which occurred around 3:30 p.m.

"Until we could ascertain exactly what was going on we evacuated a quarter mile in all directions," said Harold Clark, Southington Fire Chief. "Then we were able to attack the fire itself."

"And it wasn't three or four minutes and the flames were everywhere," said local resident Tom Kammer. "They got to a point where they were about 125 feet high."

The crash knocked out power in the immediate area and the smell of burning fuel was in the air.

The car was stolen out of Woodbury, according to State Police. A trooper spotted the stolen car in Waterbury, but ended the pursuit "due to hazardous conditions," State Police spokesman Lt. J. Paul Vance said in a statement.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The cargo ship accident that dumped tens of thousands of gallons of thick, tarry ship fuel into San Francisco Bay caused lasting damage to the region's once-plentiful schools of Pacific herring, the bay's only commercially fished species, according to a study released Monday.

Herring embryos collected from shorelines left coated in oil starting about 3 months after the November 2007 Cosco Busan spill suffered from unusually high death rates and a range of ailments and deformities associated with exposure to the chemicals in crude oil, the study found.

"The majority of embryos in samples from oiled sites were dead on examination in the laboratory," wrote the study's authors, who were led by John Incardona, a toxicologist with the fisheries division of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Russian oil company Lukoil Holdings said a fire Thursday at its Stavrolen chemical plant in southern Russia injured six people and partly disrupted production, according to Dow Jones Newswires. 

It was unclear when the fire, which broke out around 2 p.m. local time (1000 GMT), would be put out and to what extent it would affect production, a company spokesman said. 

The Stavrolen plant produced 684,000 metric tons of petrochemicals, mainly polyethylene, last year. 

MANITOU SPRINGS --
Manitou Springs Police said the semi sprung a leak in its fuel tank, leaking 90 gallons of fuel on the road.

An eastbound lane is still closed as Hazmat crews, Manitou Springs Fire Department and Colorado State Patrol continue to clean up the mess.

Officials said they're waiting to tow the semi before opening the lane back up.

Kanpur/Pune, Dec 4: Lakhs of rupees worth chemicals were destroyed in a big fire  at a chemical factory in Jajmau near Kanpur on Saturday.

Workers said, there was a sudden explosion at Ayesha Petrochemicals factory and soon flames began leaping from a section of the factory.

As workers tried to douse the fire with water, the fire spread further and there were explosions in chemical containers.

Six fire tenders reached the spot and controlled it after two hours. The factory used to refine mobil oil.

In Pune's Patil Estate slums, a major fire gutted 25-30 slums. LPG cylinders being used in the slums began exploding one after another. The fire was controlled after nearly three hours.

Local residents alleged that the fire brigade reached the spot late. They blocked the Pune-Mumbai highway for sometime. There was no casualty.

COMMERCE CITY (AP) — Environmental Protection Agency officials say small dams erected on a bank overnight appear to be containing an oily muck that's seeping into a Denver-area creek. Officials are trying to keep it from reaching the South Platte River, which is a major source of drinking water, wildlife habitat and agricultural water for Colorado and the Midwest.

EPA spokeswoman Karen Edson said Wednesday that the dams seem to be containing most of the substance. Workers are vacuuming the heaving muck out of the isolated area created by the dams but a sheen remains on the creek.

State health department spokesman Warren Smith says the toxic spill is believed to be coming from Suncor's refinery. He says further tests could identify the chemicals and the source as early as Wednesday.

SAN ANTONIO -- Firefighters scrambled to cut off the fuel supply following a "large explosion" at a southeast-side refinery, SAFD spokeswoman Melissa Sparks said Wednesday afternoon.
The NuStar San Antonio Refinery at South Presa Street and Southeast Military Drive was evacuated around 12:50 p.m.
Nustar spokesman Greg Matula said about 60 workers and contractors were evacuated from the refinery following a brief fire, lasting about five to 10 minutes. The cause is unknown, he said, adding that the company invested in new safety equipment when they purchased the plant earlier this year.

RICHMOND -- Fire crews from Richmond and in-house staff teamed to quench an equipment flare-up at the Chevron oil refinery Monday night.
The fire started about 6 p.m. on a piece of equipment being restarted after a shutdown for maintenance and repairs, Richmond Battalion Chief Merlin Turner said.
The blaze did not trigger a regional alert from Contra Costa County, nor result in any measurable emissions beyond the refinery gates, Turner said.
Firefighters treated one Chevron worker at the scene for a minor injury, he added.

BRISTOL, Tenn. --
A fiery blast Tuesday at Necessary Oil Co. reminded employees of the nearby Food City and other neighbors of a fire that occurred there more than a decade ago, killing one man and heavily damaging the property.

But no one was seriously injured in the latest blaze and employees at the company on Georgia Avenue followed the proper procedure assisting firefighters in containing the fire, said owner Mark Byington.

“It was just an accident that happened,” he said. “We’ll wait to find out why it happened and look at it and hope to get back up and running by Monday.”

The fire started at the oil refinery plant just before 12:30 p.m., said Jack Spurgeon, assistant chief for the Bristol Tennessee Fire Department. About 26 firefighters from both Bristol fire departments had the blaze contained in about 35 minutes, he said.

A preliminary investigation suggests the fire started in the area of the plant where the vapors that are pulled off the oil during the refining process are stored, he said. Firefighters were on scene until about 4:30 p.m., investigating the cause, said Capt. Harry Miller. He said Tuesday night that the final report is expected to be filed today.

An oil tanker carrying 7,700 gallons of crude oil wrecked Monday morning on Highway 141 outside of Gateway, spilling some 3,000 gallons of gallons of oil. An unknown amount of oil made it into a creek that feeds the Dolores River, according to an official.

The truck was headed uphill outside of Gateway and ran off the side of road, according to Mike Page, the public information officer for the Grand Junction Fire Department. Page and his Hazmat team responded on Monday to the accident, keeping a crew there until 10 p.m.

The driver sustained “minor injuries” according to Page, but was taken to Grand Junction for treatment via ambulance.

Page said “thousands” of gallons spilled from the mangled tanker, with an “unknown” amount making its way to the creek below.

Ecology crews are cleaning up a hazardous material spill near Interstate 82 and Yakima Avenue tonight.

State patrol says a 200 gallon drum carrying transmission fluid fell off a truck when the driver took a sharp turn. Most of it spilled into a nearby ditch.

Troopers don't know how long it will take to clean up the mess. The driver may be cited for driving with an unsecured load.

GATEWAY, Colo. -- Hazmat and clean-up crews are racing against Mother Nature in an effort to contain a large oil spill off of Highway 141 near Gateway.
It happened just after 11:00 am Monday when a tanker truck carrying 10,000 gallons of crude oil crashed just north of the small town. Colorado State Patrol says the driver of the Basin Western owned truck was going too fast around a corner and lost control.
The driver was taken to Saint Mary's Hospital with minor injuries.
Quickly, crews turned their attention to the environment. Early estimates suggested 7,500 gallons, or 75%, of the oil being transported have leaked out of the tanker. Crews were seen using foam and booms in an effort to contain the spill.

HOUSTON -(Dow Jones)- A small fire at LyondellBasell Industries' (LYB) refinery in Houston has not affected operations, the company said Saturday.

Lyondell had been demolishing a de-commissioned chemical unit at the 268,000 barrel-a-day refinery when an insulation fire broke out around 11:30 p.m. local time Friday, Lyondell spokesman David Harpole said. The fire was contained in the structure and did not impact operations at the refinery, Harpole said.

No injuries were reported, Harpole said. Lyondell continues to monitor the air around the site but has so far not found high concentrations of pollutants.

(Reuters) - A fire broke out on Friday afternoon in the crude distillation unit at Petrobras's (PETR4.SA)(PBR.N) 100,000-barrels-per-day Pasadena, Texas refinery, the company told an emergency messaging system.

"We are currently having a fire in our crude unit," a refinery spokeswoman said on Harris County's Community Awareness Response Line, which provides residents near the row of refineries and chemical plants along the Houston Ship Channel with information about emergencies.

SINGAPORE - Shell is still working with the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) to contain the fire at Pulau Bukom.

A statement from the company at 2pm said their global fire consultants are on site to provide input to the team.

Shell said that at around noon, they experienced a surge in the flames - visible from the mainland, with witnesses in the Pasir Panjang area saying they heard at least three explosions. However, the fire "continues to be contained", said Shell.

The source of the surge in the fire was "remnant light fuel components where the fire originated".

The smoke observed is from "hydrocarbons that are not fully combusted", added Shell in its statement.

EIJING -(Dow Jones)- A fire broke out late Friday at a China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. (SNP) refinery in Shanghai, but no casualties were reported, the official Xinhua news agency reported Saturday, citing municipal police.

The fire occurred around 10:30 p.m. local time in the coking unit of Sinopec's Gaoqiao refinery, which has the capacity to process about 250,000 barrels a day of crude oil.

Xinhua didn't mention whether there was any impact on production. The fire was under control by 11:50 p.m., and the cause is being investigated, it said.

BEAUREGARD, LA (KPLC) - Fire crews worked quickly starting around 6:30am Tuesday to extinguish an oil tank fire at the Midstates Petroleum property on Hwy. 12 at Pierce Rd. west of Ragley.

"There was a flash fire," said Sgt. James Anderson, Public Information Officer for Louisiana State Police.  

There was "one open tank burning and three other tanks closed, " explained Ragley Fire Chief Tony Deville.

Joe Toler, Beauregard Sheriff's Office, said the flow was shut off to the tanks. Oil inside that tank did catch fire, but Deville said it was extinguished within 10 or 15 minutes. 

CAYUGA COUNTY, N.Y. -- A one and a half mile wide radius is being evacuated in the Cayuga County Town of Aurelius. It's due to a ruptured petroleum gas line on Turnpike Road near Townsend Road. Police have categorized this as a major spill. Reverse 911 calls have been placed to anyone living in the area.

No injuries have been reported but crews from Onondaga County, the Department of Environmental Conservation, several fire departments and hazmat crews are on the scene.

The Commissioner of Aviation at Hancock Airport tells us that they have sent a foam trailer as well as a crash rescue truck to assist with the spill.

A tractor-trailer overturned Tuesday about two miles east of Angelus Oaks and spilled about 7,000 gallons of fuel onto Highway 38, forcing the closure of the mountain road and water-treatment plants in Redlands and Highland.

After smelling gas in Maguire around 11 a.m. this morning, university officials evacuated students from Healy Hall and Maguire.

Both buildings have since been reopened after the scene was deemed safe by the D.C. Fire Department and hazmat officials around 1 p.m.

According to Director of Media Relations Rachel Pugh, the D.C. Fire Department and hazmat officials deployed to the scene discovered that a petroleum based odor was emanating from the sewer area outside of the Maguire and Healy buildings.

D.C. Fire and EMS Spokesman Pete Piringer said that the odor was a result of a fuel spill that had mitigated into fumes.

Library walk was roped off with caution tape at the time, and students with classes in Maguire were told to contact the Registrar for the status of their classes.

ORT DICKSON: A fire at a shore-to-ship delivery pump at the Esso oil refinery here early Thursday morning saw workers running for their lives and flames visible from 2km away.

The fire, which started about 1am, was put out about three hours later and prevented from spreading to two oil refinery tanks and a nearby LPG bottling plant, said Negri Sembilan Fire and Rescue director Saadon Mokhtar.

He added that 32 firemen and 24 fire-fighters from Esso and Shell used foam to put out the burning nafta petroleum.

“Our firemen, including those from the HazMat (hazardous materials) unit, were rushed to the location after we were summoned at 1.06am,” he said, adding that the fire was put out at 4.17am.

Saadon said about 100 workers were on duty at the time of the fire. All are safe.

n the last two years there have been at least 30 major pipeline explosions and leaks of oil and gas, and possibly hundreds of smaller ones. Many have led to injuries and deaths but there has been nothing on the scale of the Nairobi explosion since 2006, when around 270 people died after a vandalised oil pipeline exploded in the Abule Egba district of Lagos, in Nigeria.

The explosions mostly take place in poor countries because international oil and gas companies often fail to bury or protect their pipelines as they would have to do by law in rich countries. The easily accessible pipes, which often run through slums and informal settlements in burgeoning cities, are tempting to desperately poor communities, who often have no electricity and must rely on oil lamps for lighting and power.

Groups of youths drill into the pipes or sabotage the pumping stations. Many have set up rudimentary refineries, where the stolen crude oil is heated up to make "bush" diesel good enough to run generators and older cars. Many of these DIY refineries explode, and fires sometimes destroy large areas.

RAYMONDVILLE - Emergency crews are on the scene of a gas explosion north of Raymondville.

Frank Torres with Willacy County says crews are busy securing the area. A well head exploded north of Raymondville off Santa Berta Road. One person was killed. Several people were hurt.

Fire crews are gearing up in hazmat suits. They are concerned there could be another explosion. No word yet on how many people were hurt.

(AP)  SHANGHAI — Firefighters fought three hours to put out a blaze Monday at a major petrochemical refinery in the northeastern Chinese city of Dalian, the second fire in two months at the facility, police and the company said.

State-owned PetroChina, China's biggest oil and gas producer, said the fire occurred in a diesel tank containing 800 tons of fuel at its subsidiary Dalian Petrochemical, but any that escaped had been channeled into an emergency storage pool.

Nearly 300 firefighters and 65 fire engines were summoned to battle the blaze, caused by an explosion in a pipeline linking two fuel tanks, police said in a statement. Some firefighters remained to guard against any further trouble, given the risk of explosion due to nearby tanks of aviation fuel, liquefied petroleum gas and other materials, it said.

A fire in mid-July at the same refinery forced the company to suspend operations of some of its units.

Dalian was the site of China's biggest known oil spill, when a pipeline explosion put at least 1,500 tons (461,790 gallons) of oil into the sea in July 2010.

The city recently saw protests by some 12,000 people demanding the removal of a chemical factory making paraxylene. In the face of such a rare but bold show of public dissatisfaction, the authorities agreed to move the plant out of the downtown area.

The protest was mounted after waves from Tropical Storm Muifa last week broke a dike guarding the plant and raised fears that floodwaters could release toxic chemicals.

Recent oil spills in Bohai Bay, offshore from Dalian, have further raised concern over environmental risks from the region's energy and chemicals industries, with government officials threatening legal action against ConocoPhillips China, which operates wells in the affected oil field with another big state energy company, CNOOC.

CNOOC's refinery at Daya Bay, in Huizhou, halted operations in several of its production lines after a fire broke out in its aromatics unit on July 11.

PetroChina's statements, posted on its website, emphasized that Monday's fire did not cause any pollution. Local government officials refused comment and calls to the refinery went unanswered.

In another sign of ongoing risks facing the refining industry and people who live nearby, a fire broke out Wednesday morning at Sunoco Inc.’s Philadelphia oil refinery. It was the fourth known blaze this year at the plant, which uses a highly toxic acid that threatens more than 1.3 million people in the Philadelphia area.

The fire started at about 5 a.m. in a crude unit, was quickly extinguished, and caused no injuries or off-site chemical releases, Sunoco spokesman Thomas Golembeski said.  Experts and even oil industry trade groups say that fires can be key indicators of larger problems with the handling of hazardous substances at the nation’s aging fuel factories.

The Philadelphia refinery uses hydrofluoric acid, a substance highlighted in an iWatch News-ABC News investigation for its ability to travel great distances in a cloud that could cause sickness or death.

BAYONNE – A 15-gallon drum marked “toxic” was found by Bayonne fire fighters at about 6 p.m. on June 23 in the area of 169 West 28th St. near the curb.

Firefighters cordoned off the area and representatives from the state Department of Environmental Protection and Hudson Regional Health Commission were called to the scene.

The Bayonne Fire Department Hazmat Team donned protective gear, and metered the area to check for any harmful readings. There were none.

The DEP, in conjunction with a cleanup contractor (Ken’s Marine Service of Bayonne), removed the container from the scene at about 9 p.m. According to a DEP representative, early testing reportedly points to a petroleum-based product, and will undergo further analysis.

MENTOR -- Interstate 90 eastbound is now open between Route 306 and Route 615 while crews clean up from a fire on a tractor trailer carrying hundreds of cases of motor oil early Monday morning.

The right lane will remain closed until further notice, ODOT said.

The entrance ramp to I-90 eastbound from SR 306 is still closed, but the exit ramp to SR 306 is open.

Hazmat crews will remain on the scene throughout the morning as cleanup continues from the oil fire and the chemicals used to extinguish the flames.

The fire started on the truck's tires and spread to the trailer hauling approximately 350 cases of motor oil, officials say.

Four workers were killed when a storage tank exploded and caused a fire at Chevron Corp (CVX)’s Pembroke plant in Wales yesterday, in the U.K.’s worst refinery disaster for almost four decades.
Another worker was hospitalized with serious injuries, San Ramon, California-based Chevron said in a statement. Output at the 210,000 barrel-a-day refinery wasn’t disrupted and an investigation is under way.
Yesterday’s explosion was the deadliest since 28 people were killed in a blast at a chemical plant at Flixborough in northern England in 1974, according to the U.K. Petroleum Industry Association Ltd. A fire in a crude distillation unit at Total SA’s 221,000 barrel-a-day Lindsey refinery in northeast England last year left one person dead.

LONGVIEW, TX (KLTV) - A fluid spill created a slippery situation Longview this morning.

HAZMAT crews along with Longview PD and the fire department worked to clean up a hydraulic fluid spill on Hwy 259 between I-20 and Neiman Marcus Pkwy.

A dump truck from Longview Asphalt Inc. leaked all of its hydraulic fuel out onto the roadway after the driver left the power take-off engaged and the hydraulic fluid hose broke.  The plant operator tells KLTV the driver was unaware of the leak.

Crews have cleaned up the spill and the northbound outside lane of Hwy 259 has been reopened.

[Updated 2:31 p.m.] An oil tank on the roof of the apartment complex at 77 Pearl Street, containing between 250-300 gallons of heating oil, started to leak into the sewer system. 

According to Deputy Chief Robert Ward of the Brookline Fire Department, Firefighters and maintenance workers were able to control the leak allowing only approximately 10-15 gallons of oil into the sewer system.

Brookline Water Department and DPW responded with vaccuum trucks to try and remove the oil and also used soak pads in the sewers. Pearl Street between Brookline Avenue and Washington Street remains closed.

Interstate 5 northbound at Kuebler Boulevard is open after cleanup of a hydraulic fluid spill.

Oregon Department of Transportation crews have been on scene just north of Kuebler Boulevard since about 6:30 a.m.

They’re trying to clean up 30 to 40 gallons of hydraulic fluid that spilled from a cement truck over about 100 feet of road, according to ODOT. Crews are using mason sand to soak up the liquid, ODOT spokesman Lou Torres said.

DANDENONG South residents are being warned to stay inside after a fire broke out at a Dandenong South factory last night.

The CFA has issued warnings to people living in Dandenong South, Cranbourne North, Hampton Park and Lynbrook to close all windows to avoid the thick black smoke.

Fire crews battled the giant factory blaze, which was fuelled by 700,000 litres of engine oil, for more than eight hours

The fire, at the TriTech Lubricants on Williams Rd, started about 8pm, with 130 firefighters fighting through the night.
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CFA Operations officer Mark Kennedy said the main chemical involved was engine oil and took more than eight hours to control.

A pipeline break northeast of Peace River, Alta., has leaked 28,000 barrels of crude oil, during what is now considered to be one of the largest spills in the province's history.

The leak from the Plains Midstream Canada pipeline, discovered Friday, was originally thought to have involved several hundred barrels of oil.

It now appears to be the biggest crude oil pipeline leak in Alberta since 1975, when a Bow River Ltd. pipeline leaked 40,000 barrels, according to Davis Sheremata, a spokesman for the Alberta Energy Resources Conservation Board.

"It's been the biggest spill from a pipeline involving crude oil that we've had in Alberta certainly in about the last 18 years or so," Sheremata said.

Ronald Sample, a Baltimore truck driver, has been charged with reckless driving after overturning his tanker truck on 1-495 Monday morning, WUSA reports.

Sample, 39, was traveling eastbound on 1-495 when traffic stopped abruptly in front of his truck, police said. The truck swerved and overturned, as Sample was trying to avoid hitting other vehicles. 

The truck's tank, which contained used oil, had to be drained completely before crews could move it from the road. Traffic opened back up around 2:30 p.m. today, according to WUSA.

Three refineries, including a BP unit where a 2005 explosion killed 15 people, and a Dow Chemical plant lost electricity in outages that led to shelter-in-place emergency alerts and the cancellation of public schools Tuesday in Texas City.

The source of the power outages was still being sought, emergency officials said.

A second shelter-in-place alert, advising residents to stay indoors, was issued around 5:30 a.m. Tuesday after a Valero refinery also lost power, Texas City Homeland Security coordinator Bruce Clawson said.

A BP refinery, site of the deadly March 2005 accident that also left 170 people hurt, and the Dow Chemical plant lost power around 11 p.m. Monday. The initial shelter-in-place order took effect after those two outages, but was lifted around 3 a.m. Tuesday, Clawson said.

HazMat and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) helped to clean up an oil spill in Maywood from April 15 to 18.

Oil spilled from an abandoned tank in a parking lot behind businesses on East Pleasant Avenue. The tank had the capacity for 1,000 gallons of oil but was not very full.

Borough Administrator Tom Richards said that a sump pump that was either blocked or broken was not pumping water in the storm sewer line but into the ground. In the heavy rains, the ground became so saturated with water that the tank pushed up out of the ground. The cap was off in the parking lot and water got into the tank.

MAYWOOD — Borough officials on Tuesday were working to contain an oil leak from an underground storage tank, which they say has reached a local brook.

Borough Administrator Thomas Richards said he doesn’t know how much oil escaped and how far it has traveled, but said the source is a l,000-gallon heating oil tank located in a private parking lot behind businesses on West Pleasant Avenue. He said the oil tank cap had fallen off, allowing rain water to enter the underground container and the oil to ooze out into a nearby storm water drain. He said rainfall that had seeped into the ground surrounding the container also contributed to the oil leak.

Louisville, KY (WDRB) -- Hazmat and fire crews remain on the scene of a spill at the Marathon Oil facility on Kramers Lane.

The 300 gallon spill of gasoline and ethanol happened just after 3:30 a.m. 

An EAS or Emergency Alert System message went to nearby residents about 4:30 a.m.  Residents were warned to "shelter in place," stay indoors with the air conditioners off and windows closed. That warning has now been lifted and residents were given the "all-clear" to leave their homes.

Many roads near the Marathon facility remain blocked by emergency vehicles.  Kramers Lane is blocked between Beech and Campground Roads.

CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) - Charlotte Firefighters and HazMat crews were called to the Charlotte-Douglas International airport early Friday morning for a fuel spill.

Firefighters said a flight was bound for Charleston, SC, was being refueled when a leak occurred a the gate.

HazMat crews were called to the airport to clean up the spill.

Charlotte firefighters told WBTV the spill was cleaned up. No one was injured during the incident.

A line of trucks caught fire at a Chesapeake Energy Corporation drilling site in west Shreveport Friday, sending a dark plume of smoke skyward and calling response from multiple fire departments.

The fire caused no injuries, no spills or environmental damage and didn't threaten the Greenwood neighborhoods surrounding the site, authorities said. All employees were accounted for by the time the blaze was brought under control.
The fire started around 11:30 a.m. when a Cudd Energy Services truck caught fire while working on the Lee 21H-1 natural gas well site near the intersection of Greenwood Road and Rice Road, according to Chesapeake Energy Media Coordinator Katie McCullin. The cause of the fire is still under investigation.
The fire spread quickly to the adjacent trucks, and by the end of the day, 10 18-wheelers were engulfed and destroyed. The trucks were carrying hydraulic fracturing fluid, a mixture used in the final stages of the drilling process, according to Shreveport Fire Department Chief Safety Officer Scott Wolverton.

RANCHO BERNARDO — More than 200 students at Rancho Bernardo High School were evacuated for about 90 minutes Thursday, and one student was taken to a hospital, after teachers noticed a strong odor in the science building.

The odor most likely came from a gas-powered leaf blower that had been used by a gardener along the sidewalk in front of the science rooms, said Maurice Luque, spokesman for the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department.

One 15-year-old girl who reported trouble breathing was taken to a hospital by ambulance, Luque said. A second ambulance crew was brought in to evaluate other students claiming to have headaches and other symptoms of the fumes.

The smell that forced the evacuation of a couple of Altamonte Springs buildings on Orange Drive was spilled fuel.

Altamonte Springs Senior Officer Robert Pelton said a man had taken his motorized scooter inside of his Royal Arms Condominiums unit overnight and it leaked fuel inside the apartment.

The man was transported to a local hospital for medical evaluation.

WOODBRIDGE -- Route 440 is shut down in both directions in Woodbridge after an overturned gasoline tanker truck spilled 8,500 gallons of fuel on the roadway in an accident that left the vehicle's driver in critical condition, according to the New Jersey State Police Twitter feed.

The state police hazmat team responded to the accident and contained the fuel spill with help from the New Brunswick Fire Department, which sprayed flame retardant foam on the roadway to prevent fire, the Twitter feed reported.

Crews are working to clean up a leak in Ashbridges Bay that officials say poses no threat to drinking water or the environment.

Toronto Fire’s Hazmat unit was called to the Lakeshore and Coxwell area around 6:30 p.m. Monday after a substance, initially thought to be diesel or home heating fuel, was found leaking from storm drains into the lake.

Officials from the ministry of the environment were already on scene, trying to skim the substance off the water’s surface, when the Hazmat team arrived. Booms were also laid to contain the spill.

On Tuesday the Ministry of the Environment confirmed the substance is mineral oil used by Hydro One to lubricate hydro lines and cool them down.

JAKARTA, INDONESIA (BNO NEWS) -- Indonesia's Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Darwin Zahedy Saleh on Monday said the fire-fighting efforts at the Pertamina refinery in Central Java was going well, three days after the initial explosion.

Zahedy said there was only one tank to be extinguished after the fire had been successfully isolated from damaging further tanks, Indonesia's Antara news agency reported.

One of the fire-fighting methods of using a helicopter to spread foam was postponed due to the high level of difficulty, as officials said the method had to be 99.9 percent accurate since practically all the refinery is being considered a danger zone.

A massive fire broke out at 2.30pm at Gulf Petro Chemical Company located at Sharjah Free Zone on Saturday.

According to Colonel Waheed Al Sarkal, director of Sharjah Civil Defence, the fire rapidly spread because of inflammable substances kept at the factory.

However, no body was injured in the accident. The forensic laboratory of the Sharjah Police will investigate the cause of fire. The police will start investigations after the cooling process.

The police cordoned off the area to stop it spreading to other neibhouring factories.

PORT ARTHUR, Texas – One person was killed and three others injured in a flash fire and explosion at a chemical processing plant in Port Arthur Thursday afternoon.
It happened at the KMTEX plant near the Intracoastal Canal Bridge to Sabine Pass around 2 p.m.
Emergency personnel said two of the victims were flown to UTMB – one with head trauma and another with lower-extremity fractures and burns.
A third victim was taken via ground ambulance to St. Mary’s Hospital with a concussion.
The fourth victim died at the scene.
According to witnesses, a worker was welding on a pipeline that held coal tar solvent when the explosion occurred.

PORT HOPE, Ont. – Sunday's train derailment east of Port Hope, Ont., could have unleashed a "perfect storm" due to the hazardous materials being transported, a firefighter said.

The 12:15 p.m. derailment just east of Port Hope, 109 kilometres east of Toronto, sparked an evacuation order that affected about two dozen homes in a rural area.

Train cars involved in the derailment include one containing propane, two with aviation fuel, one carrying residual sulphuric acid and two with residual petroleum. As well, a natural gas line was reportedly ruptured.

At least one tanker could be seen burning approximately a half-kilometre away and sparked a grass fire.

Flames were still coming from the area late Sunday.

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- A man cleaning a tanker truck passed out due to low levels of oxygen, fire crews said.
The Kern County Fire Department said that about 1:20 p.m. on Wednesday, a call was received about an unconscious man inside a tank in the 7100 block of Golden State Highway.
Crews said a man was found unconscious inside a tanker trailer carrying residual crude oil.
The man had been cleaning the tank with a citrus chemical when a coworker noticed him unconscious, according to the KCFD.
Crews immediately began to monitor the air within the tank for potential hazards prior to making entry.
An air system was placed inside the tank after determining high levels of flammable vapors and low levels of oxygen.

DAYTON — The exit ramp from I-75 southbound to First Street in downtown Dayton was still closed during Tuesday’s early commute.

The ramp was shut down late Monday while fire and Hazmat crews cleaned up a large amount of fuel leaking from a semi tractor trailer that crashed there just before midnight.

According to Dayton police Sgt. Dan Williger, the driver, who suffered a minor hand injury in the crash, appears to have missed the lane markings for the exit lane and then over-corrected trying to get back into the southbound interstate lanes.

The truck did not tip over, but struck a concrete barrier and a guard rail, puncturing the vehicle’s gas tank.

The driver, who was hauling auto parts to Kentucky, may be cited for failure to control his vehicle, Williger said.

By Christopher Francis & Teresa Jun

TUCSON, AZ (KOLD) - Hazmat crews were called in to help clean up a gasoline spill at an industrial facility on the south side Wednesday night.

It happened at Holly Energy near Ajo and Alvernon, where firefighters say a tank holding 672,000 gallons of unleaded fuel started leaking. As of 10:30pm Wednesday night, crews estimated 200-300 gallons of gasoline leaked out of the tank.

Hazmat crews used foam to suppress some of the fumes from the spill, but they were still looking for the source of the leak late Wednesday.

Crews anticipated working all through the night to pump out the remaining gasoline from the damaged tank.

Firefighters evacuated two nearby businesses that had graveyard shifts. Kinder Morgan shut its fuel yard down, and a towing company sent its employees home.

There are no reports of any injuries.

Copyright 2011 KOLD. All Rights Reserved.

Suspicious package forces evacuation 20/20 Eyecare Centers in

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- HazMat teams evacuated the 20/20 Eyecare Centers at 806 Regal Drive on Wednesday, March 9, 2011, after fumes from a "suspicious package" affected two employees.

Huntsville Fire & Rescue erect a decontamination tent outside 20/20 Eyecare Center after a suspicious package was discovered by employees. Two employees were decontaminated and transported to Huntsville Hospital. (The Huntsville Times/Dave Dieter)
HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- HazMat teams evacuated the 20/20 Eyecare Centers at 806 Regal Drive this afternoon after fumes from a "suspicious package" affected two employees.
HazMat units, Huntsville Fire & Rescue and the HEMSI ambulance service responded to the call between 2:30 and 2:45 p.m. HazMat set up a decontamination unit to treat two employees who came in contact with the packages, according to Steve Oliver, District Chief for Huntsville Fire & Rescue.
The employees were cleaned and taken to Huntsville Hospital for evaluation and treatment.
According to an employee, Jared Pittenger, the package smelled like kerosene. Pittenger said it gave him a headache and he felt lightheaded but he refused treatment. The two employees were complaining of nausea and headaches.
It appeared as if something had spilled onto the package, perhaps in the delivery truck that delivered it earlier today. The package contained frames and frame cases and the contents were not disturbed.
Initial tests on the package by Huntsville Fire & Rescue failed to register on instruments, officials said.

SAN DIEGO -- The owner of an Otay Mesa business was injured Wednesday after a gas tank he was working near exploded and sparked a small fire.
According to Maurice Luque of the San Diego Fire-Rescue Department, crews received a report of an employee at a business in the 7100 block of Otay Mesa Road who was burned in what was initially considered a chemical explosion. The incident happened shortly before 10 a.m.
Luque told 10News the unidentified man was doing welding work on a gas saddle tank when one of the tanks exploded, causing a small fire and burning the man on the arm.

PARAMOUNT - An estimated 250-gallon oil spill from a tanker truck at Paramount Petroleum Corp. today prompted a cleanup by the Los Angeles County Fire Department's Health Hazardous Materials Division, authorities said.
Oil was reported leaking from the tanker onto asphalt at about 3:15 a.m. in the 14700 block of Downey Avenue, near Contreras Street and Paramount High School, county fire department Supervisor Ray Dong said. No injuries were reported.

The cause of the spill was unknown, Dong said.

LYNDHURST -- The Valero gas station on Mayfield Road has reopened Sunday afternoon, after a gas spill closed the station Sunday morning.

The fire department and Hazmat responded to the scene where the gas tank came of a truck, spilling nearly 30 gallons of gas from the tank.

The gas has been cleaned up and the area has been deemed safe.

NEW BEDFORD, Mass. -- Crews worked to clean up an oil spill in New Bedford Harbor Sunday morning.

A fishing boat malfunctioned and began leaking fuel.

The sheen from the oil could clearly be seen on the water's surface.

A hazmat team quickly moved in and prevented the spill from spreading.

They are calling the incident "minor" and said it's all under cont

INDEPENDENCE, Pa. (AP) -- An explosion and fire at a gas well injured three workers Wednesday night, authorities said.

The blast, at the Chesapeake Appalachia LLC Powers site in Avella, was reported at about 6:20 p.m., Washington County emergency officials said.

Read more about natural gas drilling

Workers were transferring water used in a gas-extraction process called hydraulic fracturing, and several of the natural gas liquids storage tanks caught fire, said Katy Gresh, a spokeswoman for the Department of Environmental Protection's southwest region.

PEORIA - A Department of Public Safety officer following a truck pulling two trailers sees it lose control and roll Thursday night near the Loop 101 and Northern in Peoria.

DPS officers said after the truck rolled, gas inside the second trailer started spilling out.

The driver told police there were 100 gallons of fuel in the trailer for ATVs.

The driver was headed to the Dunes in California and was not seriously hurt.

The road had to be shut down while firefighters cleaned up the mess.

Early reports of the fuel igniting were incorrect, but DPS was concerned about that happening and called Hazmat to the scene.

A developing story out of Oscoda County involving an oil spill.

Mapes Road from Zimowske Road to Valley Road is shut down after a tanker truck carrying crude oil flipped.

The sheriff says the trucker lost control around a corner and the truck ended up on its side.

Authorities estimate between 4,000-5,000 gallons of crude oil have spilled. The semi was carrying approximately 15,000 gallons.

A private clean up crew from Kalkaska is on the scene and expect to be working through the night. The Department of Environmental Quality and HAZMAT crews are also there, overseeing the clean-up.