A fire erupted at the HOVENSA refinery located in Estate Hope, St. Croix on February 11, 2011. The fire occurred in the western portion of the plant at the No. 4 Distillate De-Sulferizer Unit (4DD) at approximately 1515 hours. Heavy black smoke was initially associated with the fire until the HOVENSA fire brigade could bring the blaze under control. The fire brigade maintained a water curtain and applied fire suppression foam to control the fire until the affected pipelines could be isolated and purged. The fire was extinguished by 1747 hours; the all clear was sounded at 1755 hours. There were no injuries reported by HOVENSA related to the incident. The cause of the fire is under investigation.
EPA responded immediately to the incident with the United States Coast Guard (USCG), the Virgin Islands (VI) Department of Planning and Natural Resources (DPNR), the VI Department of Health (VIDOH) and the VI Territorial Emergency Management Agency (VITEMA). EPA utilized representatives from the USCG Atlantic Strike Team (AST) to conduct air monitoring within the downwind communities using equipment provided by the USCG Marine Safety Detachment. EPA/AST monitoring was conducted in an effort to augment and confirm air monitoring results obtained by the HOVENSA Rapid Air Monitoring (RAM) team. EPA/AST air monitoring results were non-detect for hydrogen sulfide (H2S) and carbon monoxide (CO). HOVENSA RAM team results were also non-detect in the neighborhoods for H2S, sulfur dioxide (SO2) and CO.
The HOVENSA RAM team reported elevated particulate levels as high as 0.44mg/m3 that were attributable to the fire. Typical background level particulate concentrations range from 0.02-0.04 mg/m3. Although there was a heavy black smoke associated with the fire, visual assessments conducted by the responding Agencies noted that impact from particulate/aerosol fall-out was minor to non-detectable in most areas.
EPA observations also indicated that as the response to the fire progressed, the smoke plume diminished significantly. The relatively windy conditions served to dissipate the plume as it traveled in a north westerly direction away from the facility. The plume did not impact the areas peviously affected by the DCU release of December 9, 2010. No lasting health effects nor impact to cisterns are expected from this incident.
