Gerritt Posted June 3, 2007 Report Posted June 3, 2007 Yup.... it has happened again.... 'We heard explosions' Witnesses see thick, black smoke as fire takes hold of Esso refinery By AJAY BHARDWAJ, SUN MEDIA An explosion, flames and a plume of thick, black smoke rose from the horizon on the eastern outskirts of the city yesterday after a blaze at the Esso refinery. "We saw a black plume of smoke," said Chad Fisher, who was headed to Sherwood Park along Baseline Road near 34 Street after attending his granddaughter's high school graduation at the AgriCom. "It started cracking and banging and we heard the explosions," he continued. "There were a lot of oohs and ahhs. "You never expect something like that in Edmonton." Edmonton emergency response department dispatched eight units to the scene, which is on Baseline Road in Strathcona County, said Capt. Darrell Payne. "We had so many calls on it," said Payne. "It was a large fire but it had all the potential in the world to be a larger fire." City firefighters were first to arrive following the 10 p.m. blaze, where a crude oil line in a pump station was on fire, Payne said. From early reports, no one seemed to be injured. City firefighters were about to stand down and let their Strathcona County counterparts handle the blaze but decided to battle the fire because of the potentially explosive situation, Payne said. Police blocked off Baseline Road at 34 Street as the conflagration was being fought. Dave Armstrong was taking part in the Northern Alberta Canine Association dog show when he and other competitors noticed thick, black smoke coming from the Esso refinery starting around 8 p.m. Thankfully, he added, the wind carried the smoke south and away from exhibitors and their 2,000 dogs, who were situated west of the refinery. "That smoke was pretty thick," said Armstrong, 42, who works in the oilpatch. "I just seen lots of black smoke, it was pretty bad. I wasn't really scared." Once firefighters got the blaze under control, they turned it over to Strathcona County and Esso counterparts, Payne said. Firefighters were waiting for excess oil to be burned off before putting out the blaze around 11:30 p.m., said Payne. Alberta Environment was monitoring the air quality following the blaze. Gerritt.
irishfield Posted June 3, 2007 Report Posted June 3, 2007 Every vehicle in the yard is full...including the boat.
easton13th Posted June 3, 2007 Report Posted June 3, 2007 Great! I think they manufacture these troubles to raise the prices. They always seem to occur in summer the peak time. I'm just saying. Easton
aniceguy Posted June 3, 2007 Report Posted June 3, 2007 can someone answer me beyond the obvious how a regional fire at a refinery in Edmonton is going to affect S Ontario's gas supply stability
Steelcat Posted June 3, 2007 Report Posted June 3, 2007 Logically there should be no effect on S.Ontario. But as the oil companies always said, it's beyone our mental capability to understand what's going on about gas price.
PatrickGG Posted June 3, 2007 Report Posted June 3, 2007 ITS A LIE! another excuse to raise up prices "jk" Its a never ending loop and theres always some excuse tornadoes, hurricanes, terrorists, its the same Bull.
urbanangler1990 Posted June 4, 2007 Report Posted June 4, 2007 ITS A LIE! another excuse to raise up prices "jk"Its a never ending loop and theres always some excuse tornadoes, hurricanes, terrorists, its the same Bull. im with pat on this
irishfield Posted June 4, 2007 Report Posted June 4, 2007 (edited) I think they manufacture these troubles to raise the prices. Easton Well if they manufacture them....I'd sure hate to be the guy that they sent in with the box of matches. Hope they paid him triple time at least... Edited June 4, 2007 by irishfield
Carp Posted June 4, 2007 Report Posted June 4, 2007 It's getting ridiculous. I believe some of these fires and explosions are set intentionally. Very rare in the past, but they seem to be much more frequent now. One would think with all the modern technology, safety & security features at these refineries, the number of accidents should be declining. When the hurricanes don't do any damage, a quick interruption at a refinery and the price of fuel skyrockets. The profits far outweigh any repairs needed and the price rarely returns to what it was pre-accident. Doesn't sound so far fetched to me that they damage their own equipment on purpose.
Corey Posted June 4, 2007 Report Posted June 4, 2007 Well... I suppose Gerritt should take out a second mortgage to pay for fuel for our fishing trip this weekend haha. cd.
Deano Posted June 4, 2007 Report Posted June 4, 2007 Everybody seems to forget about this, seems like it is happeneing more lately and I've yet to see the real explanation of what went wrong at these plants. Alquida-More attacks on Canada refineries
Gerritt Posted June 4, 2007 Author Report Posted June 4, 2007 Just an FYI... I went to my regular Place to fill up THATS RIGHT PETRO CANADA and they were out of FUEL! get ready for a good screwing folks. (PS I use a corporate Petro Canada CC Card) Gerritt.
bigbuck Posted June 4, 2007 Report Posted June 4, 2007 Everyone seems to forget that ESSO is the company that has these "fires and explosions" going on at their refineries. PetroCanada used to keep everyone honest when they were owned by us, the Canadian people until our friendly federal government decided to spin off their assets in the company to make the books look better and balance the budget. I kinda laugh about it because I grew up working at Knob Hill Farms (remember the grocery stores). A few years ago you could still get T-Bone Steaks for under $10/kilo. I was at Dominion over the weekend and saw that Striploin steaks were $30.84/kilo. Jeez, the independant guy closes the doors to focus on the business that was making boatloads of money for himself (the Leafs) and the big boys start hosing the consumers. Please remember that competition is good, monopolies and oligopolies are not. Look at the banks, Canada Trust used to keep everyone on their toes with regards to customer service, once they were bought out, things have steadily declined for the consumer, more user fees, less service and like. That's my rant, I could go on and on and on
Headhunter Posted June 4, 2007 Report Posted June 4, 2007 Apparently Wayne has lots of fuel so I'll be heading up there when I need some! Here we go again! Assume the position! HH
fishergirl72 Posted June 4, 2007 Report Posted June 4, 2007 HA HA HA! Good one Irishfield! This is just another excuse to raise the gas prices!
Zib Posted June 4, 2007 Report Posted June 4, 2007 Great! I think they manufacture these troubles to raise the prices. They always seem to occur in summer the peak time.I'm just saying. Easton You got that right! Here in the states they always shut down the refineries for so-called "maintenance" during the peak summer driving period. The oil companies do this to increase their profits so that they can pay their execs a nice retirement bonus of $900 million.
PatrickGG Posted June 4, 2007 Report Posted June 4, 2007 Everybody seems to forget about this, seems like it is happeneing more lately and I've yet to see the real explanation of what went wrong at these plants.Alquida-More attacks on Canada refineries Note to self: 1/ Next time i am at the gas bar paying for my gas i should be aware of who is behind the counter and i wont try to piss him off. 2/ No more asking if they can please turn on the air pump cause i bought gas just pay the damn quarter for air. 3/ Stay extremely far away from transport trucks shipping gas around on the highways an in the cities.
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