Fire Takes Young Lives -- Cause Investigated; Pipeline Has Anacortes Refinery Tie

The failure of two computer systems and a possible scratch or flaw in a 400-mile-long fuel pipeline will be examined as officials search for the cause of yesterday's fire and explosion that killed three people in Whatcom County.

The blast killed two 10-year-old boys and an unidentified young man in his late teens or early 20s, according to authorities. They also continued to search for any other victims.

The explosion followed a leak of an estimated 277,000 gallons of gasoline in Bellingham, causing a massive fireball and giant plume of smoke belching thousands of feet into the air.

A team of investigators from Houston is headed to Bellingham, Olympic Pipe Line Vice President and Manager Frank Hopf said at a news conference in Bellingham this morning.

The managing partner of Renton-based Olympic Pipe Line is the Houston-based Equilon Enterprises. Equilon also owns the Anacortes refinery where six workers were killed in an explosion in November.

The fuel leak apparently occurred as the pipeline "shut itself down," following the failure of the main computer and backup system that control movement of gasoline, jet fuel and diesel fuel along 400 miles of pipeline in Western Washington.

When the computers came back into service, pumping was restarted at Ferndale, and fuel may have been spilling for 12 minutes or longer before anyone knew there was a leak, Hopf said.

Gasoline rushed down Whatcom Creek and turned into a giant fireball after it was ignited. Authorities don't know what ignited the fire but aren't ruling out a spark from a spark plug, a cigarette, a pilot light or fireworks.

Ron Brentson, the company's supervisor of product movements, said computers at the company's Renton headquarters failed about 3:30 p.m., about 1 1/2 hours before the explosion.

When that occurred, devices along the pipe automatically began to halt the pumps and take other steps to stop fuel from flowing through the line, he said.

C. Craig Hammett, an engineering coordinator with the pipeline company, said the leak occurred within a mile of where a 1996 test discovered that the 16-inch pipeline wall was thinner than normal.

That test, performed by sending a computerized device down the pipeline, found a "sub-critical" abnormality in the pipe, meaning that it found a place in which the thickness was slightly less than normal, but still above the thickness required by state regulations and the company's own stricter guidelines.

"It could have been something like a scratch or dimple," Hammett said, adding that there's no indication it was related to yesterday's leak, but that it will likely be examined by investigators.

The scorched and charred creek corridor remained sealed off today, and hot spots were still being dealt with this morning. Small fires could burn for as long as 48 hours, fire officials said.

"I've been here 30 years, and I've never seen anything like this before," said Gary Crawford, chief of Whatcom County's Fire District No. 8.

"You can tell how hot it got. It singed the hills behind it. We had some 2,000-degree heat."

Heat still intense

Hopf said that because of the heat, pipeline workers haven't been able to inspect the pipe and look for a cause of the leak.

"It looked like the explosion of Mount St. Helens. There was this extremely ugly black plume with a white cap on top," said Orman Darby, a spokesman for the Whatcom County Department of Emergency Management.

"It probably went 30,000 feet in the air."

Flames enveloped one home and another structure as the rapidly traveling inferno gradually ran out of fuel about a half-mile from the source of the leaking gasoline.

The fire had mostly burned itself out after about an hour.

The leak occurred beneath a water treatment facility near the confluence of Lake Whatcom and Whatcom Creek.

Joann Hamick, Olympic spokeswoman said the most common cause of pipeline leaks is third-party damage, such as accidental punctures by construction crews. There were reports of construction work in the area, but they were unconfirmed, she said.

State spill-response teams were frustrated this morning by their inability to get to the creek to assess the damage, because residual gasoline and fumes in the creek made any approach too dangerous.

Unlike an oil spill, which can be boomed and contained, a gasoline spill is allowed to disperse for safety reasons.

Gathering it into a lagoon using a boom floated on the surface, as with an oil spill, creates the risk of another explosion.

Whatcom Creek is home to chum salmon and other aquatic life, and the blast occurred in the most environmentally sensitive area of the creek: the shoreline.

Fire kills on contact and also sucks oxygen from the water, killing fish. The extent of the environmental damage won't be known until later today, when spill-response teams for the state Departments of Ecology and Fish and Wildlife gain access to the creek.

One of the 10-year-old boys was identified as Wade King, age 10. He died shortly after 2:15 a.m. today at Harborview Medical Center.

Wade and his companion, Stephen Tsiorvas, both suffered third-degree burns over 90 percent of their bodies. Stephen died shortly after 7 a.m. today at Harborview.

The two boys apparently jumped into the water to stop the burning, Stephen Tsiorvas' 15-year-old brother, Andrew, told The Bellingham Herald.

He and friends spotted the two boys just after the explosion. His friend, Tyrone Francisco, 16, found Wade and brought him back to the house. He then found Stephen who he said was still too hot to touch.

The boys were so badly burned, Andrew Tsiorvas said, that he didn't know whether he should allow them to see each other.

"Wade didn't want his mother to know," Andrew Tsiorvas said. "He said she'd be too sad and mad at him."

Two people were treated for minor smoke inhalation at St. Joseph Hospital in Bellingham.

One of Bellingham's water pumping stations was destroyed in the explosion and fire, and as a result, city residents have been asked to restrict water use until the pumping station's "five huge pumps" can be rebuilt or replaced.

Depending on the extent of the damage, Bellingham could be on restricted water usage (cooking but no showers) until early next week or maybe for several weeks, if new engines have to be brought in, said Ken Thomas, assistant director of Public Works.

The damaged pumping station served 15,000 to 20,000 households, Thomas said.

Kremiere Boone, a spokeswoman for Puget Sound Energy, said electrical service to 5,000 customers was turned off for five hours yesterday at the request of the Bellingham Emergency Operations Center. A high-voltage power line in the vicinity of Lake Whatcom was not damaged, but was shut down at 5 p.m. as a precaution, Boone said.

The accident comes just as Olympic Pipe Line is seeking approval of a controversial 230-mile pipeline from near Bothell to Pasco.

This morning, the State Parks and Recreation Commission voted unanimously to reject Olympic Pipe Line's application to build the pipeline across 27 miles of state park land. Parks Commissioner Bruce Hilyer said the majority of the commission had been convinced that the pipeline would damage parts of three state parks along the route: Ginkgo Petrified Forest, Iron Horse and Olallie State Parks.

Of the existing pipeline, the company's underground 16-inch steel pipe from a Ferndale refinery, coupled with a pipe starting at a refinery in Anacortes, comprise the state's major fuel transporter - carrying gasoline, diesel and aviation fuel from the refineries to several terminals, ending in Portland.

Gasoline, the fuel that had leaked into Whatcom Creek, is the most flammable of the three, Hamick said.

Hamick said the spill may have occurred when the pipeline was shut down earlier in the day.

At 3:25 p.m., the computers at Olympic Pipe Line's headquarters in Renton that control and monitor the pipeline began receiving faulty information, Hamick said.

Staff members in Renton shut the pipeline down while they conducted system checks.

They tried to restart pipeline operations at 4:32 p.m. once the computer was working properly. But pipeline operations never fully restarted.

Some pumping began, but staff members saw readings showing a pressure problem, so they stopped operations immediately, she said.

At 4:35 p.m., a company field worker in Bellingham who happened to be near Whatcom Creek called in to report: " `I think we've got a problem - I smell gasoline,' " Hamick recounted.

The Bellingham Fire Department called the company 13 minutes later, reporting gasoline in the creek, she said. Area residents also reported gasoline in the creek, fire department officials said, and police began barricading streets around the creek.

But the Olympic field worker called headquarters again at 4:55 p.m.: The fuel was on fire and he was running from the scene, Hamick said.

Man's house explodes

Rosalie Wilburg, who lives near the creek, said she was driving down the street when she saw the thick clouds of smoke. Her husband, who was at home, grabbed the video camera and started filming.

"He said that people were running down the street. They didn't know where to go," she said. "I'm still shaking."

Mark Dickie, who lives near Whatcom Creek said, "At first I thought it was the school that blew." "The instant I saw the balls of black smoke, I knew it was a gas explosion."

Don Anderson, whose home is perched above the creek, heard the blasts, saw the fire heading his way and decided he had better leave. Twenty minutes later, his house exploded. He returned later to salvage a singed wood chest of coins and some clothes.

The fire scorched both sides of the creek, burning trees and other vegetation. Bellingham Police Lt. Dac Jamison compared the damage to what he had seen in Vietnam.

"It looked just like that," Jamison said.

"Like they laid down napalm."

Columns of black smoke could be seen from miles away, prompting the temporary closure of Interstate 5. The blaze scorched power lines, disrupting power to area residents and businesses such as Georgia Pacific's pulp mill.

Pumps at the city's water-treatment plant went down, and the glass panels on the building's front facade shattered after gas vapors in the ground caused a smaller explosion several hundred feet away.

Steve Hunter, spill-response supervisor for the state Department of Ecology, said the gas spill extended at least a quarter-mile down the creek. "Of course, the gas could have gone farther than the fire, and the gas is highly toxic to fish in the stream," he said.

An agency biologist was on the scene checking damaged areas of the creek. "We're seeing a lot of dead fish already," said Dick Logan, Ecology resource-damage-assessment coordinator.

State Department of Ecology inspectors found hundreds of dead fish in the stream including cutthroat trout, chinook and coho salmon, and lamprays.

"It probably killed most of the fish in the stream," said Dale Davis, an Ecology Department investigator.

Olympic immediately sent emergency and clean-up crews, Hamick said. Many residents living near the creek were stunned, but quickly figured that the explosion had something to do with gasoline.

By 6:30 p.m., firefighters had the blaze under control, though several small spot fires still burned along the zigzagging creek and orange embers flaked off of blackened tree trunks. Water tainted with remnants of the gasoline glazed over creek rocks in a blue-green sheen.

Coast Guard officials closed Bellingham Bay for a one-mile radius.

Officials at Western Washington University, several miles to the south, said tomorrow's commencement activities would take place as scheduled.

Information from The Associated Press is included in this report.

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Timeline of accident

This is the chronology of yesterday's accident at the Olympic Pipe Line company's pipeline passing through Bellingham.

3:25 p.m.: Computers at Olympic Pipe Line's headquarters in Renton that control and monitor the pipeline began receiving faulty information. Staff members in Renton shut the pipeline down while they conducted system checks.

4:32 p.m.: With the computer again working properly, staff try to restart pipeline flow, but staff members stop operations immediately after seeing a pressure problem, indicating a leak.

4:35 p.m.: Company field worker near Whatcom Creek in Bellingham phones in: "I think we've got a problem - I smell gasoline."

4:48 p.m.: Bellingham Fire Department receives call reporting gasoline in creek. Police begin barricading nearby streets.

4:55 p.m.: Olympic Pipe Line field worker phones in again: The fuel is on fire and he is running from the scene.

6:30 p.m.: Firefighters report the blaze under control.

Source: Olympic Pipe Line; Times staff reporting

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Past accidents at Olympic Pipe Line

Yesterday's accident on Olympic Pipeline's pipeline was not the first. Here are some recent accidents:

-- June 17, 1996: A section of 20-inch pipeline buckled and began leaking near Everett, spilling an estimated 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel, jet fuel and gasoline into a ditch near Ebey Slough. The company contained the spill and kept it from reaching the Snohomish River. It paid a $6,500 fine.

-- March 3, 1996: Ground movement caused by heavy rain ruptured the pipeline in Cowlitz County, spilling 2,000 gallons of diesel fuel into Spencer Creek. The company paid a $7,000 fine and agreed to establish plans for rapid response to similar spills.

-- Dec. 18, 1995: The pipeline was shut down for several days after a section of pipe slid down a hill near Castle Rock. The shutdown stopped Renton-Portland deliveries.

-- June 6, 1994: A malfunctioning part in a spill-prevention sensor allowed more than 4,000 gallons of diesel fuel to spill from the pipeline in South Pierce County. Sensors detected the loss of pressure and the pipeline was shut down. Ground water wasn't contaminated.

-- Sept. 14, 1989: A pinhole leak in a plug on a 1-inch valve allowed a thin stream of gasoline to escape the pipeline near the Interurban Trail in Kent, contaminating about 300 yards of soil. Olympic had the soil removed and drilled a well to check for ground water contamination. The threaded plug leaked because it had been installed without sealant, a company spokesman said.

-- Oct. 13, 1986: Six families were evacuated from their Maple Valley homes because of overpowering gasoline fumes. The gasoline was traced to a stress fracture in the threads of a pressure-sensing device attached to the pipeline. As many as 80,000 gallons of gasoline had seeped into the ground over several months before the leak was discovered. Fuel flowed into the Cedar River.

-- Nov. 28, 1985: A pipeline ruptured in a jet-fuel tank farm near Seattle-Tacoma International Airport. Most of the spill was contained by the tank farm's dikes, but a water runoff valve left open allowed 34,000 gallons of aviation fuel to pour into Des Moines Creek. The spill killed an estimated 50,000 fingerling salmon. The company paid approximately $22,000 in fines and expenses.