Fire sliced through the Flying J refinery for the fourth time in five months Monday, sparking officials to call for a state investigation of the plant's safety procedures.

A ruptured natural gas line attached to a north-side furnace unit ignited about 10:30 p.m., sending flames more than 150 feet in the air. There were no injuries.The late hour of the blaze may have prevented human tragedy, officials said.

"The size of this fire leads me to believe that no one was working in the furnace unit area at the time of the explosion," said South Davis Fire Capt. Paul Richards. "The initial fire was too large for someone to react to if they had been working in the area when it started."

Flames were confined to a section at the northwest side of the refinery at 333 W. Center St. in North Salt Lake. Crews from Bountiful and the South Davis Fire District doused the blaze in less than 25 minutes.

"This type of fire is usually easy to put out because you simply eliminate the flame source. We had a good-sized fire to deal with when we arrived, but when we shut off the gas line we were able to extinguish it quickly," said Richards.

Fire officials were uncertain Monday what caused the gas line to split - or the explosion that followed.

"Natural gas is such a volatile substance that a number of things could cause it to ignite. A ringing telephone is sometimes enough to set off a residential house fire where natural gas is leaking," Richards said.

South Davis Fire Chief John Speed said Tuesday that he had asked the Utah Occupational Safety and Health Administration to review the refinery's safety procedures.

"I told the plant manager that either they are having a run of bad luck or there may be a problem with their safety system," Speed said.

Plant manager Jeff Utley did not immediately return a call seeking comment, but Utah OSHA director Jay Bagley confirmed he had dispatched two investigators to Flying J Tuesday morning.

Bagley said that results of the investigation should be available in about two weeks.

View Comments

Monday's blaze was an eerie reminder of a year replete with tragedy at the Flying J in 1993.

- Contract welder Jeff White died in an Aug. 28 explosion at the refinery's desulfurization plant. The 41-year-old Bluffdale man had been repairing pipes when fuel spewed from an open valve below and ignited after he struck his welding arc.

- Flames leaped 70 feet in the air and sent a plume of black smoke as far north as Ogden during a Nov. 1 fire. Flying J officials determined a refinery power interruption tripped a relief valve and ignited some crude oil.

- A Dec. 13 blaze caused more than $150,000 in damage when a high-pressure hydrogen pipe ruptured at the refinery's HSD, or sulfur removal, unit.

Join the Conversation
Looking for comments?
Find comments in their new home! Click the buttons at the top or within the article to view them — or use the button below for quick access.