By Abe Winter and Tom Shaw
Omaha World-Herald (Nebraska)
Copyright 2006 The Omaha World-Herald Company
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Neb. — Exploding oil tanks, heavy smoke and flames and a lack of a nearby water supply complicated firefighters’ job today as they fought a large fire at an oil storage facility south of Council Bluffs.
The fire broke out about 4:30 a.m. at Stern Oil Co., which is near Interstate 29 and Iowa Highway 370. Stern stores about 100,000 gallons of motor oil, cleaning solvents and hydraulic fluids in 17 outdoor and four indoor storage tanks. The tanks range in size from 1,100 gallons to 7,400 gallons.
As the fire raged throughout the morning, the tanks exploded, sending flames 80 feet in the air.
The company’s president, Gillas Stern, said damage to the site exceeded $1 million. Stern said the fire started in the front northeast corner of the building, which is an office area. It’s not clear whether it started inside or outside the building, he said.
The cause of the fire has not yet been determined.
The fire was called in by a neighbor a few miles away who heard a series of explosions. The neighbor looked outside, saw the fire and called 911, said Council Bluffs Fire Marshal Jeff Hutcheson.
The first responding firefighters, from Lewis Township, saw smoke and flames and immediately requested backup. Sixty-five firefighters from a dozen departments eventually responded.
Two firefighters suffered minor injuries from slipping and falling, Hutcheson said.
Explosions occurred every few minutes between 8 a.m. and 9 a.m. The explosions dropped off and stopped about 10:30 a.m.
The warehouse employs 12 people. “All of our people are safe and sound,” said Mark Amam, a manager with Stern in Freeman, S.D.
Front end loaders moved dirt around the plant to try to prevent oil, solvents and fluid from flowing into nearby fields and storm sewers.
Firefighters used a foam mixed with water to smother the flames by cutting off its source of oxygen.
Crews had to truck water to the site from the Bunge bean plant, which is more than a mile southeast of the Stern site. Bunge is on the east side of I-29; the oil facility is on the west side. Regional manager Tom Schmitt said the Bunge plant has its own city water line. He said two firetrucks at a time were filling up with water and heading back to the fire.
The fire was not affecting Bunge’s operation, he said.
The federal Environmental Protection Agency and the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality placed air quality monitoring equipment near the plant because of concerns about particulates in the air.
Dan Stipe, the southwest Iowa coordinator for the Iowa Department of Natural Resources, said the Nebraska department is involved because winds were coming out of the east and blowing across the river into the Bellevue area.
A Bellevue hazardous materials team set up air-monitoring equipment near the Missouri River on the Nebraska side but had found nothing of concern as of late morning, said Joe Mastandrea of Sarpy County Emergency Management.