# SUNOCO PIPELINE L.P. — Hazardous liquid — incident on 2015-05-12 **Citation:** PHMSA Report 20150219 **Type / status:** incident / historical **Agency:** Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration **Effective:** 2015-05-12 **Published:** 2015-06-11 Hazardous liquid incident in WORTHAM, FREESTON County, TX. Reported cause: NATURAL FORCE DAMAGE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 0.1 CRUDE OIL released, $19,000 reported property damage. Operator-reported incident data submitted to PHMSA, generally within 30 days. Records may be supplemented or corrected and do not represent final agency causal findings. PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, not serious. ## Document text Hazardous liquid incident in WORTHAM, FREESTON County, TX. Reported cause: NATURAL FORCE DAMAGE. Reported consequences: 0 fatalities, 0 injuries, 0.1 CRUDE OIL released, $19,000 reported property damage. Operator-reported incident data submitted to PHMSA, generally within 30 days. Records may be supplemented or corrected and do not represent final agency causal findings. Report number: 20150219. Operator ID: 18718. Reported incident date: 5/12/2015 9:14. Location detail: 0+00 Cause detail: LIGHTNING Cause detail: FOLLOWING AN EXTREME WEATHER EVENT OF HEAVY THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE NIGHT OF 5/11/15 AND THE MORNING OF 5/12/15 OPERATING PERSONNEL PERFORMED A STATION CHECK AT WORTHAM. THE WEATHER EVENT HAD CAUSED A POWER FAILURE AT THE STATION. TANK DIKES WERE OPENED TO RELEASE ACCUMULATED RAINWATER AND TANKS WERE CHECKED. AFTER ASCENDING TANK 2013 TO INSPECT THE FLOATING ROOF, PERSONNEL NOTICED THAT THE VAREC GAUGE HATCH HAD FLAMES AND SMOKE COMING FROM IT. PERSONNEL DESCENDED THE TANK AND IMMEDIATELY CALLED 911 AND OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT. THE TANK WAS ISOLATED. THREE FIRE DEPARTMENTS, MEXIA FIRE DEPARTMENT, WORTHAM VFD AND KERVIN VFD RESPONDED AND THE TEXAS HIGHWAY PATROL CLOSED FM 27 ROADWAY UNTIL THE FIRE WAS EXTINGUISHED. THE MEXIA FIRE DEPARTMENT TOOK THE LEAD IN THE RESPONSE WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF THE WORTHAM VFD AND THE KERVIN VFD WHO ASCENDED THE TANK AND EXTINGUISHED THE FIRE. THIS EVENT WAS DISCOVERED AT APPROXIMATELY 09:14 ON 5/12/15 AND REPORTED TO THE NRC (1116270) AT 10:14 ON 5/12/2015. SUBSEQUENT TO THE FIRE BEING EXTINGUISHED THE TANK REMAINED OUT OF SERVICE UNTIL A SEAL GAP INSPECTION BY A LICENSED 653 INSPECTOR WAS CONDUCTED ON 5/13/15. THE INSPECTION INDICATED NO DAMAGE TO THE SEAL. THE FLOAT WELL SEAL WAS REPLACED, THE GAUGE POLE SEAL AND ROLLER REPLACED AND A NEW GROUNDING CABLE WAS INSTALLED AND ATTACHED FROM THE FLOATING ROOF TO THE TANK SHELL. ALL REPAIRS WERE COMPLETED ON 5/15/2015 AND THE TANK WAS RETURNED TO SERVICE. PHMSA trend classification: significant incident, not serious. PHMSA standardized cause: NATURAL FORCE DAMAGE — LIGHTNING. PHMSA indexed costs: $19,000 reported total cost, $9,531.67 in 1984 dollars, $23,473.569 in current-year dollars. PHMSA trend flags, standardized causes, and indexed costs are analytical fields added to operator-reported incident data. They do not represent final agency causal findings. ## Provenance - Official: Yes - Source: - Source ID: `phmsa-pipeline-incidents` - SHA-256: `268d92c15caf6408dd0eea379abac9f384e734e8dbb52907ab2d6b1135be0e55` - Retrieved: 2026-08-20T03:30:32.010Z - Exported: 2026-08-26T04:53:29.732Z - Document slug: `phmsa-incident-0b5e45f5331390436c32e652` ### Source metadata ```json { "recordKind": "pipeline_incident", "datasetType": "hazardous_liquid", "datasetLabel": "Hazardous liquid", "datasetPeriod": "January 2010 to present", "report": { "number": "20150219", "supplementalNumber": "20886", "type": "SUPPLEMENTAL FINAL", "receivedDate": "2015-06-11", "receivedDateRaw": "6/11/2015" }, "operator": { "id": "18718", "name": "SUNOCO PIPELINE L.P." }, "incident": { "date": "2015-05-12", "dateRaw": "5/12/2015 9:14" }, "location": { "city": "WORTHAM", "county": "FREESTON", "state": "TX", "postalCode": "76693", "latitude": 31.77339, "longitude": -96.40109, "type": "TOTALLY CONTAINED ON OPERATOR-CONTROLLED PROPERTY", "details": { "DESIGNATED_NAME": "0+00" }, "facilityName": "WORTHAM STATION" }, "cause": { "category": "NATURAL FORCE DAMAGE", "details": { "CAUSE_DETAILS": "LIGHTNING", "NARRATIVE": "FOLLOWING AN EXTREME WEATHER EVENT OF HEAVY THUNDERSTORMS OVER THE NIGHT OF 5/11/15 AND THE MORNING OF 5/12/15 OPERATING PERSONNEL PERFORMED A STATION CHECK AT WORTHAM. THE WEATHER EVENT HAD CAUSED A POWER FAILURE AT THE STATION. TANK DIKES WERE OPENED TO RELEASE ACCUMULATED RAINWATER AND TANKS WERE CHECKED. AFTER ASCENDING TANK 2013 TO INSPECT THE FLOATING ROOF, PERSONNEL NOTICED THAT THE VAREC GAUGE HATCH HAD FLAMES AND SMOKE COMING FROM IT. PERSONNEL DESCENDED THE TANK AND IMMEDIATELY CALLED 911 AND OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT. THE TANK WAS ISOLATED. THREE FIRE DEPARTMENTS, MEXIA FIRE DEPARTMENT, WORTHAM VFD AND KERVIN VFD RESPONDED AND THE TEXAS HIGHWAY PATROL CLOSED FM 27 ROADWAY UNTIL THE FIRE WAS EXTINGUISHED. THE MEXIA FIRE DEPARTMENT TOOK THE LEAD IN THE RESPONSE WITH THE ASSISTANCE OF THE WORTHAM VFD AND THE KERVIN VFD WHO ASCENDED THE TANK AND EXTINGUISHED THE FIRE. THIS EVENT WAS DISCOVERED AT APPROXIMATELY 09:14 ON 5/12/15 AND REPORTED TO THE NRC (1116270) AT 10:14 ON 5/12/2015. SUBSEQUENT TO THE FIRE BEING EXTINGUISHED THE TANK REMAINED OUT OF SERVICE UNTIL A SEAL GAP INSPECTION BY A LICENSED 653 INSPECTOR WAS CONDUCTED ON 5/13/15. THE INSPECTION INDICATED NO DAMAGE TO THE SEAL. THE FLOAT WELL SEAL WAS REPLACED, THE GAUGE POLE SEAL AND ROLLER REPLACED AND A NEW GROUNDING CABLE WAS INSTALLED AND ATTACHED FROM THE FLOATING ROOF TO THE TANK SHELL. ALL REPAIRS WERE COMPLETED ON 5/15/2015 AND THE TANK WAS RETURNED TO SERVICE." } }, "consequences": { "fatalities": 0, "injuries": 0, "commodity": "CRUDE OIL", "release": "0.1", "propertyDamage": 19000, "estimatedOperatorCost": 0, "estimatedEmergencyCost": 0, "estimatedEnvironmentalCost": 0, "ignition": "YES", "explosion": "NO", "evacuated": 0, "raw": { "FATAL": "0", "INJURE": "0", "UNINTENTIONAL_RELEASE_BBLS": "0.1", "EST_COST_PROP_DAMAGE": "19000", "PRPTY": "19000" } }, "provenance": { "viewId": "27nc-rsge", "viewUrl": "https://data.transportation.gov/api/views/27nc-rsge", "assetId": "1d547e17-2be1-4a32-9958-a1d5a946ade9", "archiveFilename": "Hazardous Liquid Accident Data - January 2010 to present.zip", "archiveSha256": "5aaa1a31834a0503acfdfc82172d9ff3483b480019cec1605ebb8e15d0040f0d", "memberPath": "accident_hazardous_liquid_jan2010_present.txt", "memberSha256": "2af519107224bbd22874e67c65f6aa526073a297b2b30104b711d071680488a4", "rowNumber": 3756, "rowSha256": "cdcaf97d10bbc7591714b05a5e2630bff09c4296b513d76d5913ca5d17f42ad7" }, "caveat": "Operator-reported incident data submitted to PHMSA, generally within 30 days. Records may be supplemented or corrected and do not represent final agency causal findings.", "operatorReported": true, "finalAgencyFinding": false, "flaggedAnalysis": { "dataAsOf": "2026-07-31", "flags": { "fireFirst": null, "significant": true, "serious": false }, "standardizedCause": { "sevenCategory": "NATURAL FORCE DAMAGE", "sevenSubcategory": "LIGHTNING", "eightCategory": "NATURAL FORCE DAMAGE", "eightSubcategory": "LIGHTNING" }, "costs": { "reported": 19000, "in1984Dollars": 9531.669682826936, "currentYearDollars": 23473.56891132489 }, "caveat": "PHMSA trend flags, standardized causes, and indexed costs are analytical fields added to operator-reported incident data. They do not represent final agency causal findings.", "provenance": { "sourceUrl": "https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/sites/phmsa.dot.gov/files/data_statistics/pipeline/PHMSA_Pipeline_Safety_Flagged_Incidents.zip", "landingPageUrl": "https://www.phmsa.dot.gov/data-and-statistics/pipeline/pipeline-incident-flagged-files", "catalogUrl": "https://data.transportation.gov/Pipelines-and-Hazmat/Pipeline-Incident-Flagged-Files/qdme-9bbm", "retrievalMode": "official_live", "archivedAt": null, "archiveSha256": "317e6a3e16d60b9b677efe391dc40258b5dd7ead83fb8bea74cb553cedfbbdec", "workbook": "hl2010toPresent.xlsx", "sheet": "hl2010toPresent", "rowNumber": 2088, "rowSha256": "32f4d3a6b1a2953b531469601879f8021097d5c1c22746b3cebfae2fbe885e5d" } }, "jurisdiction": "US", "operatorName": "SUNOCO PIPELINE L.P." } ```