Explosion, fire rock Staten Island oil storage facility
By ELIZABETH LeSURE - The Associated Press
2/21/03 11:39 AM
NEW YORK (AP) -- An explosion rocked an oil storage facility at the edge of Staten Island on Friday, sending black smoke and flames hundreds of feet into the air.
A federal government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press that there was a preliminary report of one person injured and two unaccounted for.
Fire officials labeled the blaze a gasoline fire, and said it was burning on water and on land. Spokesman Michael Loughran said preliminary reports indicated that none of the dozens of oil tanks at the ExxonMobil storage facility were on fire.
"We have a preliminary report that a tanker was transferring a product or was being fueled and somehow ignited," Fire Department Battalion Chief William Van Wart said.
Police spokesman Michael O'Looney said the incident appeared to be an accident, and FBI spokesman Steve Kodak in Newark, N.J., said there was no indication of terrorism. However, FBI officials in Washington said they were still examining it because a refinery is the type of infrastructure terrorists might target.
The Department of Homeland Security "is closely monitoring the situation with local state authorities and other federal agencies as well as assisting in the coordination of the response," said department spokesman Brian Roehrkasse.
The explosion, which could be heard several miles away, occurred at the edge of Port Mobil, near the Outerbridge Crossing that links the island to Woodbridge, N.J., in the southwestern part of Staten Island, said a spokeswoman for the Staten Island borough office.
It was reported shortly after 10 a.m., according to a spokeswoman for the New York Fire Department.
City officials said residents were not in immediate danger.
"At this point, people should not take any special precautions. It's unlikely this could spread to a residential area," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said shortly after the fire was reported.
Federal Aviation Administration spokesman Jim Peters said the agency issued temporary flight restrictions on aircraft, barring them from within two miles of the explosion site and an altitude of 3,000 feet and below.
Staten Island residents gathered on street corners watching the plume of smoke about two miles away.
"I thought it was a terrorist attack," said Jennifer Wall, 28, who was videotaping the smoke as it floated over her home. "It was like thunder, but 20 times more vibrations. It shook the house."
02/21 13:03
New York Barge Explosion at Exxon Mobil Dock Hurts 1; 2 Missing
By Chitra Somayaji
New York, Feb. 21 (Bloomberg) -- A barge filled with gasoline exploded at an Exxon Mobil Corp. loading terminal on Staten Island, New York, causing a fire that was visible for miles. Two workers were missing and one was injured, company officials said.
Billowing smoke from the fire could be seen from as far away as Manhattan and central New Jersey. The explosion occurred about 10 a.m. New York time.
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said there's ``no evidence or reason to believe it is anything but a very tragic industrial accident.'' Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg LP, parent of Bloomberg News.
The barge held 100,000 barrels of unleaded gasoline that was being unloaded at the time of the explosion, said Tom Cirigliano, spokesman for Exxon Mobil, the world's largest publicly traded oil company.
The fire was contained, with a small area of fuel still burning, said New York City Fire Battalion Chief William Van Wart. ``We're letting the fuel burn itself out and dispersing foam on adjacent barges and surrounding areas.''
The loading terminal is on Staten Island's coastline, with only several feet separating the fire from the Arthur Kill waterway, which runs between Staten Island and New Jersey.
The waterway is ``closed to all traffic other than emergency vessels, and the Coast Guard is enforcing that,'' said Petty Officer Matthew Belson, a spokesman for the U.S. Coast Guard.
Major Channel
The Arthur Kill is a major channel into Staten Island's Howland Hook Marine Terminal, said Stephen Coleman, spokesman for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. Howland Hook is the fastest-growing terminal in the Port of New York and New Jersey, he said.
``Most things that people have in their house or go to the store to purchase comes through there,'' Coleman said. ``It's a very important waterway for us.'
New Jersey State Police officers are at the scene, along with New York firefighters, Belson said. The Coast Guard is helping to fight the fire with three large ``cutter'' firefighting boats and ``several'' 41-foot rescue boat crews, he said.
``There are no reports of anyone in the water,'' Belson said. The U.S. Coast Guard has established a security zone around the Arthur Kill waterway, he said.
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation was monitoring the situation, spokesman Ed Cogswell said.
An injured man from the fire was admitted to the burn center at the 718-bed Staten Island University Hospital, spokeswoman Arleen Ryback said. The man, whom she didn't identify, is in critical but stable condition.
``It took a good five to 10 minutes before we saw the smoke,'' said Ryback. ``We're used to hearing explosions being so close to New Jersey, but after 9/11, I think people wondered what was happening.''
Oil Prices Surge
Crude oil prices jumped as the barge explosion threatened to disrupt supplies in the Northeast.
``The fire is next to a lot of oil storage,'' said Ed Silliere, vice president of risk management at Energy Merchant LLC in New York, which markets gasoline and heating oil to local distributors. ``This is an important shipping facility, which will probably be shut down for quite a while.''
Crude oil for April delivery was up 73 cents, or 2.1 percent, at $35.47 a barrel as of 12:13 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Prices were up 0.4 percent this week.