Eisenbarth well fire

Facebook page shows pictures of the well fire:

https://www.facebook.com/wtrf7news

http://www.wtrf.com/story/25894483/authorities-confirm-well-site-fi...

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Permalink Reply by Den on July 26, 2014 at 12:41am

Thanks,  interesting.   I wonder how much the fire fighting effort, i.e. pouring on water,  might have contributed to overflowing the berms and promoting the flow of chemicals to possum creek itself instead of the chemicals burning off.   Possum creek is a good ways down from the pad site.  Not meaning to fault the fire fighting effort, obviously the fire needed to be put out.

Permalink Reply by Bill Barnaby on July 26, 2014 at 8:31pm
Sad day for the fracing and drilling industry. Glad no one was hurt. Too bad we lost a bunch of fish though etc.
Permalink Reply by searcherone on August 6, 2014 at 7:13pm

http://www.northamericashaleblog.com

Comments  from a national law firm regarding the discussion about disclosing the chemicals used in fracking.   It was five days after the Eisenbarth well fire that disclosure was made regarding the chemicals on site.  

 

Thursday evening August 7 several environmental groups are holding an open meeting for residents and others interested discussing the Eisenbarth fire.   To be held at the Hilltop Community Center, St RT 556, Hannibal, Ohio.

http://www.ohio.com/blogs/drilling/ohio-utica-shale-1.291290/monroe...

Permalink Reply by Philip Brutz on August 6, 2014 at 8:06pm

Searcherone, thank you for the updates.

Permalink Reply by searcherone on August 6, 2014 at 10:00pm

U R welcome.

It appears this fire could be a "marker" for a ramping up of this discussion on both sides of the issue of disclosing the chemicals.   Also there seems to be no protocol in place as to how to fight one of these fires involving the fluids.

 IMHO local fire departments many of which are volunteers need all the training they can be given.  I personally see this incident as a wake up call to Emergency planners to get busy planning ahead;  most of the SE Ohio and bordering WV counties are rural  with difficult access to the well sites.  And do we have any helicopters  based locally that can do emergency disaster work?

Personally I won't be frightened by the fact officials are planning for these types of emergencies.   I am however, frightened by what currently appears as a lack of planning which would result in better protection and coordination of effort as well as communication.

Sorry, to be on my soapbox here but my phrase is "life changed" here in what has become a profitable gas play.   Time for elected officials and E&P companies to develop the emergency safety plans and those of us living among the development need to know the plans are in place!

Permalink Reply by Steven A Joliat on August 7, 2014 at 10:52am

Not to minimize the seriousness of this accident, but I find it interesting that no media mentioned that chemical firefighting foams are rather toxic to fish.  The typical concentration of the foaming agent as used is 200 times the tested 50% lethal concentration for fish.  Also how do they determine the total fishkill?  Do they throw out a couple of 3x3 squares and average from a few counts, or do they have a method that has a reasonable degree of precision?  The flowback  may have legitimately been the least potentially toxic material washing off the site.  In any event, the operator should have had better berms around the site.  The final incident report should provide a better picture of the controls that were in place at the time of the accident and to what degree improved controls should be added.

Permalink Reply by searcherone on August 7, 2014 at 9:55pm

Steven, you bring up a great point about foam. 

  I wonder if foam was available for use.  Is foam something every volunteer fire department would have on hand to use  or is it possible that it would be on the well site?  Remember this is a rural location and these fire departments are not equipped with the latest and greatest equipment.   The method of raising funds for the departments in this county was in the past carnivals, and now is bingo and fish dinners with some grant work being done.  Credit to Statoil for making a 25,000 donation to one of the fire departments about a year ago.

As far as the fish, the media reported 70,000, but the EPA report stated right at 12,000 that included 20 species.   Also I think it said something about they were picked up and had to be disposed of.  

Permalink Reply by Steven A Joliat on August 8, 2014 at 10:21am

Your point is good as well.  I believe the local firefighters would have small quantities of foaming agents for fighting car and small industrial fires, but the volumes required for a well fire would likely exhaust their limited supplies.  I  thought that some mention was made shortly after the incident occurred that professional well control specialists were involved.  They would likely bring in the larger quantity of material that would be necessary to extinguish the fire.  Given the small amount of foam runoff needed to produce a fish kill, it would be reasonable to assume foam was at least partially responsible.  If large quantities of formation water from the well reached the creek, its high salinity would cause fish to die before any diluted chemicals could have much effect.  Without seeing the final incident reports, or being on the site, I am limited to speculating about the progression of the accident.

Permalink Reply by searcherone on August 8, 2014 at 12:50pm

Steven,

Wild Well Fire services were apparently on site.   Which makes me question is their domicile only in Texas.  If so that is a long distance from the Utica and Marcellus.   Transportation into SE Ohio is not easy, two hours after landing in Pittsburgh or three hours after landing in Columbus and granted there are some small hilltop landing areas.

Overall my concern is lack of onsite leadership to handle this situation.  My statements at no time are critical of the local volunteer fire departments who are asked to be responders.   My criticism  is leveled at elected  and appointed officials at the state and local levels who appear not to be communicating, coordinating and planning ahead for the changes in our rural locations.

Personally I would like to see Wild Well Services doing training for the local fire departments.    The E&P s need to take their responsibility in this situation for they are the profit making entities who are operating these sites.

Steven, thank you for your responses as you know far more about the chemical aspects than most of us on this site.   Chemistry was never my interest.

Permalink Reply by Billy Park Whyde on August 8, 2014 at 2:37pm

In frac well fires local fire departments are for all purposes like calling a fire department while at sea. The only way to protect from this type of fire is one like it. is to have the gear with trained personnel to use it

 I go to different pads  while their drilling , fracking or even production pads. At one I saw a small 4x4 gator type vehicle set up as a fire response unit. It is not manned needs to be pull started on the pump unit I guess a warm fuzzy feeling not really a unit for real action . Perhaps it's just a haul rear out of the area!

Permalink Reply by Philip Brutz on August 7, 2014 at 10:57am

The Eisenbarth well fire and the Chevron Green co PA gas well explosion have one thing in common, lack of transparency.  When these accidents happen the companies involved must immediately communicate all information to the proper authorities.

Permalink Reply by Billy Park Whyde on August 8, 2014 at 12:49pm

Anyone that was in the USN and was a Damage Controlman or part of a crash crew knows that the fire in its initial stage could have been brought under control rather easily and quickly. 

As having been a USN Damage Controlman we are probably the best when it comes to fighting oil fires but this was not a crude oil fire but a chain reaction.

I was on a Frac Crew and a design flaw that concerned me was the design of the radiators upon the frac pumps. The radiators are horizontally mounted in the front of the trailer next to the semi tractor at about the roof level of the cab. 

  The radiator fan is powered by a huge hydraulic motor so when a hose breaks, or a seal ruptures  the hot hydraulic oil is pulled upwards through the fan and dispersed as a fine mist which has to fall. When it falls onto hot exhaust pipes bingo then that's when the chain reaction starts,The tractor's tanks usually full, then you have the frac pump tanks the amount of diesel adds up quickly! 

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