Aug 25th, 2012– The US Chemical Safety Board (CSB) has released some photos of the recent Chevron refinery fire. If you recollect, Chevron’s Richmond, CA refinery had a huge explosion and fire on 6th Aug 2012, that resulted in catastrophic damage. The CSB is investigating the accident and in the interim, has posted some footage and photos regarding the incident.
Note that the photos were taken by an independent source, Fototaker.net who (whose photogarphers?), happened to be a few miles away from the site of the accident on that day. However, even from a distance one can clearly see a large vapor cloud that is forming in the skies above the site. Apparently this vapor cloud was formed out of inflammable vapor and gases, that exploded. The first photo shows the vapor cloud. The ones below show the smoke from the refinery and the vapor cloud.
What is not so clear is how the vapor cloud ignited and why no flames or fireballs or anything like that are visible in the photos. Perhaps these photos may have been taken at longer time intervals? At the time of capturing these, the photographer may not have realized that it was a vapor cloud that can explode.
Chevron Richmond refinery vapor cloud Chevron Richmond refinery vapor cloud fireThe devastation at the scene of the accident can be seen below.
Chevron Richmond refinery fire accident