Greensboro Tank Farm Plays Host To National Guard Training Excercise

Greensboro News & Record – 7/18/15
By: Joe Gamm

About 100 million gallons of fuel pass through the Colonial Pipeline tank farm on Gallimore Dairy Road every day. 

State and local agencies are training at the tank farm this weekend, preparing for disasters — whether natural or man-made — in hopes of being ready for any eventuality.

The training, which will continue through Sunday, is intended to make sure the agencies and Colonial Pipeline can work well together, said Lt. Col. Matt DeVivo, spokesman for the N.C. National Guard.

“Our Rapid Reaction Force has to be ready to be called out by the governor within 24 or 48 hours,” he said. ​“It’s never the same incident. The Rapid Reaction Force has trained at airports or ports. They’ve helped the state during the Democratic National Convention.”

The National Guard sent more than 300 guardsmen and 40 vehicles to the training, which included members of the Greensboro Police Department, Guilford County Emergency Management, High Point Fire Department and federal Transportation Security Administration.

Colonial Pipeline rotates such training annually at its facilities, spokesman Steve Baker said. It has been several years since it was held at the Greensboro facility, he said.

The tank farm is a unique site. It is about the halfway point between where fuel leaves Houston and its destination — the northeastern United States.

The fuel travels in two pipes –— one 36 inches in diameter and the other 40 inches — to the Northeast, supplying gasoline, jet fuel, home heating fuel and other products to cities that include Washington and New York. Most of the fuel ends up at Linden, N.J., where it is transferred to truck terminals, ships and barges for delivery to its final destination.

The Greensboro Police Department values the training, Chief Wayne Scott said.

“It’s realistic training for that thing we hope never happens,” he said.

But one of those things has happened before.

A lightning strike about 12:45 a.m. on June 13, 2009, ignited a tank containing about 22,000 barrels of petroleum.

Crews quickly began draining the tank through a pipe under the burning fuel. Firefighters contained the fire to a single tank, Baker said.

“We had learned to work with the fire department before the fire,” he said.

Delivering so much fuel every day to the East Coast makes the tank farm a critical point in the Northeast’s infrastructure, Baker said.

“That’s why the governor is so concerned about emergency training,” he said.

The pipeline company stays in contact with local law enforcement agencies that have resources to help keep it safe, he said.

“Local law enforcement intelligence communicates with us,” Baker said. ​“And they tell us when to get the Guard.”

The training smooths ​“friction points” between agencies, Scott said.

Horrible things, both naturally caused and man-made, can happen, he said. Things like Thursday’s shooting in Chattanooga, Tenn., where a man opened fire on seven people, killing five, he said.

“We saw the tragedy in Chattanooga,” Scott said. ​“It’s the kind of thing that changes a community forever.”