A small opening in an electrical junction box was where Tuesday’s explosion and fire at Necessary Oil Co. stated, fire investigators said Wednesday.
After the afternoon blaze, workers at the oil company shut down the plant, where oil is recycled and refined, and firefighters checked for the source of the fire after the area had cooled down.
They concluded that the fire began because a conduit had worked itself loose in the junction box where the wiring systems come together, said Jack Spurgeon, assistant chief with the Bristol Tennessee Fire Department.
The vapors from the process of pulling hydrocarbons off waste oil leaked into the crack, which was about a quarter of an inch, Spurgeon said.
He said the heat of the gases and vapors pulled off oil during the process could be as hot as 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit, and that the electricity flowing through the junction box was enough to create a spark that ignited the explosion and fire.
He said the damage is estimated at several thousand dollars. The company’s owner, Mark Byington, said Tuesday afternoon that he estimated the damage to be between $2,000 and $3,500.
“They’re going to have to replace quite a lot of ductwork,” Spurgeon said. “They’re going to have to do a lot of rewiring.”
No one was seriously injured and Spurgeon said the Fire Department works with all businesses in the city to make sure they are up to the fire code, and to plan with them in case there is a fire.
“We pretty much have a plan for each business in the city,” he said.
arobinson@bristolnews.com
(276) 645-2531
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