A fire occurred at Toronto-based Chemtrade Logistics Income Fund’s Beaumont, Texas, plant at approximately 2:30 a.m. May 15 when the plant was being restarted after a weather-related power outage. The log entry provided by the Beaumont Fire Department confirmed that there was a “response to a large refinery structure on fire (where) we were informed upon arrival that the unit on fire separated sulfur dioxide which involved fire control or extinguishment, HazMat detection and monitoring and sampling.” Lack of water pressure apparently was a hindrance, and foam was deployed to cool any remaining hot spots. There were no injuries and no off-site environmental releases.
Chemtrade said the plant is now secure and remains safely shut down. A Chemtrade investigation team is assembling to examine the details of the incident. The cause of the fire is not yet known, and the plant will remain shut down until it is determined that it can be safely restarted. The extent of down time is also not known, although there appears to be extensive damage to a newly installed piece of equipment.
In August 2008 an explosion occurred in the furnace at the plant, causing injuries to two employees (GM Aug. 25, 2008). It took until January 2009 for repairs to be made and for the plant to return to production (GM Jan. 12, 2009).