07:16 am, Monday 30 March, 2009

Source: The Townsville Bulletin

A massive explosion in a bitumen silo at the Bohle Industrial Estate yesterday morning was all boom and no bite.

The explosion, which happened in one of eight 60,000 litre bitumen silos at the Pioneer Road Services Pty Ltd complex on Enterprise Rd at 7.40am, blasted the roof from the silo and sent a cauldron of black smoke and flames hurtling skywards.

No one was injured in the blast which blew out the sides of the silo and sent its heavy, Metal roof flying through the air to land on top of an adjacent shed.

Pioneer Road Services executives would not comment on the incident yesterday, but Ken Beasley from Queensland Fire and Rescue Service said the explosion was most likely caused by kerosene which was being used as a cleaning agent in the bitumen silos.

He said the silo had been emptied of bitumen and was being cleaned before being refilled with a new batch of product.

Both Mr Beasley and Townsville Fire Station Officer Alun Williams said the Cleaning Procedureinvolved running kerosene through the pipes and inside the silo in order to break down any remaining bitumen residue.

Mr Williams said it was thought that for some reason the kerosene reached ignition point and set off the  explosion.

He said the cleaning process was fully automated which meant there was no human activity in the vicinity of the silo.

“Fortunately it was one of those places where there are not many workers required,” he said.

Mr Beasley said crews had the fire under control at 8.15am.

He said that heat generated by the blaze had caused temperatures to rise in adjacent silos and in order to prevent a chain reaction of explosions they were put under the hoses until their inside temperatures reached manageable limits.

“There was a lot of heat in the other tanks and we cooled them down and we will continue to monitor them until we’re sure they’re safe,” he said.

A spokesman from Workplace Health And Safety Queensland said officers were investigating the cause of the accident.

Report by Julia Alder - Do you have an OHS News Story - Let us know