At approximately 6:30 am, Wednesday, March 19th, the Partin No. 5 Oil Well caught fire during drilling operations northwest of Oliver Springs, Tenn. Apparently, a large zone of natural gas was hit and the blow off preventer failed resulting in a substantial fire and release of approximately 2000 barrels of crude oil to a secondary retention pond. According to TDEC a small amount of crude oil found its way to an unnamed tributary of Indian Creek. Local fire and hazmat arrived on scene, placed boom at several locations along the creek, and evacuated a few homes in the vicinity of the well. The responsible party, Walden Resources has hired Wild Well Services of Houston,Texas to assess and extinguish the fire at the well head. The OSC continues to work within a unified command structure with the local EMA coordinator, TDEC and TEMA. EPA, with START contractor support, will conduct air monitoring and site oversight as needed throughout the response.
The fire at the oil well head continues with an estimated pressure of oil and natural gas exceeding 4500 psi. Walden Resources contractor, Wild Well Services continued site preparation, retention pond construction, and equipment prep prior to cutting away the remainig oil rig and oil platform structure from the well head. On Sunday, actual cutting operations began near the well head resulting in fire-fighting water and oil being captured at secondary recovery points. Wild Well is attempting the simplest procedures first to introduce drilling mud into the bore hole to lower the hydrostatic pressure of oil and gas to a level which will extinguish the fire.
Anderson County EMA, TDEC, TEMA and EPA continue to work with the rp in a unified structure to facilitate the response effort. EPA and START contractors continue air monitoring efforts. No elevated levels of hydrogen sulfide, volatile organics or sulfur dioxide have been found in the vicinity of the well fire. EPA’s Chuck Eger and OSC Rick Jardine continue to provide technical and air monitoring support.
EPA CIC Sheryl Carbonaro, EPA's Paula Whiting and the OSC began holding public meetings to address local resident concerns on Friday/Saturday evening. A number of breathing and medical issues were raised by residents along with livestock exposure issues at two farms downstream near Indian Creek. EPA contacted Reg 4 ATSDR rep Bob Safay for asistance and was referred to EPA- ATSDRs Pediatric Environmental Health Specialty Unit (PEHSU) and ATSDRs veternarian physician Stephanie Oswoski for medical and vet consultation. EPA plans to continue the public meetings every evening to address local resident concerns and address environmental issues on a case by case basis.
Continue to monitor air quality with area rae's and mobile air monitoring units. Continue addressing home ownwer environmental concerns on a case by case basis. Continue to update the NPFC with pollution reports and rp information as well as possible claim issues.
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