Event
- Event ID
- 1146
- Quality
- Description
The trailer experienced a tire/wheel fire at the rear of the tube trailer. The fire deteriorated the hand valve packing on one of the tube causing a slow leak of hydrogen. The trailer consisted of 10 tubes and only 1 of the tubes leaked. The road was closed due to the fire. [Note of the event validator: the PHMSA report does not mention any hydrogen ignition. However, the local news quote a fire brigade report which speaks of two fires: the one caused by the orignal conventional axle fire, easy to be extinguised, and a second one engulphing the trailer cabinet, which took much more time to get under control]
- Event Initiating system
- Classification of the physical effects
- Hydrogen Release and Ignition
- Nature of the consequences
- fire
- Macro-region
- North America
- Country
- United States
- Date
- Component involved
- valve (generic)
- Failure mode
- rupture & ignition
- Initiating cause
- conventional component failure (fire-tyres)
- Root CAUSE analysis
The INITIATING CAUSE was a conventional fire on tire following brake failure. One gasket in the packing assembly was damaged by the heat, what resulted in a very small hydrogen leak. The ROOT CAUSE is unknown.
- Root causes
- Unknown
- Date entry in HIAD
- 25/10/2024
Facility
- Application
- Hydrogen transport and distribution
- Sub-application
- CGH2 tube trailer
- Hydrogen supply chain stage
- All components affected
valve
- Process temperature range [C]
- ambient temperature (-50°C to +50°C)
- Process pressure range [MPa]
- medium to high pressure (10 to 50 MPa)
- Location type
- Open
- Location
- highway or similar
- Operational condition
- Description of the facility/unit/process/substances
DESCRIPTION OF THE UNIT This trailer unit consisted of 10 tubes. The individual report provides values in Gas-Pound, which are easy to convert into kg of hydrogen. According to this report, the total nominal transport capacity was 640 pounds (290 kg), but the quantity transported at the moment of the incident was 420 pounds (191 kg).
Emergency & Consequences
- Number of fatalities
- 0
- Number of injured persons
- 0
- Currency
- US$
- Property loss (onsite)
- 173.500
- Emergency action
The road was closed due to the tire fire. No active action was taken regarding the very small hydrogen leak. And the hydrogen was left disperse into the atmosphere
Lesson Learnt
- Lesson Learnt
This small incident, almost a near miss considering the very low amount of hydrogen vented, did not have any noticeable consequence. Nevertheless, similar cases started with conventional fires caused the mass venting of the whole hydrogen load, because the pressure relief valve were thermally or pressure-activated. Such a case has to be avoided when the trailers are in a confined space, such as a tunnel.
In-depth data
- Release type
- gas
- Involved substances (% vol)
- H2 100%
- Released amount (kg)
- 10.9
- Release temperature [°C]
- 25
- Probable IGNITION SOURCE
References
- Sources categories
- PHMSA
- Reference & weblink
Incident E-2019080616 of the US Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration PHMSA: https://portal.phmsa.dot.gov/analytics/saw.dll?Portalpages&PortalPath=%2Fshared%2FPublic%20Website%20Pages%2F_portal%2FHazmat%20Incident%20Report%20Search (accessed September 2024)
Demopolis Times new https://www.demopolistimes.com/2019/08/08/dfd-responds-to-truck-business-fires/ (accessed July 2025)
