This fire at the Port of Benicia is now FOUR ALARMS and is most likely burning refinery byproducts, according to the city’s fire chief. @KQEDnews. https://t.co/P3a9yyewsi
— Ted Goldberg (@TedrickG) April 9, 2022
What follows is my rough transcription of most of Benicia Fire Chief Josh Chadwick’s statement to the press on April 9, 2022 concerning the 4-alarm fire at the Port of Benicia. (Taken from audio that is difficult at best.) – R.S.
>> Chief Chadwick reported that the fire started in a small outbuilding at the base of the petcoke silos. The conveyor belt that goes from there up toward where the ships are loaded was catching fire. At first the Fire Department thought they had a petcoke fire.
The fire at the base of the silo was quickly extinguished, but the crews had a difficult time accessing the conveyor belt system. It’s large rubber tracks were on fire all the way to the top.
The fire dropped from the top of the conveyor belt and ultimately caught the pier on fire. The pier is large with a blacktop road surface, and underneath it are large timbers that have been soaked in creosote. When those start burning, they are very difficult to access and extinguish, and they were the main part of the fire during this incident. We requested 4 fire boats, as they are the only real access to these creosote logs beneath the pier.
Our biggest concern was the unlikely possibility of a shift in wind direction. Light winds have continued to move from the west, blowing the smoke out onto the Strait.
The other concern would be hazardous materials. Obviously there’s a lot of chemicals in that wood, and everything else on that pier that would’ve made its way into the water, and we are working closely with Fish and Wildlife and US Coast Guard on that issue….
We have also been in contact with AMPORTS and Valero Refinery…
(in response to press questions…)
We had a very similar pier fire early on in my career, and it burned for a couple of days…
That pier is used for offloading oil from ships, loading petcoke onto ships, and offloading cars…
It will likely be 24 to 48 hours before the fire is completely extinguished.
Hazardous materials have burned. Petcoke is considered a hazardous material. I do not know if any of it burned, but my understanding is that the large volume of it in the silos is not currently on fire, so if it did, it was a small amount at the base. On the pier itself, there are numerous hazardous materials: there are tanks of gasoline, tanks of diesel that we can’t get to because there’s fire underneath it. That has the potential to burn, but for the most part, what’s been burning is the timber that has been soaked in creosote, and that also is hazardous. When it burns it emits hazardous smoke. …yes there are a few small tanks on top…
I’m not a hazardous materials expert, but if you know what railroad ties are,…it’s like a black oil that they have used for many years to keep lumber from rotting if it’s in the ground or water.
QUESTION about the impact of these chemicals on the environment and the ocean if some of that petcoke did burn, and these other products…
My primary concern is with the impact to our citizens in their air, and right now 100% due to favorable wind conditions, we haven’t had that issue. And the same with my fire crews on the scene – they have not been impacted by that. As far as what it does to the environment, that would be more a question for the Bay Area Air Quality District.
BENICIA, Calif. (KGO) — A blaze at a Benicia port has grown to a four-alarm fire, officials said on Saturday.
The fire started just after noon at a dock along 1200 block of Bayshore Rd.
Most of the longshoremen working at the dock have been evacuated, officials said.
“Fire at Port of Benicia, a dock ramp is fully engulfed,” tweeted Cornell Barnard who is at the scene.
Officials say there is no shelter-in-place order but could change depending on the wind direction, but in a tweet, Benicia fire department says, “wind conditions are favorable…there continues to be no threat to the public.”
Benicia police are asking motorists to avoid the area due to “heavy police and fire presence.”
At a 4:30p.m. press conference, an official said no injuries have been reported.
By Roger Straw, Thursday, April 7, 2022
DEATHS: Solano reported no new COVID-related deaths in today’s report. No deaths reported so far in April. COMPARE: 17 COVID deaths were reported in March, 15 in February. A total of 413 Solano residents have now died of COVID or COVID-related causes over the course of the pandemic.
TRANSMISSION RATE: With today’s report, Solano remained in the desired MODERATE transmission rate, with 155 new cases in the last 7 days, down from 175 on Monday. CDC FORMULA: Based on Solano County’s population, 450 or more cases in 7 days places Solano in the CDC’s population-based definition of a HIGH transmission rate. Below 225 cases in 7 days shows MODERATE community transmission. Numbers between 225 and 450 are considered SUBSTANTIAL transmission.
ACTIVE CASES: Solano reported 220 ACTIVE cases today, up from 177 at last report.
CASES BY CITY – Thursday, April 7, 2022:
CASES PER 100,000, 7-day avg: My thanks to a BenIndy reader who asked about Solano Case Rates per 100,000 population. Solano doesn’t report Countywide cases per 100,000, but the Dashboard does show this data by City (see below). The state of California posts County data and shows Solano at only 5 per 100K on April 4 (see at right). It’s a hopeful sign for us at this stage. But personally, I’m anticipating a BA.2 variant surge – and I’m still being VERY careful in public places.
TEST RATE: Solano County’s 7-Day Percent Positive TEST RATE was back up to 4% today, from 3% on Monday. Even at this low rate, Solano does not compare favorably: The CALIFORNIA 7-day % positive rate rose from 1.2% to 1.6% today [Source: Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Tracking Center] and the U.S. 7-day % positive rate was also up today from 2.8% to 3.0%. [Source: CDC COVID Data Tracker.]
HOSPITALIZATIONS:
CURRENT: Solano reported the number of those currently hospitalized with COVID in the County rose today from 5 persons to 7. Current hospitalizations don’t tell the whole story, though, as this number reflects both admissions and discharges. Only from the increase in total hospitalizations (below) can we know how many new admissions have come into our hospitals as of this date.
TOTAL hospitalizations: Solano updated its Age Group and Race/Ethnicity charts today, adding 5 new hospitalizations, for a pandemic total of 4,342 (see below – the County’s hospitalization numbers for Race/Ethnicity is less accurate, but presented here to show relative percentages). TREND: Solano reported 284 hospitalizations in January, 184 in February, and (without explanation) 644 in March. Only today’s 5 so far in April.
ICU Bed Availability Solano County reported available hospital beds increased today, from only 28% on Monday to 40% today, back in the County’s GREEN safe zone after a one day drop into the YELLOW danger zone.
Ventilator Availability in Solano County remained steady today at 73% available, in the County’s GREEN safe zone.
>The data on this page is from the Solano County COVID-19 Dashboard. The Dashboard is full of much more information and (as of 3/14/2022) is updated Monday and Thursday between 4 and 6pm. On the County’s dashboard, you can hover a mouse or click on an item for more information. Note the tabs at top for “Summary, Demographics” and “Vaccines.” Click here to go to today’s Solano County Dashboard.
See also my BENINDY ARCHIVE of daily Solano COVID updates (an excel spreadsheet). I have also archived the hundreds of full CORONAVIRUS REPORTS posted here almost daily on the Benicia Independent since April 2020.
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