4 Million Gallon Diesel Fuel Tank Fire 9/5/07 - City of Poughkeepsie Fire Department

At 11:20 hrs on Wednesday September 5,2007 the City of Poughkeepsie Fire Department was dispatched for a reported tank fire at the Love-Effron fuel tank farm located on Pine St. along the banks Hudson River. First arriving Poughkeepsie units found a 4 million gallon fuel oil tank with fire venting from its top and with structural distension to the tank. They were advised by site workers that the tanks total capacity was 4 million gallons and the tanks current level was at approximately 3.5 million gallons. As firefighters began to get setup to fight the fire, protect the remaining uninvolved tanks, and establish a water supply from the nearby Hudson river, the fire mysteriously appeared to have extinguished itself. Although this was definitely the lucky break the Firefighters needed, the situation was far from being safe. Initially there were too many unanswered questions such as was the fire really out? Would it reignite? The tank had obviously suffered structural damage and was this damage enough to cause the tank to suffer a catastrophic collapse? And if the tank did collapse, where would the contents go? Would the brim handle the release or would it be violent enough that it would shower the contents into the near-by Hudson River? Without answers to the prior questions, Poughkepsies incident command began requesting the necessary resources to both get the answers as well as to handle all of these situations if they were to occur. Command requested that all off-duty Poughkeepsie Firefighters be recalled and requested M/A from numerous area departments and agencies. Crash trucks from the Dutchess County Airport as well as the Stewart Airport Air National Guard were requested to the scene as well as the US Coast Guard, DCSO Marine Patrol, and the NYSP Aviation Unit. In talking with someone today that is familiar with the tanks construction, the tank's built in fire suppression put the fire out. Apparently there is a "floating dome" that rides on the surface of the tanks contents. When the explosion occurred, this dome may have lifted during the initial blast but came back down on top of the tanks liquid contents effectively smothering the fire..... Kind of like putting a lid on pan with a grease fire on the stove (My analogy). The tanks contents reportedly were moved to other tanks at the facility.