A lubricant and grease manufacturing plant in Tulsa, Oklahoma, suffered a small explosion and serious fire earlier this week. According to FOX23.com News, black smoke from the fire could be seen for miles as the Tulsa Fire Department and other agencies were battling to control the fire. The facility is owned by AXEL Royal, a "leading manufacturer and marketer of lubricants and greases made in the United States."
Once the fire had been contained, HAZMAT crews began applying synthetic foam to prevent any further ignition, according to KJRH - 2 News. Andy Little, a representative from the Tulsa Fire Department, told KJRH, "You have to err on the side of caution and make sure you have enough (foam). Once you start applying foam, if you don't have enough then that fire is just going to spread back to where it was. So you want to be able to completely finish that process."
Little added, "Anytime you are utilizing foam, you have petroleum products, you have to check the water quality (and) check that it's not getting into the water or anything like that. We don't believe that's an issue at this time.”
Nick Howard, who works at a neighboring facility, spoke with Rian Stockett for KTUL ABC 8 about the explosion and subsequent fire. "It almost sounded kind of muffled because our doors were closed. It didn't sound like a gunshot or anything crazy. I really thought it was just a pickup truck dropping their tailgate. We could feel the heat here. I didn't know if our shop was going to explode too or what."
New 9 spoke with several eyewitnesses on the scene. Jim Wolfe said, “I saw the fire, and I knew that wasn’t normal. As I got closer, I was hoping I’d see the source.”
Kyle Hopkins, an emergency response coordinator for BMS Cat, added, “From what I could tell from the odors and the color of the smoke and the ferocity of it, you could tell it was a chemical or oil fire. Fortunately, there was a project manager on scene that knew which valve to shut off so it wouldn’t continue to feed the fire.”
In a recent statement, Johan Stureson, CEO of AXEL Group, stated, “The best information available is that it started in the western part of the oil blending unit, but the cause is not yet determined. All employees and visitors are safe and accounted for and were subsequently released to return home. The same applied to subsequent shifts and will remain so until called back.”
Johan added, “The interim assessment is that damage is mainly affecting the oil blending and outdoor base oil storage tanks, of which two were directly affected by the fire. A more detailed evaluation will follow.”