1-07-83-Texaco Gasoline Tank Farm Storage Explosion-Newark NJ #5
by Steven Spak
Title
1-07-83-Texaco Gasoline Tank Farm Storage Explosion-Newark NJ #5
Artist
Steven Spak
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
On January 7, 1983 - The Texaco gasoline storage facility , located on Doremus Avenue, in Port Newark , blew up in a massive explosion, that was felt in 3 States. At about 12:10 am, Workers at a steel drum company were unloading drum lids and rings from a truck. They smelled gasoline fumes coming from the Texaco gasoline storage facility. One of the employees went to tell his boss about the fumes. About 2 minutes later, at 12:15 am The Texaco facility exploded. A Huge fire ball rose about 1000 ft in the air. The blast was heard and felt in 3 states. Three of the huge gas tanks were on fire. At the time the three tanks held 3.4 million gallons of gasoline. The Chief of the Newark Fire Department decided the fire was to dangerous to fight. He decided to let the gasoline burn off, while protecting the other tanks that were nearby.
I arrive at the scene at about 01:00 am. I stopped at the turnpike bridge. I had a great view of the massive fire. Newark transmitted 4 Alarms and called in mutual aid from neighboring fire departments. One Texaco truck driver was killed and more than 24 people were injured.
The disaster was caused by Texaco workers who failed to follow “ Shut Off Protocol” when the valve began to overflow. One worker failed to monitor the pipe line that fed the tanks with gasoline which violated the “Texaco Operations Manual” for not checking the valves. The fire was declared under control at 4:28 pm on January 9,1983. The gasoline continued to burn for over 24 hours, until burning itself out on late Sunday night, January 9, 1983.
For Further Reading Info about this fire:
https://www.nfpa.org/-/media/Files/News-and-Research/Resources/Fire-Investigations/finewark.ashx?la=en
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February 21st, 2020
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