| The
Real Thing
On July
19th, 1996 at 04:36:42 GMT (00:36:42 local time), a lightning
bolt struck the roof of a 140 foot diameter gasoline blending
component storage tank at the Sunoco, Sarnia Refinery, causing
an explosion which blew part of the floating roof out of the
tank and ignited the contents.
Photo By Glenn
Ogilvie of The Sarnia Observer
|
Video
Click here for 539K, 7
second AVI video clip
|
|
The
Tank
The tank, seen here before the fire, is 140 feet in diameter
with a floating roof.
|
|
Ignition
The lightning strike which caused the damage is captured
here on a video tape image taken by Const. T. Cox of the
Ontario Provincial Police. |
|
Initial
Damage
The lightning strike caused an explosion which blew part
of the floating roof out of the tank. |
|
The
Fire
The 140 foot diameter tank provided sufficient surface
area for the production of flames reaching 200 - 250 feet
in height. |
|
Fighting
The Fire
Fighting this fire required vast resources in terms of
people, apparatus, water and foam. |
|
Thanks
No one company has the resources to deal with an event
of this magnitude. Without an effective mutual aid organization
like CVECO, success would not have been possible.
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