A small fire at Hovensa’s St. Croix refinery Monday morning brought out the company’s emergency response team, which had the situation under control in less than an hour.
According to a statement from the company, a fire broke out in a crude oil tank that was out of service for cleaning.
The fire started at approximately 9:15 a.m., and the "all clear" was sounded
50 minutes later at 10:05, according to the company’s release. No injuries were reported and no changes to refinery operations occurred as a result.
When contacted at the refinery Monday, company spokesman Stephen Shanahan declined to discuss how the fire started.
"As to specifics on the fire, we don’t want to speculate on cause because we’ve not completed an investigation," he said.
Hovensa has been in the public eye lately for a series of mishaps and accidents at the plant that released foul smelling and toxic chemicals into the air.
During a series of public hearings earlier this month, angry residents expressed their frustration at Hovensa and the Environmental Protection Agency for not informing the community about the potential hazards, among other things.
The EPA also called on Hovensa to change some of its operations and policies.
Monday’s press release was received through email less than two hours after the company reported the "all clear" had been sounded. Strahan said the prompt release of information about the fire was not directly related to any one thing.
"It was not prompted by any single event," Strahan said, "but is a result of Hovensa’s ongoing efforts to improve communications. Hovensa issues press releases when incidents occur that are visible and therefore would cause public concern."
