Mega Borg

The Mega Borg was destroyed by fire, in June 1990.

The Mega Borg was a tanker that was struck by a devastating fire off the coast of Galveston, Texas, in June 1990. The fire burned for 8 days. The vessel was a write-off, and her hull was towed to be dismantled in Karachi, Pakistan.

She was a single-hulled vessel, built in 1975.

The Mega Borg contained 38 million gallons of oil, three times as much as had been carried by the Exxon Valdez which had run aground, releasing all her oil, in Valdez, Alaska, in 1989. A side-effect of the fire is that most of the leaked oil was consumed by fire, and did not leak onto the sea. 4 million gallons escaped, to the sea, but all but 17,000 gallons was consumed by fire.

No efforts were made to put out the fire on the oil that leaked onto the ocean surface. Officials decided the air pollution from the burning oil would have a much less serious impact on the environment than floating oil contaminating beaches or being consumed by marine animals.

Four crew members were killed when the fire struck.

Much of the time the fire raged salvage vessels with water cannon concentrated on merely cooling the hull, and did not spray firefighting foam. There is a maximum temperature beyond which it is wasteful to mix firefighting foam into the water cannon's spray. The fire could not be brought under control until the heat had been reduced, so firefighters could go on board and close valves between the oil tanks and the engine room, which was were the fire was centred.