Video Depicts 2019 Fire at Texas Tank Farm That Burned for Three Days

A new video released by the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board (CSB) features an animation of a March 2019 fire at a bulk liquid storage terminal in Deer Park, Texas, that burned for three days, causing more than $150 million in property damage and leading to several shelter-in-place orders due to benzene-related air quality concerns. During the response to the incident, the partial collapse of a containment wall also released hydrocarbon and petrochemical products, firefighting foam, and contaminated water into local waterways.

The incident began when a circulation pump at the Intercontinental Terminals Company facility “catastrophically failed,” resulting in the release of a flammable liquid blend that contained naphtha, a volatile mixture of petroleum hydrocarbons, and butane, a highly flammable gas, from an aboveground storage tank. According to CSB, flammable vapors collected around the tank for about 30 minutes before igniting the fire, which spread to 14 other tanks in the area. The agency’s investigation report, released in 2023, found that the incident could have been prevented if the company had been required to apply a formal process safety management (PSM) program.

The video also contains commentary from CSB Chairperson Steve Owens and Crystal Thomas, an agency investigator. According to CSB, the tank that leaked was exempted from requirements in the OSHA PSM standard.

“The CSB has investigated two other incidents where it determined that the atmospheric storage tank exemption contributed to the severity of the incidents,” Thomas explains in the video. “Those incidents resulted in fatality, multiple injuries, and significant environmental damage. The CSB believes this exemption should be eliminated” from OSHA’s PSM standard.

CSB’s new video is available on its YouTube channel. For more information, see the agency’s news release.