Tankfire South Korea
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In August 1999, a devastating earthquake struck the Izmit region of Turkey, triggering a large-scale tank fire at the Tüpraş oil refinery, one of the country’s most critical industrial facilities. The fire started when flammable liquid (naphtha) leaked from a damaged tank and caught fire. Due to the earthquake many water pipelines were broken, making it nearly impossible to fight the fire with local equipment.
International support
Faced with an escalating industrial disaster Turkey called for international support and warranted widespread evacuations within a 5-kilometre (3.1 miles) radius of the refinery. Among the first to respond were specialized firefighting units from Germany, including teams from Frankfurt Fire Brigade and Erdöl Raffinerie Emsland, equipped with Hytrans mobile water transport systems.
Seawater used as cooling water
The Hytrans systems made a crucial difference. They pumped large amounts of (sea)water over long distances, bypassing the broken infrastructure to supply enough cooling water. This helped ground teams and firefighting planes continue their efforts with water and foam.
Despite the destruction of at least 17 storage tanks and complex piping systems, the fire was declared under control after five days of intense joint efforts.
This case demonstrates how Hytrans solutions are not only engineered for extreme environments like this tank fire, but can be deployed rapidly as part of international emergency coordination.
