LEAKAGE OF PETROLEUM SPIRIT-CARLISLE- F. J. LORRIGAN

LEAKAGE OF PETROLEUM SPIRIT

We are very grateful to Mr. F. J. Lorrigan, Grad.I.Fire E., Chief Fire Officer, Carlisle, for this personal account of a highly dangerous situation.

At 14.48 hours on Wednesday, 18th August, 1965, the Fire Service control received a telephone message which, in context, was a report of a small fire in a roadway manhole, at the junction of Victoria Place with Warwick Road, Carlisle. The report came from the Clerk of Works of the Engineering Co., which was repairing the road at that particular time.

A water tender and crew and a Station Officer were despatched. Upon arrival at the scene of the 111c1dent the crew commenced work with a branch to extinguish the fire when an explosion occurred, blowing off the covers of nine manholes in the roadways of the surrounding streets. Brian Rogers who was holding the branch to extmgu1sh the fire sustained burns to his hands and face. Fireman T. J. Smith who was attending to the delivery of water from a hydrant adjacent to one of the disrupted covers received the blast from the explosion, which blew him into the air. He sustained injuries and burns his right ankle and legs. Both men were taken to hospital and after medical treatment were discharged.

J was immediately informed of the incident by radio and proceeded to the scene. Upon arrival, I found the fire had been extinguished but a heavy concentration of petrole.um fumes was coming from all sewerage manholes m the immediate vicinity. l then took the following actions,:

Two ended hoses were employed in the discharging of approximately 400 g.p.m. to flush the sewer pipe at the of the explosion area. This was an immediate first aid effort.

I reques!ed the Police to contact all garages upstream of the sewer m order to ascertain whether any loss of petrol had been noted. The City Surveyor was asked to produce a plan of the sewer in order that I may organise a search force of. firemen equipped with "explosimeter" gas detectors m an attempt to trace the source of the fumes.

The was also requested to lift off all manhole w1thm a half mile radius of the seat of the explosion m order to allow the escape of petroleum fumes to the This was also an endeavour to lower the atmosphere of the sewer to a point below explosive range. _meter at the centre of the explosion gave a pos1t1ve. readm_g and it was at this juncture that I requested the Police to Interview all residents of the area to order them t<;> extinguish naked lights, domestic fires, cigarette ends, pipes, etc. I also requested the road repair firm to cease .work with the dumpers and generators. Traffic was diverted and the affected area cordoned off. _The fall of the sewerage pipe was from south of the City through the eastern area to the north west, i.e., from Harraby to Willow Holme, a distance of approximately three and a half miles.

- CARLISLE

As it was my opinion that there was more than just a small leak of petroleum mixture in the sewerage system I decided that our efforts should be directed towards Harraby (south along the sewerage pipe) as a large Esso storage depot as well as many petrol filling stations are situated in this area.

This action was carried out and each manhole cover along the line was lifted and the atmosphere tested. It was found that the further south we proceeded the heavier the concentration. At approximately 18.00 hours on the same day our detection was centred around the Essa Petroleum Co., Ltd., bulk storage depot.

Here it was discovered that petroleum spirit was seeping out of the south bank of the River Petteril and was floating down the river; it had also entered the sewerage system. The atmosphere of another sewerage manhole which is partly immersed in the river high positive reading when adjacent to the depot gave a tested. Further south rrom this particular manhole negative readings were obtamed.

I immediately ordered two fire pumps to work upstream of the area to: (a) flush the river surface-and (b) flush the manhole and sewer pipe.

This work continued for the next fifteen hours during which time approximately 1,000 gallons of water per minute passed down the Sewer.

In order to confirm my suspicions as to the of the leak I contacted the local manager of the Essa depot.

The results of his investigations proved .that there had been a loss of Essa Extra petrol from a rail wagon. petrol had dropped on to the rail line ballast and flowmg over the embankment entered the sewer. There small pools of petrol on the bank and along the_ edge 0 the river. These were not immediately covered as I thought it best to allow as much evaporatwfin . 1 Possible to take place. This decision proved very bene icia · · )most comas within two hours the pools of spmt were a pletely evaporated. Foam was applied the next day.

Meter tests were taken every half hour from 15.30 hours on the 18th to 12.00 hours on the 19th. Fro!D 16.00 to 20.00 hours on the 18th the of air/gas mixture in the sewers made a gradual nse and at hours I was seriously considering evacuat!ng the area. 0 about half a mile square in the eastern sect10n of the .City. However J decided to try doubling up on the quantity of water wi1ich was being pumped the Another appliance was set into the :1ver and a e 500 g.p.m. of river water was passed .p.ipe. This had the effect of filling up the pipe with wate1 completely flushing the system which had .the effect, viz: at 21.00 hours the meter read mg showed a decrease of 20 % air/gas mixture and from then on there was a gradual decrease until 12.00 hours on the l 9th when a negative reading was recorded.

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