TULSA, Okla. — The oils and greasing company where a massive petroleum fire broke out the morning of Nov. 19 spoke with 2 News about what happened and what plans might be in the works in the coming days and weeks as it recovers.
AXEL Christiernsson acquired Royal Manufacturing's Tulsa site off Charles Page Boulevard in 2018. It's now AXEL's base of U.S. operations.
- Previous coverage >>> Crews put out industrial fire in west Tulsa
CEO Johan Stureson told 2 News on Nov. 20 there's still much to learn about what happened.
Stureson was coincidentally in Tulsa for a conference at the time of the fire around 10 a.m..
"Or a lucky coincidence, I would say in this respect," Stureson said. "It's nice to be on location when something happens because we can help to assess and direct the situation."
Something sparked the facility's oil blending and storage tanks, unleashing two-story flames and solid black smoke seen from miles away. Local, state, and federal officials will determine what exactly that was.
"We're doing an assessment of the damage to be able to understand what steps we need to take to resume operations as quickly as possible," he added.
Site manager Bill Selfridge told 2 News that approximately 70 employees work at the Tulsa location daily. All were immediately evacuated.
The fire mainly affected only two of the close to a hundred tanks the company has, Selfridge said.
Selfridge himself was also off-site at the time of the three-hour blaze. He said the incident Tuesday was by far the largest to ever occur for the complex. He credits Tulsa Fire Department and the Holly Refinery fire safety division for lending a helping hand to limit the damage.
"We'll take our learnings once we assess what the causes were and make things better," Selfridge said.
Safety is advertised well outside the buildings. It helps that nobody was injured. But the work and job security for workers won't be compromised, the men said.
"It's important that we take care of our people and get back in production and operating as quickly as we can," Selfridge said.
The CEO said getting operations back to normal will likely be a matter of days, not weeks, despite state and federal environmental workers also conducting inspections.
"This is a bump in the road. A significant bump in the road, but we stay on the road," Stureson added. "And we will continue to get back on track."
Tulsa Fire Department said after the fire was contained there did not appear to be any immediate environmental or health risk to the community.
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