LONE STAR FIRE PUT OUT BEFORE TURNING SERIOUS

A malfunction could have caused a fire early Thursday in a fuel tanker being unloaded at Lone Star Industries Inc. But Lone Star's fire-suppression system might have prevented a disaster.

Fire Marshal Tom Hinkebein said the Cape Girardeau Fire Department was called to the waste-fuel recovery unit of Lone Star at 3:58 a.m. When the first units -- one ladder truck and two engines -- arrived, firefighters found a fuel tanker in an unloading bay spouting flames about 2 or 3 feet out of a top vent.

Hinkebein said an entry port on top of the tanker had been opened slightly to alleviate the gas pressure inside. Something sparked the venting fumes to start the fire.

Lone Star said an agitator on the truck might have malfunctioned and caused the flame, which sent one company technician to a hospital with second-degree burns. The technician, whose name was withheld, was in satisfactory condition and under observation Thursday.

"We haven't identified the cause of the fire," said Norris Johnson, facility manager at Lone Star. "Opening the vent isn't standard procedure, but the technicians had problems unloading the fuel and had opened the vent to see what the problem was.

"We've never had anything like this happen before," said Johnson.

The truck was carrying about 4,300 gallons of paint solvents, oils and other combustible waste products that are used by Lone Star to fuel its plant.

Immediately after the fire started, Lone Star's automated fire-suppression system kicked on and dumped about 300 gallons of foam onto the tank, which kept the fire in check. As the foam dissipated the fire system's water sprinklers continued to shower the tanker and kept its outer skin temperature down. Hinkebein said those two safety devices kept the tanker fire from becoming worse than it was.

"It was a dangerous fire," he said. "But it was under control. We weren't so worried about it exploding. If the cover on top of the truck was completely open that foam would have put the fire out."

When the first fire trucks from Cape Girardeau and Scott County arrived they worked to keep the tanker's outer surface cool. The flame was fueled by gasses under pressure, which fought its way through the first dousing of foam from Lone Star's system. So firefighters worked simply to keep the tanker from overheating and rupturing until one of Cape Girardeau's trucks could arrive.