Accident - Tank Farm Explosion and Fire in Deer Park, Texas

On Sunday, March 17, 2019, a large fire erupted at the Intercontinental Terminals Company, LLC (ITC) bulk liquid storage terminal located in Deer Park, Texas. Once the fire erupted, ITC was unable to isolate or stop the release. As a result, the fire burned, intensified, and spread to the other 14 tanks located in the same containment area. The fire burned for three days, until it finally was extinguished.
The fire caused substantial property damage and impacted the environment.

Learning Objective:

This course will teach students the root causes and origin of the fire and outline the preventive measures necessary to avoid recurrence.

1. Identify the cause of the Tank 80-8 vapor release and fire.
2. Recognize how missing detectors and isolation valves worsened the incident.
3. Understand how poor tank farm design contributed to fire spread.
4. Explain how containment failure led to environmental release.
5. Recognize the impact of OSHA/EPA safety exemptions.
6. Apply process safety management systems to all storage tanks.
7. Use condition monitoring and alarms for pumps in hazardous service.
8. Install and respond to flammable gas detection alarms.
9. Implement fail-closed emergency isolation valves on tanks.
10. Evaluate tank farm designs against API and NFPA standards.
11. Improve spacing, containment, and drainage for fire protection.
12. Update industry standards to include gas detection in leak systems.
13. Eliminate OSHA’s PSM exemption for atmospheric tanks.
14. Expand EPA’s RMP rule to cover NFPA-3+ flammable liquids.
15. Ensure leak detection includes engineering and administrative controls.