Guwahati, Aug. 31 : A “minor” fire broke out at the sulphur recovery unit of Guwahati Refinery around 3pm today triggering panic in the nearby areas.
Senior officer (corporate communication) of the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC)-owned refinery Moloy Baruah said the fire started at the unit but it was contained by the fire and safety staff of the refinery within half-an-hour.
Baruah said it was a minor fire.
“The incident happened when the refinery was being restarted this afternoon after a planned 12-day maintenance shutdown. It is not an unusual incident as such small fire incidents happen when refineries are restarted after a shutdown,” Baruah said.
There was no casualty in the incident.
The IOC is likely to conduct an internal probe into the incident.
The fire caused panic in the thickly-populated Noonmati locality where the refinery is located as smoke filled the area. Most of the shopkeepers in the area downed shutters and ran to safety.
Baruah said thick black smoke spewed out of the flare stack — a chimney found in refineries used for burning off unwanted gas — of the refinery.
“When the refinery was being restarted, the fire broke out at the sulphur recovery unit and almost simultaneously, the flare stack that was burning off excess gas raged menacingly as a result of which thick smoke billowed out of it,” he said.
Baruah said, “Probably during the shutdown, gas oil was fed into the flare stack for maintenance as a result of which the flare raged for about 20 minutes when it was restarted.”
Fire tenders from almost all the fire stations in the city were rushed to the refinery to deal with any emergency.
Following the fire, the shutdown is likely to be extended for another two to three days.
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