Peter's Point gas fire burns itself out
By RICHARD SHAW
Sun Advocate publisher
A fire in a separation system on wells operated by Bill Barrett Corp. brought some local eyes straining to see the flames early Monday morning.
The fire occurred at 1:10 a.m. when an abnormal amount of sand literally blew a hole through the side of a separation unit and static electricity from the dry weather ignited the gas in the line.
Separators are used to break gas and water up and to remove the sand from material coming up from a well. According to Jim Felton, the spokesman for Barrett, the separation units are placed far away from wells so if the kind of thing that occurred on Monday morning happens, the fire will not spread.
Individuals in the field spotted the fire right after it occurred and contacted Carbon dispatch to alert emergency crews. However, personnel in the Tavaputs area were able to shut off the flow of the gas and the fire ran out of fuel a couple of hours after it started.
"People could see it from the Carbon area," said Felton because he had received reports that individuals had called officials and asked about it."
Damage was confined to the separator. Felton had no information on the financial loss due to the fire.
"To be honest it was gratifying that the design of the system minimized damage," stated Felton. "It was easily contained and no one was injured."
Felton said Troy Mills of the Utah State Fire Marshal's office concluded that what the company suspected caused the blaze was correct.
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