Georgealbert

Yes, it was reported “That after being informed of the incident The Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Energy has ordered the establishment of a war room, with the Department of Energy Business and Energy of Rayong Province coordinating relevant agencies in the area to closely monitor the situation. Including preparing for the operation of the LNG Terminal in Map Ta Phut to be able to operate normally and for EGAT to prepare reserve fuel in case of emergencies.” War room, should really say crisis management centre/Team, which is what the site emergency response plans will refer to.

I read that also, but I still see no evidence that the fuel inside any other tank was burning. Other tanks are showing signs of fire and heat damage externally blackened, so this is fire/heat damage, but I see none of the responding agencies saying that fuel was burning in another tank. So maybe it is something lost in terminology of, what reporters and responders term as on fire. I will be happy to correct myself if I see the company or Rayong Government, issue a statement to support the news sites.

Really, so what estate prices do you think will go down? Do you think Thailand only has industrial accidents? How has this affected any other factory, other than the workers had a half day off work. Do you really think you and your friends are going to get discount, in the future, because of this tank fire. Map Ta Phut has been there for 35 years, this is not the first incident and I am sure will not be the last, plus the industrial areas are only going to expand with EEC development.

This seems to be a well executed response, in general, by many different agencies, local fire services, factory fire services and volunteer rescue teams., DDPM, medical teams, local and national government departments. i will be interesting to see how robust the site emergency response plans were, what caused the initial explosion, what caused the death and injuries. There will need to be an investigation as to what led to the re-ignition after the fire was first first contained at about 12.50, was this a lack of available foam, decision by incident commander to stop, or there fire continued to burn under the fixed roof.

You are aware that this is an industrial estate? “Map Ta Phut has five industrial estates, a deep-sea port, over 150 factories, including petrochemical plants, oil refineries, coal-fired power station, and iron and steel facilities. The zone occupies 166 km2. The area contains around 30 agricultural and residential communities with more than 49,000 residents.”

New reduced evacuation guidance issued.

17.00 live cam footage, shows the fire has been contained, but foam still being applied to prevent re-ignition. Original tank does not appear to have split, but roof is missing, so maybe a ‘boil over’ occurred. Neighbouring tank is blackened, but seems structurally complete, so unclear if it was involved in fire or not. RPReplay_Final1715248681.mov

Sorry, I have seen no evidence from videos, reports and live cams, that the fire has spread beyond the original tank. The tank did split earlier, and the fire spread into the bund area, which is what witnesses maybe describing. I will not say the report is wrong yet, but will look for updated confirmation. The video below from the responders, appear to show a temporary withdraw as the tanks split and overflowed. RPReplay_Final1715247991.mov

Video from earlier this afternoon, showing local response teams and DDPM, working to contain the fire. 507368494854832226.mov

Thank you. Responders were getting updates, from EMCC earlier, but I have not seen any recent mapping. It also appears now, that under the declared state of emergency, that a 10 km, in all directions, evacuation zone is trying to be achieved, but the fire will be out long before they can enforce that over such a large area. http://www.envimtp.com/

Now being reported that there was 1 death. Rayong Provincial statement. “Declaration of state of emergency level 2 provinces, for people of Nong Fab community, Takuan-Ao Pradu community, to be evacuated to the Rayong Provincial Government Centre and Map Ta Phut Phan Pittayakhan School. The last group of employees have been evacuated from the estate. The wind changed direction from the northwest, and is now come to the northeast. Safe evacuation distance should be 10 km away from the fire area. Please avoid the following routes. 1. Sukhumvit Road 2. Route into the Lao market 3. Pakorn Songkha route 4. Lines from Nong Faeb 5. Suchada Beach Road Four people were injured and one person died.” .

This picture at 15.45, shows a reduction in flames, so it would appear responders may have contained the fire within the bund area. The change in smoke colour would also suggest that extinguishing efforts are currently working.

Map Ta Phut Tank Terminal Company Limited has issued a statement. “At approximately 10:45 a.m., there was smoke at the pyrolysis gas storage tank of Map Ta Phut Tank Terminal Company Limited, which is located at the Map Ta Phut Industrial Port. Rayong Province Company A team was mobilized to control the situation immediately after the incident according to the emergency response plan. By separating the system and stop various activities within the factory according to safety procedures. Currently, the preliminary cause is being discovered. We were informed that 4 people were injured and were taken to the hospital and are under medical care. This incident had no impact on the community or environment. Pyrolysis gasoline is a substance that may affect health at a low level. The company apologies for the incident.” Local villagers who work at the company, suggested that this was a period of shutdown to clean the chemical storage tanks and it is believed that there was an accident that caused an explosion.

Thank you for the update., had seen no update from EMCC.

Live feed from the beach area. https://fb.watch/rYg7AK3qlk/?

Seen from the public beach area. RPReplay_Final1715242139.mov

14.10: Rayong Provincial Government has declaration of state of emergency level 2 for Nong Fab community, and Takuan-Ao Pradu community.

I would hope that the containment bund will take the amount leaking. The tank is in its own bund area, so responders can now attack the burning surface of the fuel. Providing enough responders and equipment are in place, they should still prevent this spreading to other tanks, especially the gas spheres.

This is the smoke travel direction from the fire, from the Environmental Monitoring and Control Centre.

Evacuation distance for these tanks should be 800 m, but the responders have probably doubled that, as a safety margin, given additional surrounding hazards. Think the fire teams will be happy to contain this to the original tank until it has burnt off all the fuel in that tank.

I would hope that responders can contain the fire to the tank of origin. These tanks seem to meet the required separation and provided the fixed fire protection systems have not been damaged, effective cooling should prevent horizontal fire/heat spread. It is a fixed roof tank, so getting to the burning surface of the fire is difficult, but the tanks appear to have fixed firefighting injection systems installed. The company should be trying to empty as much of the fuel from the tank, that is safely possible, hence reducing the amount of fuel available to burn. Another hazard is the possible structure collapse of the tank walls and filling the containment bunds with burning fuel. RPReplay_Final1715239971.mov

Update report at 13.40 states the situation is currently deemed very serious, and fixed systems are struggling to contain. RPReplay_Final1715237935.mov

The update you posted above, also refers to an explosion in a naphtha storage tank at Map Ta Phut Industrial Port in 2021 that caused 3 deaths and 2 serious injuries, which occurred when the tank was being clean. That tank was very close to this incident, see picture below.

13.00, reported re-ignition of the tank and the fire is burning again, at Map Ta Phut Tank Terminal Company Limited in Map Ta Phut Industrial Estate, Rayong.

12.50, reported that the fire has been contained, using fixed firefighting protection systems, installed at the tanks. Inspection ongoing to check fire is fully extinguished and extent of damage.