On Sunday March 11, 2012, at approximately 7:45 pm, a fire started at the Pearce Petroleum Products facility located at 302 S. Johnson Street in Mineola, Wood County, Texas. The fire started when a riding lawnmower backfired and caught the grass on fire which then caught the office building on fire. The fire then spread to the adjoining riser pipe that was connected to a 10,000 gallon above ground gasoline tank. The fuel in the pipe continued to feed the fire until it was shut off by the responding fire department. The 10,000 gallon fuel tank was scorched by the fire but remained intact.
Approximately 250,000 gallons of water were used by the fire department to suppress the fire. The facility estimates that no more than possibly 200 to 500 gallons of gasoline were released because of the fire although, the assumption was that most of the fuel burned up in the fire and was therefore not contained in the fire suppressant water that flushed across and off the facility. Berms were placed downgradient of the fire area to contain fire suppressant water. According to the facility's cleanup contractor (SWS), they had inspected the runoff areas downgradient including a creek and there was no visible sheen or product.
TCEQ responded to the fire on Sunday March 11 and OSCs McAteer and Mason visited the facility when EPA was made aware of the event on Tuesday March 13. TCEQ has directed a surface scrape of soil from in the area downgradient of the fire with confirmation sampling to follow.
