Farmers Co-Op propane burn-off runs hours in Madison; Greek blast tied to a two-ton propane tanker

Madison fire officials said a propane burn-off at Farmers Co-Op would last several hours, per WTWC. A controlled burn-off at a co-op bulk plant means product is being flared off rather than moved, and a local fire department is committed to the site for most of a shift. For anybody running deliveries in that county, it may mean pulling product from another rack today.

The co-op burn-off

Officials did not say what forced the burn-off or when the plant returns to normal service. A jobber wants both. While the burn-off runs, the plant likely is not loading bobtails.

The co-op is somebody's supply point, and an outage at a supply point moves gallons to whoever else has a rack within a reasonable haul.

The Aspropyrgos tanker

Greek investigators now believe a tanker truck brought to a vehicle repair shop west of Athens was carrying roughly two tons of propane, contradicting earlier reports of residue only, when Thursday's explosion tore through the facility. Greece's Special Crimes Division said evidence at the scene is consistent with a blast of that size. A Romanian worker was on site. The investigation into the initial explosion continues.

Athens is not a US supply story and is unlikely to move US propane prices. It belongs here anyway, because plenty of propane haulers send tank trucks to repair shops. A routine job gets a trailer into a bay, and the tank may not have been purged or verified empty before the work starts. If the Greek finding holds, a loaded transport went into a workshop. Purge-and-verify procedures exist for that reason, and they only work when the shop and the carrier both treat them as mandatory.

Grills and arson

Columbia, Missouri crews were dispatched to a duplex on the 2400 block of Northhampton Drive at 7:31 p.m. Wednesday for a structure fire caused by a propane grill. The Columbia Fire Department arrived within three minutes, found flames at the back of a two-story building with a walk-out basement, protected the attached residence, and knocked the fire down in six. Occupants had already gotten out. The department said the fire never reached the interior.

In Hillsborough County, Florida, deputies responding to a reported assault at a Tampa restaurant found the building filled with smoke and flames. A knife-wielding man was arrested and accused of setting the fire with a flaming propane tank.

Both incidents involved portable cylinders, which c-stores and propane dealers hand out by the thousands. Worth confirming that exchange cages sit away from the building and that returned cylinders get inspected at intake rather than dropped straight back into the cage.

What to watch

Whether Madison fire officials disclose the cause and volume of the Farmers Co-Op burn-off, and whether the plant is back in normal service. Whether Greek investigators confirm the tanker was loaded when it entered the workshop. That finding could push US carriers and their repair vendors to tighten hot-work paperwork, though nothing about it is settled yet.