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Content: Pagemasters:
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Gulf of Mexico
Region Fires – 2004 (66 incidents total) 01-Jan-2004 Chevron/Texaco
Remarks: After performing routine maintenance on the crane, antifreeze was spilled on the crane exhaust which caught fire. The fire was small and was extinguished with one bucket of water. There were no damages or injuries. 6-Jan-2004 Eni Petroleum Exploration Company
Remarks: A small flash fire occurred at the platform. The No. 2 turbine generator exhaust located inside the generator room came into contact with a lubricating oil when leaked onto the turbine exhaust, which resulted into a small flash fire. There were no injuries to personnel or damage to the platform. 7-Jan-2004 Devon SFS Operating, Inc.
Remarks: Mechanic states that he lost power in the building which is supplied by Hanover Generator, not the Platform Generator. He then proceeded outside to see what was wrong and found that the No. 2 generator had sparks and flames coming out of the generator end. He then pushed the fire alarm button, shut in the compressor, and grabbed a fire extinguisher to put out the fire. 12-Jan-2004 BP American Production Company
Remarks: With the platform shut in, a construction crew was torch cutting deck plate on the top deck to replace it with grating. A gas lift header on the deck below, in the vicinity of the fuel gas skid had been isolated and bled down. A flame resistant tarp was placed over the gas lift header, which was also surrounded on 3 sides with 8' high plywood walls. A fire watch was stationed in the area and spraying water on the tarp while the hot work commenced. Sparks/slag was falling on the tarp. The fire watch and another worker noticed a fire under the tarp and proceeded to extinguish it with a fire extinguisher and a water hose. There were no injuries, no harm to the environment and only minor damage to a Barton chart recorder as a result of the fire. 21-Jan-2004 Denbury Offshore Inc.
Remarks: A construction crew was cutting out rusted nuts and bolts on the firewater pump muffler flanges. Some hot molten slag fell on the inlet starting gas line to the starter. A small fire was put out with a 30 lb. extinguisher. After investigating, it was found that a nipple in the inlet starting gas line was leaking. 21-Jan-2004 Denbury Offshore Inc.
Remarks: A Denbury employee was observing construction work and noticed smoke in the rental compressor engine compartment. The starter was still engaged and the wiring was on fire. The employee put out the fire with a 30 lb. extinguisher. 29-Jan-2004 Denbury Offshore Inc.
Remarks: While performing hot work on a vessel, a small fire was started due to some oil floating on top of water used to flood the pan under the vessel. The fire was extinguished by the fire watch using a 30 lb. dry chemical extinguisher. 30-Jan-2004 Anadarko Petroleum Corp.
Remarks: A small fire occurred when a tarp that was covering the aluminum insulation barrier on the Heat Media Expansion tank was ignited by slag from a cutting torch. Personnel were cutting scaffolding brackets around the crane. Fire was extinguished by fire watch within 30 sec. The only damage was to the tarp. Alarm sounded and everyone reported to proper areas. The area sprayed with firewater hose to make sure all areas were covered. 16-Feb-2004 Williams Field Services Gulf Coast Co.
Remarks: Williams Pipeline was in the process of relocating a pipeline from the jacket structure to the seafloor, so the jacket can be salvaged. During the operation hot work was being conducted. Apparently welding slag/sparks ignited tarp material and was quickly extinguished by the fire watch. Williams Pipeline reported that there were no injuries or property damage (other than the tarp material). 17-Feb-2004 El Paso Production Oil & Gas Company
Remarks: Workers were in the process of repairing a leak between the temporary quarters and the permanent quarters, which are attached. While trying to repair the leak, hot welding slag fell and started a fire in the lower permanent quarters. The fire alarm sounded, and a fire extinguisher and water hose were used to extinguish the fire. Two rooms of the permanent quarters were damaged. There were thirteen people on board. There were no injuries or pollution. 19-Feb-2004 Chevron Texaco Corp.
Remarks: A small fire occurred at the south end of the Glycol Reboiler on the "B" platform. There were no injuries or pollution (all fluids were contained). There was minor equipment damage, estimated at less than $1000 (the tin strip holding the insulation was damaged on the Glycol Reboiler). The leak was due to a pin hole leak from a weld on the reboiler. 22-Feb-2004 BP Exploration Inc.
Remarks: An operator was performing casing pressure diagnostics on a well. He was bleeding off pressure from the well through a ½-inch needle valve into a plastic DOT drum using stainless steel tubing. Apparently static electricity ignited the condensate being bled in to the plastic drum. During the process, the operator noticed flames coming from drum and tried to close the needle valve. He was unable to close valve. The fire was extinguished with a 30 lb fire extinguisher and fire water hose. The needle valve was then closed. 23-Feb-2004 Denbury Offshore Inc.
Remarks: Field personnel reported a small fire resulting from welding and burning operations. The incident involved cutting operations where hoses from cutting rig came in contact with hot slag. The fire watch used a 30 lb. extinguisher to put the fire out on the hoses. 25-Feb-2004 Forrest Oil Corp.
Remarks: Quality Preheat was attempting to heat a wellhead to 3500 F. The wellhead was sitting on a wooden pallet and it began to rain, so a tarp was placed over the wellhead to prevent it from cooling. The tarp was left on after the rain subsided. The welder walked around the corner to the trash compactor then noticed smoke and flames coming from around the wellhead. The fire was extinguished with three CO2 fire extinguishers. There were no injuries and the only damages were to the tarp and pallet. 26-Feb-2004 BP Exploration Inc.
Remarks: A 1/4 inch bleed plug on a fuel injection pump in the No. 8 engine blew out, spraying fuel on the overhead exhaust manifold. A flash fire occurred when the fuel contacted the manifold. The engine's own fire detection and suppression system came on and extinguished the fire. A fire team was mustered when the fire alarm sounded. The fire team monitored the area to allow the engine to cool and all emergency phone calls were made. A small amount of spilled fuel was cleaned from the area and no pollution entered the Gulf. There were no fatalities, injuries or equipment damage. 09-March-2004 Chevron Texaco Corp.
Remarks: Superior Energy Services wire line personnel was in the process of pulling gas lift valves out of the well, when the wire line helper noticed a burnt smell and then saw a small flame coming from the wire line unit starter solenoid. The fire was extinguished with a 30 lb fire extinguisher. The starter was sent to Guidry's Ignition Service where the starter was taken apart. The evaluation of the starter revealed corrosion inside the solenoid, which caused the starter’s bendix gear to stay engaged to the fly-wheel and generate a high voltage and enough heat to cause the fire. 13-March-2004 Chevron U.S.A. Inc.
Remarks: Upon installation of a wind generator, an electrical short to the ground occurred, discharging the energy of the batteries and igniting the insulation on the battery jumpers. The cause was found to be a positive termination in the wind generator conduit junction box that was installed without insulation. The lack of a circuit breaker between the batteries and the fault location allowed the current to continue for duration sufficient to ignite the battery jumper insulation. Recommended actions to prevent this in the future: Only electrically skilled personnel shall terminate wiring circuits. Each termination shall be inspected to ensure termination meets NEC. All I&E crews shall be provided with detailed installation drawings prior to beginning installation. 13-March-2004 Amerada Hess Corp.
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