The Fun Of Having Mill Duty - Part One

This  Saturday morning meeting in January, was running long.  State was playing Duke on TV at noon in Raleigh .  This was in the 60’s when there were eight teams and there were real rivalries (and not many games on TV).  One of the long talkers was giving his "not wanted opinion on papermaking".  The manager this morning, was practicing his most unusual habit … maybe the rarest habit on earth.  He was occasionally exchanging his saliva from one side of his mouth to the other with his tongue, and with his mouth slightly open.  I was watching him intently when a power house foreman came in the room and announced that there had been a spill and it was bad.  The Manager wanted me and a couple of others to accompany him to investigate. It turned out that a whole railcar of material had been lost to the sewer.  There goes my basketball game.

The folks, that unloaded railcars, in those days, were usually relatively new hires since it was a very dirty job.  In this case, there was a faulty connection between the car and the unloading line and the whole car’s contents had spilled.  The material was # 6 fuel oil, which, when heated, is very much like what is spilling in the gulf now. 

The oil was flowing into a storm sewer which eventually went into our 1.2 billion gallon holding basin  which in turn dumped to the river.  The oil was moving pretty fast down a ditch  and the basin already had a big area of oil floating on the top.   Since we couldn’t stop it, someone suggested burning it.  I wasn’t so sure since I could image a huge plume of black smoke that would bring every little fire department in the state - but I couldn’t think of any thing better to do.  We began throwing matches (most everyone smoked in those days) in the ditch with no effect.  We balled up lighted paper with the same result. Then we built a fire and threw burning wood…no better.  Someone suggested pouring gasoline in it and that became the plan.  An employee returned with a 5-gallon can and poured the contents in the basin.  We were all well aware of the dangers of gasoline so we stood well back.  A volunteer threw a lighted stick in and there was immediately a loud explosion that sounded like VROOOM.  We all ducked- too late of course- and then heat hit us in the face. No one was hurt.  The fire burned brightly and furiously without too much smoke.  We were elated; our problem was solved.  In about 60 seconds, the fire burned out, never to be started again.  We looked at each other blankly; the Manager said we should all go home, so we did.  There was no one to notify in those days.  I saw 3/4ths of the State game, which they won.

In 3 or 4 days, there was no evidence of an oil spill except a little oil on the sides of the ditch.  There was none to be seen in the basin.  We looked for it in the continuous sample of the outlet for years but none ever showed up.  Procedures were changed and as far as I know, there were never any more spills of # 6 fuel oil.

I wonder if we'd make the Homeland Security list today?

JMF