Tanker fire near refinery has neighbors, leaders concerned

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — The cleanup continued Friday after that massive fire erupted near the Valero refinery at Interstate 55 and Mallory Avenue.

Neighbors say the fire was too close for comfort, and one local lawmaker says more needs to be done to keep homeowners safe.

Hours after a tanker truck carrying more than 8,000 gallons of gasoline erupted, bursting into flames Thursday night, environmental crews and TDOT workers using heavy equipment were still cleaning up in South Memphis.

Neighbors living in the Riverview and Mallory Heights community didn’t want to go on camera, but did say it was a frightening night.

“It could have wiped out the whole neighborhood,” one resident said.

No one was injured, but the flames from the tanker truck were dangerously close to fuel tanks at the refinery.

“That could have blown up these houses and killed up many people,” a resident said.

Firefighters worked to put the fire out and to prevent it from spreading to the refinery.

Rep. Justin J. Pearson of Memphis says the environmental concerns of neighbors living next to large refineries need to be heard about potential dangers and health hazards.

“I am deeply disturbed by the explosion that happened because it’s a consequence of environmental racism,” Pearson said. “Now I don’t think the homeowners, particularly the black community that is most proximate to Valero, is being heard and listened to, and they haven’t been for a very long time by people in positions of power to do something.”

For now, Pearson says he’s reaching out to those on the city, state and federal level to do a better job alerting homeowners and keeping them safe when there are accidents like these.

“One of the things that we can do at the city level is make sure that we’re looking at the type of ordinances that protect communities from these types of tankers being on their streets at the county level,” Pearson said. “We need the Shelby County Health Department to do more to make sure that the air quality of the citizens and residents in these communities is being protected, and that these companies aren’t being able to exploit that. At the state level, I have reached out to the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, because we need policies that immediately notify the community about what has happened.”

WREG reached out to Valero’s Corporate Headquarters to get a comment about the fire and their response to it. When we hear back from them we’ll let you know what they said.

A manager at Wooten Oil Co. said the tanker truck driver is doing OK but is still very shaken up by what happened. He had just left Valero with the 8200 gallons of oil, and was headed to 2726 South Perkins when he was cut off and overturned.

A police report stated the driver was cited for having a canceled CDL as of 10/07/2024. But the manager said the driver of the tanker truck did have a valid commercial license, which doesn’t expire until 2026, and had insurance. Everything got burned up in the fire.

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