By Kurtis Doering

Specialized crews work on new plan to cap Prud’homme gas fire

Oct 16, 2014 | 9:26 AM

The flame is approximately 100 feet high near Prud’homme as crews decide which of two options will be safest to replace the new well head.

The first option is extinguishing the flame and dealing with the gas that is coming up under pressure before putting on a new well head. The problem is that once the flame is gone, crews can’t see or smell where the gas is.

The second option involves using a heat-shielded crane to lower a new wellhead onto the base of the old one. Fire crews will have to brave the flames and heat once again as they bolt the wellhead down, and turn off its valves, stopping the flow of gas.

While both options are dangerous, it’s a typical day at the office for Safety Boss crews, according to Dave Burdeniuk, spokesperson for SaskEnergy.

During the first Gulf War, a Canadian company put out more oil-well fires in Kuwait than any other. Calgary-based Safety Boss doused 180 of the roughly 650 fires set by the Iraqi army as part of their retreat order. 

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Now, that same company is working to put out the raging natural gas fire at the TransGas storage facility.

Safety Boss was one of the first calls TransGas made when the wellhead exploded just after 10 a.m. Saturday morning.

“We did have people from Safety Boss on site by 6 p.m. Saturday night,” Burdenuik said. “They were already in their protective equipment and going out to do their first inspection of the wellhead.”

Sixteen crew members have been working around-the-clock in shifts since then. Teams armed with heat shields and cloaked in heat-resistant suits enter the inferno two-by-two for a few minutes at a time. Temperatures approaching 2000° F are brought down by duel water cannons from a specially-designed truck called “Smokey”. 

“(The temperature) can reduce to maybe 1000° F, but they are still right up against that,” Burdenuik said. “They can spend a limited time at – or basically almost in – the fire before they do have to pull back and regroup and rest. We’re told it’s very draining to be operating in conditions like that.”

Safety Boss has brought their own paramedics, ambulance, and recovery vehicle for the crew.

Burdenuik added that every minute spent in the flames is preceded by hours of pre-planning, which involves TransGas engineers.

The “Smokey” truck has a water capacity of 1,100 gallons. Its high-powered water cannons were able to clear-off the debris from the destroyed wellhead when part of the structure around it collapsed.

There is no timeline for this latest extinguishment plan. Thirteen people remain evacuated as of Wednesday evening.

Burdeniuk said this wellhead fire is unprecedented for TransGas, which is part of the reason they called in an outside company to handle it. 

A detailed investigation will commence once the fire is out.

-with files from News Talk Radio’s Karin Yeske

news@panow.com

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