Qualla: The Day Crockett Burned Twice

The Day Crockett Burned Twice: Introduction

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Dicklyon, CC BY-SA 4.0. Fifteen hours before the explosion, the ground shook. A magnitude 4.5 earthquake rattled the East Bay on the night of October 14, 2019 -- strong enough to wake sleepers, too mild to make headlines. But at the NuStar Energy fuel storage terminal in Crockett, California, a small unincorporated community wedged between the Carquinez Strait and the brown hills of Contra Costa County, something may have shifted. At 2:00 PM the following afternoon, a tank of ethanol erupted. The fireball rose above the refinery stacks, visible from freeways and ferries across the Bay Area. Investigators would spend two years searching for an answer -- and ultimately, the final report eliminated the earthquake as a cause entirely, ruling that improper grounding of electrical equipment was to blame.

Image: Dicklyon | CC BY-SA 4.0

The Day Crockett Burned Twice: Two Tanks, Seven Hours

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Dicklyon, CC BY-SA 4.0. The fire started in one of NuStar's ethanol storage tanks and quickly spread to a second. Flames consumed roughly 15 acres of the hillside facility, sending a column of black smoke drifting southwest across the strait. Contra Costa County fire crews responded alongside hazmat tea...

Image: Dicklyon | CC BY-SA 4.0

The Day Crockett Burned Twice: A Fault in the Wiring

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Dicklyon, CC BY-SA 4.0. The Contra Costa County Fire Protection District spent nearly two years investigating the cause. Their final report, presented on May 21, 2021, concluded that the initial explosion was most likely triggered by an electrical fault. The fault ignited ethanol vapor that had accumula...

Image: Dicklyon | CC BY-SA 4.0

The Day Crockett Burned Twice: The Only Terminal in the Bay

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Dicklyon, CC BY-SA 4.0. The fire's consequences rippled outward in ways that had nothing to do with flame. NuStar's Crockett facility was the only terminal in the San Francisco Bay Area equipped to receive imported ethanol -- a blending component required in California's gasoline supply. When the state ...

Image: Dicklyon | CC BY-SA 4.0

The Day Crockett Burned Twice: Fire Returns to Crockett

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Dicklyon, CC BY-SA 4.0. Twelve days after the NuStar explosion, Crockett burned again. On October 27, the Sky Fire ignited along Cummings Skyway above the town, consuming 150 acres of dry grass and brush on the ridgeline. This was no industrial accident -- it was a wildfire, one of dozens that swept Nor...

Image: Dicklyon | CC BY-SA 4.0

The Day Crockett Burned Twice: Refinery Neighbor

Thu, 02 Apr 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Dicklyon, CC BY-SA 4.0. The NuStar fire became a catalyst for broader scrutiny of the Carquinez Strait's industrial corridor. Within a week of the blaze, public opposition mounted against Phillips 66's proposed expansion of its refinery tank farm in Rodeo, directly adjacent to the NuStar site. Residents...

Image: Dicklyon | CC BY-SA 4.0