Port’s ‘oil tank blast’

Press, 23 October 1980, Page 1

Port’s ‘oil tank blast’

. If the BP No. 1 oil installation at Lyttelton had exploded yesterday the Fire Service would have been equal to the challenge. That was the verdict after "Operation Wildfire.” a simulated disaster in the big oil installation, on Charlotte Jane Quay which involved almost 70 firemen and officers, and 19 fire engines. Months of planning went into the exercise, to test new methods and procedures and to give tiremen experience in fighting a fire on such a scale. The firemen knew the exercise was planned, but

had no idea of what to expect when they arrived. When the Lyttelton Volunteer Brigade turned out about 1.30 p.m. it was told that fire had broken out in the horizontal loading tanks, and was in danger of spreading to the huge holding tanks. An hour later tonnes of water and foam were poured on to the “burning” tanks by pumps from several Christchurch stations, Lyttelton, New Brighton, and the turntable ladder and snorkel machines.

By 2.35 p.m., fire officers believe the inferno would have been under control or out. The Lyttelotn St John Ambulance

and Red Cross dealt swiftly with the “casualties" of the explosion and fire. ‘‘lt went pretty smoothly — better than we expected. We would have handled the real situation easily," said one of the organisers. Divisional Officer R. T. Nightingale. Senior officers estimated beforehand that 106.4 litres of water and foam a second would have to be pumped on to the tanks. At the height of the exercise the total pumping capacity was 356 litres a second. Video film was taken to help in the debriefing, to help to pinpoint mistakes, and to assess the effec-

tiveness of new methods. One technique tested was to leave the stock of foam drums at the rear of the exercise and move portable foam containers close to the fire to improve mobility and cut out the time-consuming task of moving drums to different points. “There were a few minor problems, but the point of any exercise is to leant from experience,” said Mr Nightingale. The Fire Service had received excellent co-oper-ation from the Lyttelton Harbour Board, local bodies, the BP company and other emergency services.