Oil tank battery destroyed

Firefighters still weren’t sure Wednesday exactly what caused the explosion at a tank battery near Interstate 20 and FM 1936 late Tuesday.

Firefighters from Odessa and West Odessa and private contractors worked from about 9:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. Wednesday putting it out. They closed down the north I-20 service road as they worked on the fire.

Rubberneckers dotted Murphy Street in front of the Halliburton office on the other side of the interstate from the two fully engulfed tanks, watching them burn. Some passersby whipped out their cell phones and took photos as they pulled off the shoulder.

West Odessa volunteer fire chief Jimmy Ellis said the tanks’ owner was coming from Coahoma to examine what was left of the tanks, which Ellis said amounted to two four-foot-high shells and rubble from what were once 20-foot-high, 750-barrel tanks.

Desk manager J.P. Martinez with LoneStar Mobile Rig & Diesel Repair, who supplied several of the water tankers, said the fire re-ignited in “a huge fireball that came out of nowhere” at about 10:15 p.m. Shortly after, two West Odessa firefighters were taken to Medical Center Hospital.

Ellis said one of them complained about chest pains while the other twisted his leg during the “boilover,” when steaming hot water in the bottom of an oil tank erupts through the oil layer, ignites the oil and splatters it up in the air. Both were evaluated, treated and released from the hospital, he said.

The fire was the second in about as many months in that area. Ellis said the previous blaze was started by lightning, though he ruled out lightning as the cause of Tuesday’s explosion.

The heat from the fire was intense enough to feel from the westbound lanes of Interstate 20.

As the tanks burned Tuesday, Alfredo Enriquez of Musselwhite Trucking said he saw the blast nearly reached his truck as he drove by the tanks.

“It just went, ‘BSSSSH!’” Enriquez said, spreading his arms out as he described the explosion.