OREGON, Ohio — Federal investigators on Tuesday released a timeline of events that led up to the fatal fire at the former BP-Husky Refinery that killed brothers Ben and Max Morrissey nine months ago.
According to the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, at about 6:09 p.m. on Sept. 20 -- the day of the incident --, flammable liquid naphtha began to fill a fuel gas mix drum that is "normally vapor-only" and overflowed. This then sent the naphtha -- which is a flammable liquid hydrocarbon mixture -- into piping that led to "various boilers and furnaces in the refinery." Some boilers and furnaces then started to loose plumes of smoke, according to the CSB report.
At about 6:17 p.m., four workers, including the Morrissey brothers, responded to a high-level alarm at the mix drum to drain the liquid naphtha to the refinery flare system and oily water sewer system.
The other two workers left and about 15 minutes later, the Morrissey brothers began draining the naphtha from the mix drum directly to the ground, which created a vapor cloud. A worker in a nearby unit said they saw "two workers near the Mix Drum along with a visible vapor cloud."
An approaching rainstorm then shifted winds, likely pushing the vapor cloud toward an ignition source -- a nearby crude oil furnace -- which ignited the cloud and caused the fatal fire at about 6:46 p.m., the report states.
CSB's investigation into the incident is ongoing, the board said in its report.
In March, federal investigators with the U.S. Department of Labor cited the refinery's former owner, BP Products North America, for "serious violations" and proposed over $150,000 in fines after an Occupational Safety and Health Administration found training and operational deficiencies contributed to the fire.
The renamed Cenovus Toledo Refinery is now owned by Calgary, Canada-based Cenovus Energy, which in February purchased the remaining 50% stake in the refinery that it did not own to assume full ownership.
A Cenovus spokesperson told WTOL 11 in March that safety is a priority as it works to fully reopen the refinery. Cenovus partially reopened sections of the refinery in April.
