Breaking News-
The Tattler On Site
AC Transit's heralded green technology hydrogen fueling station experienced a massive leak this morning, forcing evacuations and shut downs of Emery High School and local businesses including Pixar. The leak occurred at the hydrogen fueling station for the new AC Transit fuel cell buses.
The hydrogen station also has a public fueling area on 45th Street for public use.
At 8:00 AM, a loud rushing sound was audible coming from behind the public fueling area on 45th Street where the large hydrogen tanks are located in the AC Transit bus yard. No flames were visible but a large cloud of combustible gas was clearly visible rising over 45th Street.
Emery High School is evacuated and Anna Yates Elementary School is placed under "shelter in place" mode. Many parents rushed to the elementary school to remove their children but the school will remain open today. San Pablo Avenue is closed from 40th Street to 53rd Street and the Promenade retail shops including I-Hop and Arizmendi Bakery have been closed.
No injuries have been reported.
The fueling station was completed last August with much fanfare from the city of Emeryville. The Emeryville public hydrogen fueling station is one of a handful of such stations in the Bay Area built to meet an expected demand for the clean burning fuel from newly emerging privately owned hydrogen fuel cell automobiles.
In contact w/the Promenade businesses. They were advised of possible evacuation but not asked to close down. Arismendi, Grato, Los Cantaros Taqueria and IHop are all still open. Part of the street has reopened.
ReplyDeleteAt 9:30 AM, the police set up a blockade of the Promenade and they were not permitting people to enter any of the retail establishments.
DeleteOh, the humanity!
ReplyDeletewe bring you now, live on the scene at the AC Transit yard, to our reporter, Herbert Morrison:
ReplyDelete"It's practically standing still now. They've dropped ropes out of the nose of the bus, and they've been taken a hold of down on the field by a number of men. It's starting to rain again; it's—the rain had slacked up a little bit. The back motors of the bus are just holding it just, just enough to keep it from — It burst into flames! It burst into flames, and it's falling, it's crashing! Watch it! Watch it, folks! Get out of the way! Get out of the way! Get this, Charlie! Get this, Charlie! It's fire—and it's crashing! It's crashing terrible! Oh, my, get out of the way, please! It's burning and bursting into flames, and the—and it's falling on the bus yard and all the folks agree that this is terrible, this is the worst of the worst catastrophes in the world. [Indeciperable word(s)] It's–it's–it's the flames, [indecipherable, possibly the word "climbing"] oh, four- or five-hundred feet into the sky and it ... it's a terrific crash, ladies and gentlemen. It's smoke, and it's flames now ... and the frame is crashing to the ground, not quite to the pavement. Oh, the humanity and all the passengers screaming around here. I told you, I can't even talk to people whose friends are on there. Ah! It's–it's–it's–it's ... o–ohhh! I–I can't talk, ladies and gentlemen. Honest, it's just laying there, a mass of smoking wreckage. Ah! And everybody can hardly breathe and talk, and the screaming. Lady, I–I'm sorry. Honest: I–I can hardly breathe. I–I'm going to step inside where I cannot see it. Charlie, that's terrible. Ah, ah—I can't. I, listen, folks, I–I'm gonna have to stop for a minute because I've lost my voice. This is the worst thing I've ever witnessed."
Sad that people can make light of a potentially dangerous situation!
ReplyDelete"Potentially Dangerous"; maybe. I was there, and it looked to me like a "Nothing". It was total overkill. Imagine, all those resources invoked, and nothing to do but stand around. I thought to myself, as a tax payer, I'm the chump who is paying for all this.
ReplyDeleteOur safety is important, but let's get real. We don't live in a drama movie. Let's think about saving some money!
Not even ESS let parents and staff know the school was closed due to the emergency!! Long commute (BART+ACT+walking) and avoidable exposure to the gas could have been easily prevented - maybe -automated phone messages next time?!! : (
ReplyDeleteFYI- Hydrogen is nontoxic..it is explosive however.
DeleteI received at least four automated phone messages from the school district.
DeleteI live closer to AC Transit than Anna Yates so I was not concerned about bringing my kids home anyway, but if my kids were at the high school, I would certainly have appreciated the better safe than sorry approach. Although it may cause some inconvenience,
I am sure the kids are not too devastated by getting an extra day off school.
Emery High doesn't do things like that
DeleteHydrogen is 10x more flammable than gasoline. I live nearby and the whooshing sound was incredibly loud. This was no joke. We are lucky we don't look like San Bruno right now. AC transit has some serious explaining to do.
ReplyDeleteI must admit, living across from Anna Yates, the noise was still frightening. This really was no joke and although its being described as a 'popping' noise that first happened at 7:45am, it felt like and sounded like an explosion! It scared the 3 of us (and the cat). Frankly, I'm glad they were together as they were.
ReplyDeleteFYI- The incident described was somewhat misrepresented by the media. The leak and subsequent fire involved a 9000 gallon liquid hydrogen tank. It was venting from the uppermost vents and they were indeed on fire. This was confirmed using thermal imaging cameras. The reason bystanders could not see the flames is that hydrogen flames are very light blue to nearly invisible. Luckily the hydrogen being released is lighter than air and the invisible flames were burning off the majority of the product. It could have been an entirely different outcome if the flames were impinging on the tank itself. Think of the Space Shuttle explosion and you will get an idea of what hydrogen is capable of when it explodes during a tank failure. The response to the incident was not overkill and there was a true potential for the incident to escalate. To those of you worried about the cost of the incident and a potential waste of taxpayer dollars- The incident was tagged with an OES control number from the State and all costs of equipment and manpower will be captured from the responsible party. Who that may be is yet to be determined!
ReplyDeleteThank you for the sensible reply. Yes Hydrogen fires are practically invisible and the response was not at all overkill. Anonymous@12:02- It's that kind of ignorance that leads to defunding and gutting of these important services. The AC transit yard is not the only place in Emeryville that uses compressed or liquid hydrogen. I'm glad to see our finest have an appropriate response plan in place. Bravo! It could have been much much worse.
ReplyDelete