• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Praxair Plans to Reopen St. Louis Site Rocked By Fire

Posted on: Friday, 30 September 2005, 18:00 CDT

By Kim Bell, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Sep. 30--Praxair Distribution Inc. surprised some in the Lafayette Square neighborhood when it unveiled plans Thursday to temporarily reopen its business on Chouteau Avenue, the same site rocked by an explosive fire in June.

The industrial gas facility would scale back its operation, storing less flammable gas there, company President Wayne Yakich said. The facility would eliminate the overnight shift and keep all flammable gases indoors.

Any fire that might start in the indoor storage area would quickly be deluged by a system that dumps 1,200 gallons of water a minute, Yakich said.

Praxair has not been using the site at 2210 Chouteau site since June 24, when a fire hurled tanks through the air and temporarily closed Highway 40 (Interstate 64). No one was seriously hurt. Yakich estimated the damage at $13 million, a price tag that includes cleanup costs and paying for damage to Praxair's equipment and neighboring property.

Yakich said he was awaiting a building permit from St. Louis, something he said "we believe is imminent, hopefully in the next few days." With that permit, the company will need four to six weeks to get the Chouteau site ready for business.

Praxair's property is in an industrial area next to the Lafayette Square neighborhood. The company transfers industrial gases such as propane and liquid oxygen from large storage tanks into cylinders for customers.

Outlining his plans Thursday at a news conference at a downtown hotel, Yakich said his company's stay on Chouteau would be temporary as it looks for an alternate site. Once a new site is selected, it will take a year to 18 months to open a new facility.

"We're trying to be a good neighbor," Yakich said.

But Ed Rhode, a spokesman for Mayor Francis Slay, said the city got short notice of Praxair's news briefing.

"They haven't formally presented plans to city government," Rhode said. "They're not going to get a permit until we see plans. And the mayor has made it very clear: The city will not support the resumption of any operations until the surrounding neighborhood is comfortable."

Count resident April Breeden among the uncomfortable.

"To me, it's insulting they're even considering coming back," said Breeden, who was walking to a community pool June 24 when she saw flaming projectiles fly through the sky. "Our community already had to go through the risk, the trauma and the damage to our homes and sense of safety."

Yakich said he was looking at 10 to 20 properties that could be suitable for the business. Some are in the city, others are in adjoining counties, he said. Praxair wants some kind of tax assistance to make the move.

Praxair sent residents copies of a letter, which should arrive today, explaining its plans and the cause of the fire.

"We know that we can run a safe and efficient operation to serve our valued St. Louis customers," the letter says.

Yakich said the company would meet with residents at a neighborhood meeting Oct. 11, if not sooner.

Greg Yin, vice president of the Lafayette Square neighborhood group, said he expected Praxair's announcement Thursday to be that it had found a replacement site. "What we heard today was not the good news we were hoping for," he said.

Breeden, a neighbor on Rutger Street, chalks it up to Praxair's power. "They're a Fortune 500 company, and it's all about money," Breeden said. "The community was very vocal at first, but people get busy with their lives again."

Yakich said the Chouteau facility no longer would be filling acetylene cylinders on site. Those tanks will be filled elsewhere, coming to the distribution center in St. Louis from places such as Indianapolis and Minnesota.

At the news conference, Praxair blamed the fire on a faulty valve on a gas cylinder. A surveillance camera at Praxair showed the fire started in an area on the property where returned propylene or propane cylinders were stored.

The culprit is believed to be a cylinder shown venting with high energy. The first "vapor puff" was recorded at 3:19 p.m. that day. A 30-second clip of the surveillance footage shows the puff quickly turning into a fire.

The source of ignition could have been static electricity caused when the valve released the gas, he said. Praxair recalled 14,000 propylene cylinders from its North America plants within three days of the St. Louis fire, and found 8,000 cylinders with the same type of valves that Praxair presumes are faulty.

Yakich identified the company that makes the valves as Sherwood Inc. of Washington, Pa. Sherwood has issued a recall on the valves.

"There was major fire damage to all the cylinders and, as a result, it has not yet been possible to establish exactly which cylinder began the fire or what type of gas was contained in it," Praxair said in a statement. "We continue to work with a valve manufacturer in an effort to determine the exact cause."

St. Louis police bombing and arson squad detectives agreed that a faulty valve could be the cause but that the cause may never be determined for certain. The investigators said Praxair's insurance company -- which is looking at millions in losses in payouts -- would have to hire a materials engineer to examine the damaged tanks and valves to find the first valve, or possibly a ruptured tank, that triggered the mishap.

Yakich said only $5 million of the losses would be covered by insurance.

-----

To see more of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.stltoday.com.

Copyright (c) 2005, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.

PX,

Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch

More News in this Category