Story/Photos by Richard W. Giles
At 12:45PM on May 29, the Stillwater Fire Department
responded to a mutual aid call from the Perkins (OK) Volunteer Fire
Department for assistance on a tank battery fire at Sangre Rd. and West 104th
Street.
Lightning had struck a 200Bbl. steel tank of crude oil, blown off the
roof of the tank and ignited its contents.
Two Perkins units responded, a
brush truck and a tanker, and Stillwater responded Pumper 2 equipped with
foam and a Battalion Chief.
Upon arrival of the Stillwater units, Perkins firefighters were cooling the
exposed tank.
Stillwater firefighters laid a 1 3/4 inch line equipped with a
foam nozzle and commenced attack with foam. The fire was quickly controlled
and was extinguished in approx. 6 minutes.
Damage was confined to the tank
originally ignited.
