Cenovus Energy Working to Restart Refinery
SUPERIOR, WISC. — Now that the plant has been rebuilt by its new owner Cenovus, the company says it will restart operations within the next couple of months.
We talked with the Fire Chief of the Superior Fire Department to find out what preparations the department is taking in advance of the reopening of the plant.
It was five years ago this month, April 26, 2018, that the Husky Superior Refinery exploded and caught on fire. Now, under new ownership, Cenovus has rebuilt the refinery and has already begun testing to ramp up full operations.
Cenovus and the City of Superior’s Fire Department have a partnership because of the unique nature of what can and did happen at the plant. The partnership features training and equipment being provided to the City’s firefighters. Fire Chief Camron Vollbrecht says his department has first-hand experience in dealing with the unique challenges faced when an emergency happens at a facility like Cenovus.
Vollbrecht said, “We gained a lot of valuable experience from that, both the command and control side as well as from the operation side for the individuals actually putting the fire out.”
The Fire Department has specialized equipment that was purchased by the refinery. This includes tools to apply foam as well as the foam itself. Additionally, ongoing training is provided.
“In a couple of weeks, we’ll have three, four firefighters going to Texas to receive specialized training inside a refinery or oil fires as well as fuel and gasoline fires,” said Vollbrecht. “After we return from that we’ll have eight more firefighters head down to Flint Hills in the Twin Cities to receive some more specialized training.”
This on-site training in Texas and the Twin Cities is entirely paid for by Cenovus. This knowledge, along with the specialized equipment, benefits the entire city as it can be used where it’s needed.
“We’ve actually used the equipment at other facilities in town where other fire departments may not have access to that,” said Vollbecht. “So the partnership itself makes the rest of the city safe by having us with better training, and more equipment to handle other emergencies not just located at the facilities.”
As Cenovus has been working to restart its facility, it has been in regular contact with the Superior Fire Department. Fire Chief Vollbrecht says the company is keeping the department informed of its effort to restart the plant.
“The partnership has been continuing through the rebuild operation. We’ve been continuing our fire training with them. We also have tours of the facility. We get regular updates when different things are changing, as products are coming into the facility and gets moved around. We receive updates on that so that we are aware of things that are happening if we have to respond to an emergency,” sayd Vollbrecht.
