Vancouver, Wash.-San Antonio-based NuStar Energy LP (formerly Valero LP) says it has been able to resume full operations since early this month, when a two-alarm fire heavily damaged a fertilizer warehouse at Port of Vancouver containing more than 5,200 tons of calcium nitrate. “We have actually been operating at 100 percent since the fire at our Vancouver terminal,” NuStar spokesman Greg Matula told Green Markets. “It has had no impact on our deliveries.” Matula said the facility that was damaged by the fire is expected to be rebuilt within the next few months, but NuStar has been able to utilize alternate storage buildings to maintain normal level of operations. He said the amount of calcium nitrate that was damaged is still under review. Capt. Rick Steele with the Vancouver Fire Department was quoted in the press as saying the main area that was burning was a conveyer system at the top of the building just under the ceiling. “There never was any explosive potential,” Steele said. “If any product (calcium nitrate) burned, it was the part in the conveyer belt.” He said calcium nitrate can make a fire burn hotter and more erratically, but it did not pose a threat of explosion. NuStar didn’t confirm it, but reports were that of the 5,200 mt, 4,700 mt was to be shipped to Alberta, Canada, and the remainder was to be sent to agricultural areas in the northwest United States. No other fertilizer-related operations at the port were believed to have been affected.
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