Lightning — Bucks, Pennsylvania

2012-05-16 · near West Bristol, Bucks, Pennsylvania

Event narrative

A lightning strike caused a three-alarm fire at the Dow Chemical facility on Pennsylvania State Route 413 and State Road in the Croydon section of Bristol Township. A lightning bolt struck two of the storage tanks at the plant. The ensuing fire badly damaged two large 250,000 gallon tanks that held chemicals used in the manufacturing of acrylic paint products. The fire damaged gaskets, lines and protective ground liners outside the tanks and allowed flammable chemicals to leak into the nearby air, ground and on-site surface water. The fire consumed a significant amount of the more than one million pounds of ethyl acrylate and butyl acrylate in the storage tanks. A 65-year-old fire police captain with the Bristol Fire Company, left the scene after feeling ill and later that day died of a fatal heart attack. Firefighters and hazmat teams from three counties responded to the blaze and worked with Dow's in-house emergency response fire and hazmat teams to quell the flames and contain the two chemicals that were in the tanks. Three emergency workers suffered minor injuries. The blaze was declared under control shortly after 7 a.m. EDT that morning. Early in the day, the Bucks County Emergency Management and the Bucks County Health Department advised residents who live near the site of the fire to remain indoors due to the potential for the two chemicals to cause minor throat or eye irritation, headaches and nausea. The chemical odor from the fire, which was smelled in both Pennsylvania and across the river in New Jersey in Mercer, Burlington and Monmouth Counties. The smell dissipated as the day continue. Due to the chemical odor, all schools in Bristol Borough were closed on the 16th.

Wider weather episode

In addition to the flash flooding, the lightning from the thunderstorm ignited a chemical plant fire in Bristol in Bucks County.

View location on OpenStreetMap → (40.0956, -74.8720)

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 382725. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.