[StBernard] Black smoke billows out of St. Bernard Parish refinery, but fire chief says there is no fire

[Westley Annis]

Black smoke billows out of St. Bernard Parish refinery, but fire chief says
there is no fire
By Chris Kirkham, The Times-Picayune 
February 10, 2010, 4:56PM

Smoke pours out of the Murphy Oil refinery Wednesday afternoon 
Anyone driving in St. Bernard Parish over the past few hours likely saw
clouds of black smoke pouring out of stacks at Murphy Oil Co. refinery in
Meraux.


But the smoke is not the result of a fire, said St. Bernard Parish Fire
Chief Thomas Stone. Rather, it's from liquid that was burning in the
refinery's heater unit.

Stone said the smoke "looked worse than what it was," but that the fire
department has received loads of calls this afternoon.

"Our switchboard lit up," he said. "We got calls from all over."

Stone referred specific questions about the smoke to Murphy officials. A
spokesman for the company, Carl Zornes, confirmed that there were no
explosions or fires anywhere at the refinery.

He said the heater unit, which normally only burns gas to produce heat for
refining, started burning some liquids that had somehow gotten into the gas
line.

Zornes said it is unclear how the liquids got into the line, and that the
incident is being investigated by refinery staff. 


The smoke caused by the liquid in the system "should not have any off-site
impacts," Zornes said, although he was not sure exactly what liquids were
burned.

The Murphy refinery in Meraux was found liable last week for violating the
Clean Air Act on numerous occasions, and was cited late last year by the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration for several worker safety
violations