The Gippsland disaster a vision of hell

$The Gippsland disaster a vision of hell By GEOFF STRONG in the blackness of a Gippsland night, the crippled gas plant was an image from an Old Testament vision of hell. Around its perimeter, tall plumes of orange flame licked the sky but they were only a side-show - just the excess gases being burnt off. You needed to look more closely - to the plant's very heart - to see the destruction that had killed two men and injured six others. From this point rose a sinister glow that seemed to burn out of the earth itself. It sent sheets of flame soaring up to 10 metres in the air, contemptuous of attempts to cool it by three or four huge fountains of water pumped from the CFA's firefighting appliances. The infernal atmosphere was reinforced by the tall steel towers of the refinery, crowding round the flames like the columns of an ancient temple. At the base of the fire could be seen what seemed to be a spider's web of crumpled steel. This was part of a network of pipes blown to pieces by the explosion. To confirm the image, the air was still filled with an odor of soot and sulphur. Yet looking at the plant, almost every sign seemed to be a safety warning aimed at the workforce. Even though we had been taken there by an inspector of police and a CFA official, it was clear the media were unwelcome, even outside the boundary on public property. As we were leaving, an Esso staffer expressed anger that we had been allowed to look closely through the fence. But what I remember remains a powerful image. The flames, pillars, water jets and smell, combined with the knowledge of the deaths, came together to make it Sale's inferno. Another word for oblivion All through the disaster that has engulfed East Gippsland's gas plant, there was one scenario that firefighters did not like to discuss much, but was always close to their thoughts. Its name sounds like "blevvy", an acronym for boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion. Had it happened during the terrifying events of Friday afternoon, the firefighters would all have been dead in a fraction of a second. So would most other things in a five-kilometre arc east and west of The Esso fire burning on Friday night sent flames soaring up to 10 metres. Picture: ANDREW BATSCHPOOL the plant. The danger was due to four 200,000-litre liquid petroleum gas storage tanks on the site. They were not involved in the explosion, but the heat and their proximity made them the firefighters' main priority. Almost immediately after the initial blast, Esso workers were able to close off pipes bringing gas to the plant and distributing it to consumers, while the automatic deluge system came on to direct water at the tanks and cool them.$

Article from 27 Sep 1998The Age(Melbourne, Victoria, Australia)

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The Gippsland disaster a vision of hell

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