16th anniversary of the Miracle on I-20

On President’s Day 2008, at approximately 8:20 a.m. an explosion at the Alon Oil Refinery, located at I-20 and Refinery Rd. in Big Spring occurred and could be felt throughout Howard County and beyond. The explosion shattered or cracked glass windows, walls, and doors. It was even reported to have been felt as far away as San Angelo, TX.

At that time, current Howard County Volunteer Fire Chief Eric Barber had been with the Big Spring Fire Department for just 6 months, but had 4-5 years of experience volunteering with the Volunteer Fire Department and was continuing to volunteer. He told KBest News that he was on the first engine in the refinery that day.

“The tones went off and I went to the Coahoma fire station, got our engine, and it was just eerie because time stood still. People were standing outside the Stripes, the Dairy Queen,” said Barber.

“I’m making my way towards the refinery. You know, seeing all the smoke and everything, and thinking, ‘Oh, God, I’m just gonna get pulled off and be doing EMS,’ you know. Thankfully, nobody was seriously hurt and we got on scene, got some more people there, and the chief at the time filled up a truck and I got on that. We went in and started fighting some fire.”

Barber told KBest News that his initial thoughts were of the people he knew who worked at the refinery.

“You know being such a small community everybody knows everybody and I knew a lot of people and just thinking you know, ‘Oh, God, who’s hurt? How bad? How many are dead?… and thank God nobody was,” he said.

Chief Barber told KBest News that ambulances from all over arrived to assist in Big Spring because it was thought there would be a massive amount of casualties, however, only five injuries were reported as a result of the incident, including 1 woman who was driving on I-20 who’s vehicle had been struck by flying debris. None of the injuries reported were life-threatening.

At the time, the refinery employed about 170 people and produced some 70,000 barrels a day. The number of injuries was believed to have been reduced, because it was President’s Day, and some workers were not on the job at the time of the explosion.

When asked what kind of lessons were learned that day, Barber said he learned that handling a 2 1/2 inch hose was very difficult, and so was having to wear an air pack for a majority of the day.

He also went on to say, “So, not that we didn’t know how to work as a team but after that day I really felt like we worked better as a team, both as volunteer department and in the city as a career department.