WOODS CROSS — The video tells the story.

Twenty-three seconds after a truck is shown driving away from a dewaxing unit at Silver Eagle on Nov. 4, a fireball lights up the sky.

Investigators with the Chemical Safety Board shared the video showing the fireball with reporters Tuesday. The video is startling in how close employees in the truck were to being injured by the explosion and for the 100 foot high fireball.

CSB Investigations supervisor Don Holmstrom gave reporters a timeline of the events on Nov. 4, saying that at 9:11 a.m. the refinery experienced a catastrophic failure of a 10-inch pipe with 630 pounds per square inch of pressured hydrogen.

When the pipe separated hydrogen sprayed toward a furnace and ignited. causing a fireball and a boom which was felt as far away as Salt Lake City to the south and Roy, Weber County, to the north.

There were no injuries, but hundreds of homes suffered some degree of damage and one was knocked from its foundation. Holmstrom said that while the agency’s investigation of the explosion is far from over, preliminary findings indicate the refinery was operating with a severely deficient mechanical integrity program.

Holmstrom said mechanical integrity inspections documented at the plant, indicate the pipe which failed on Nov. 4 was nearly one-half inch thick, but measurements following the accident show the pipe was only one-eighth of an inch thick. “A likely explanation is that the 2007 thickness measurement was inaccurate,” Holmstrom said. “This and other recent measurements call into serious question the pipe thickness readings obtained by the prior contractor.”

Holmstrom said the inspections were completed by a contractor hired by Silver Eagle, which the company later replaced with a second outside inspection company, which is in the process of reevaluating the pipes.

In a statement released late Tuesday, Silver Eagle said it “has been following an established mechanical integrity program and disagrees with any suggestion or assertion to the contrary.”

Refinery officials also said “Silver Eagle has worked hard in recent years to upgrade the refinery and improve safety. However, in light of the Nov. 4 incident and the preliminary findings,,” the statement continued, “it is apparent to the refinery that the program was insufficient and that changes need to be made.”

The plant is closed for an indefinite period, while repairs are made, something the CSB is lauding refinery officials for.

The monetary loss means the refinery could be losing close to $800,000 daily in lost sales, figured at Tuesday’s crude oil price of $79.14 per barrel.

The plant employs about 50 people. Bresland said he believes the refinery has kept all of them employed helping to get the refinery in order so it can eventually reopen.

Woods Cross City officials will be working with officials from other South Davis cities which have refineries, as well as the refineries themselves, CSB and Utah Occupational and Safety Administration officials, and with state Rep. Roger Barrus to discuss allocating additional resources to more closely monitor each refinery, Woods Cross Mayor Kent Parry said at Tuesday’s city council meeting.

mwilliams@davisclipper.com