1984 — July 24, Union Oil Co. Refinery Explosions and Fire, Romeoville, IL — 17

— 17  Chicago Tribune (Kristina Marlow). “Still Ringing in Their Ears.” 8-3-1994.

— 17  National Fire Protection Association. Key Dates in Fire History. 1996.

 

Narrative Information

 

Chicago Tribune: “It was the day that people in Romeoville felt the ground shake. On July 23, 1984, an explosion rocked the Union Oil Co. refinery, sending a 34-ton tower flying into a small field just beyond nearby houses. A second blast was so severe that an airplane flying 1,500 feet above the plant was struck by debris. The raging fire flashed to temperatures of 4,000 degrees.

 

“Seventeen people were killed at the Romeoville refinery that day, in what a decade later is still the nation’s second worst oil refinery disaster.[1]….

 

“Shortly before 6 p.m. that day, a worker making a routine hourly check of a pressure tower discovered a hairline crack in a circular weld….as Bob Gomer and his co-workers worked to close the pressure valve, a spark caused an explosion and the workers ‘hit their bellies’….

 

“The second explosion rocked buildings 15 miles away, blew the windows out of a bank in Joliet and sent smoke billowing 2,000 feet….

 

“Firefighters from 30 suburban departments joined the Union Oil crew in battling the blaze….

 

“More than 100,000 pages of documents now stored in federal government archives record the lengthy investigation that followed. A report prepared for the Illinois state fire marshal’s office traced the cause of the blast to faulty welding work performed when a section of the tank was replaced in 1974. The report said a series of cracks formed around the weld, and the pressure eventually split it open, triggering the explosion.

 

“The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued four citations to the refinery for various safety violations, including a lack of effective emergency procedures. In a rare action, the Labor Department asked that criminal charges against the oil company and its executives be sought, although they were never prosecuted.

 

“Union Oil and 11 other defendants paid settlements totaling $29.9 million on behalf of 27 people killed or injured in the explosion. The companies settled a separate suit filed on behalf of the widow of a security guard killed in the explosion.

 

“The refinery, today called Uno-Ven, is operated jointly by affiliates of Unocal Corp.’s Union Oil Co. of California and Petroleos de Venezuela, South America….” (Chicago Tribune (Kristina Marlow). “Still Ringing in Their Ears. 10 Years Later, Survivors and Witnesses Recall Fatal Refinery Blast in Romeoville.” 8-3-1994.)

 

Sources

 

Chicago Tribune (Kristina Marlow). “Still Ringing in Their Ears. 10 Years Later, Survivors and Witnesses Recall Fatal Refinery Blast in Romeoville.” 8-3-1994. Accessed 2-13-2017 at: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1994-08-03/news/9408030340_1_refinery-explosion-mushroom-cloud-fire

 

National Fire Protection Association. Key Dates in Fire History. 1996. Accessed 2010 at:  http://www.nfpa.org/itemDetail.asp?categoryID=1352&itemID=30955&URL=Research%20&%20Reports/Fire%20statistics/Key%20dates%20in%20fire%20history&cookie%5Ftest=1

 

 

 

 

 

[1] Blanchard note: Twenty-three were killed in a Phillips Petroleum Co. explosion at Pasadena, TX, Oct 23, 1989. Eighteen died in a Shell Refinery cracking unit explosion and fire at Roxana, Wood River, IL, Sep 17, 1951.