26 Crew Evacuated From Platform Habitat Fire as Workers Return to Shut Valve
Updated
Updated · Noozhawk · May 11
26 Crew Evacuated From Platform Habitat Fire as Workers Return to Shut Valve
1 articles · Updated · Noozhawk · May 11
Platform Habitat personnel were heading back Monday afternoon to carry out safety work after a morning fire was secured on the offshore facility in the Santa Barbara Channel.
Emergency radio traffic showed crews had waited for the platform to cool before an oil worker could board and close a control valve tied to the incident.
26 crew members were evacuated safely, and the U.S. Coast Guard set a 1,000-yard safety zone around the platform after agencies established incident command at Santa Barbara Harbor around 7:07 a.m.
DCOR-operated Habitat sits about 7.8 miles offshore, was installed in 1981, and is reportedly California's only offshore platform producing only natural gas.
What critical safety failure turned a decommissioning task into a major fire, and are other aging platforms vulnerable?
As thousands of offshore platforms age, is this fire a warning of a much larger crisis waiting to happen?