Explosion, Fire At BP Whiting Refinery
By Chuck Sudo in News on Aug 28, 2014 3:30PM
An explosion and fire rocked the BP Refinery in Whiting, Indiana Wednesday night, 59 years to the day of another fire at the plant.
The incident began around 9:05 p.m. in a process unit at the north end of the refinery. BP America spokesman Scott Dean called the explosion “an operational incident”—a compressor blew up in one of the refinery’s units—that was contained by the refinery’s in-house fire department by 10:55 p.m., an all-clear notice was given at 11:20 p.m.
Commanders with the Whiting Fire Department felt the blast, called the refinery and offered assistance, which the refinery declined. Residents said they could feel the blast as far away as Highland and Griffith. One resident told the Times of Northwest Indiana he could see a plume of smoke rising over Indianapolis Boulevard, which was shut down by police.
An explosion and fire at the refinery on Aug. 27, 1955 rained debris on homes a quarter-mile away. A 3-year-old was killed when a 10-foot steel pipe ripped through the roof of his family’s home. A 63-year-old foreman at the refinery also died when he returned to the scene and suffered a heart attack.