Fire Reported on Gulf of Mexico Oil Platform

Offshore supply vessels extinguish a fire on an oil production platform fire near Grand Isle, Louisiana, Jan. 5, 2017. U.S. Coast Guard

Coast Guard: Fire Reported on Gulf of Mexico Oil Platform

Four people were evacuated after a fire broke out on an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico on Thursday, the Coast Guard said.

"Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector New Orleans were notified at approximately 2:30 a.m. that an oil production platform caught fire approximately 80 miles south of Grand Isle," the Coast Guard said in a statement.

The Coast Guard said an aircrew was en route to the scene, where several offshore supply vessels were fighting the blaze.

Clean Gulf, an oil spill response organization, has dispatched a team to the platform, according to the statement.

There were no reported injuries and the cause of the incident is under investigation, the Coast Guard said.


Workers evacuate from oil platform in Gulf after it catches fire, Coast Guard says

A pre-dawn fire has been extinguished on an oil production platform in the Gulf of Mexico, and there is no sign of pollution in the area, authorities said Thursday.

The blaze was reported about 2:30 a.m. Thursday on the platform about 80 miles south of Grand Isle, Louisiana, and was extinguished nearly four hours later, the Coast Guard said in a statement.

There were no reports of injuries. Four workers aboard the platform evacuated into the water in a life raft and were rescued by the crew of the 130-foot Mary Wyatt Milano, a supply vessel, the Coast Guard said. They were flown to a hospital in Houma to be evaluated, the Interior Department’s Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement said in a statement.

Oil production has been “shut in,” or suspended, on two Renaissance-owned platforms, including the one where the fire broke out, and 17 oil wells associated with the two platforms were shut in before the workers were evacuated, the statement said.

Crew members aboard the Mary Wyatt Milano and three other vessels battled the blaze. An HC-144 Ocean Sentry airplane from Mobile, Alabama, also responded, said Coast Guard Chief Petty Officer Third Class Travis Magee.

“They’re overhead and they’re getting a better view of the situation,” Magee said.

Clean Gulf, a nonprofit oil industry cooperative that responds to spills and provides equipment to help clean them up, was on its way to the platform Thursday.

An oil platform exploded and sank in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010, killing 11 workers. Millions of gallons of oil spewed into the Gulf for weeks before the oil well could be capped.


Oil platform fire reported in Gulf of Mexico near Grand Isle

An oil production platform is on fire in the Gulf of Mexico near Grand Isle, the U.S. Coast Guard said Thursday morning (Jan. 5). The four people on the platform were rescued with no injuries.

The Coast Guard did not release the name of the platform, but said it is about 80 miles south of Grand Isle. The fire was reported at 2:30 a.m. to the Coast Guard, who confirmed it publicly at 5:30 a.m.

The four people on the platform "evacuated into the water" and were recovered by offshore supply vessel Mary Wyatt Milano, the Coast Guard said. They were relocated to a sister rig, according to the Jefferson Parish Department of Emergency Management.

The crew of the Mary Wyatt Milano, along with three more offshore supply vessels, were fighting the fire as of 5:30 a.m., the Coast Guard said.

A Coast Guard HC-144 Ocean Sentry aircrew from Mobile was on its way to the platform. In addition, representatives from Clean Gulf, an oil response organization, are enroute. 

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