Fire Safety Science Digital Archive

The majority of petroleum refineries and petrochemical facilities store highly flammable liquids in open top floating roof tanks. Occasionally the floating roof loses buoyancy and sinks. This exposes an large pool of hydrocarbon product. If the vapour ignites, a full surface fire occurs which can escalate and involve adjacent tanks. Such an incident occurred in Singapore in October 1988. As a result, a number of studies and papers have been written on fire science matters associated with such events. This paper discusses the following three associated fire science topics namely; the electrostatic hazards of foam blanketing operations, tire escalation from radiation heat, and the extinguishment of large tank fires.