The Texas State Fire Marshal’s Office, following the fire at South Fork Dairy, completed their initial investigation and sent a report to the Castro County Sheriff’s Office.
“The Texas State Fire Marshal’s Office and I want to reassure everyone that this was not the result of any type of terroristic attack, or any type of event caused to interrupt the milk supply,” said Sheriff Sal Rivera. “This was a tragic accident that unfortunately critically injured one person and caused the death of over 17,000 cattle.”
Fire marshals arrived on April 11 after the devastating explosion and fire on April 10 and conducted an origin and cause investigation to determine where the first originated and the actual cause.
According to the report, the origin and cause result in one of the following determinations: accidental, incendiary, natural causes or undetermined.
This fire investigation revealed evidence through interviews of parties on the scene and through fire scene examination that the fire originated in the northern end of the dairy, more specifically in Pen #3 and was the result of a failure of a piece of equipment that is used within the dairy daily.
There was no evidence found that would indicate foul play and the fire was classified by investigators as being accidental.
Further investigation showed that the likely piece of equipment that caused the fire was a dairy digester which is a renewable source of electrical energy generation and transportation fuel. Dairy digesters prevent greenhouse gases like methane formed in lagoons from reaching the atmosphere. Anaerobic digesters stop gases from escaping because the lagoon’s surface is covered and the gases trapped inside. Once trapped, they can be used for a variety of purposes. The captured gases from digesters can be injected into natural gas pipeline to power renewable natural gas (RNG) vehicles. The RNG from dairy digesters replaces gas and diesel.
How does a dairy digester work? A digester holds manure in an air-tight tank and heats it to about 100 degrees—just like a cow’s stomach. Bacteria in the manure thrive in these conditions and they consume solids in the manure while releasing methane gas. Methane gas is captured at the top of the digester, and burn in a generator just like natural gas in an engine. The excess heat from the generator warms the digester.
The evidence was compiled because of the size of the fire, the insured loss amount, the number of cattle killed, and the fact that two other pieces of equipment, identical to the one that caught fire, have burned previously - one at South Fork Dairy and one at another dairy.
According to Sheriff Sal Rivera, there will be a more in-depth investigation of the reason for the failure by other origin and cause investigators and engineers that are experts in the field of equipment failures.
What was reported as an explosion, was a fire that because of liquid fuel, hydraulic oil and other flammable and combustible materials, rapidly grew to the point that the operator could not control the fire with two fire extinguishers that were deployed.
The explosion was the result of flammable liquids expanding rapidly or what is known as a smoke explosion. According to data, smoke explosions occur when smoke, which is unburned fuel, heats to the point of ignition, and rapidly ignites.
As to the individual who was injured and flown to UMC in Lubbock after being rescued by Dimmitt VFD and Hart VFD, she remains in serious condition but is reported to be holding on.