SAN LUIS FIRE

Dominion, Volume 19, Issue 166, 10 April 1926, Page 9

SAN LUIS FIRE

GREATEST IN HISTORY OF OIL INDUSTRY EIGHT GREAT TANKS BURNING By Telegraph.—Press Association. COPYRIGHT. Vancouver, April 8. The fire, which continues at the Union Oil Company’s fields at San Luis Obispo, is described as the greatest fire in the history of the oil industry, lerrific explosions are occurring, with flames reaching 400 feet in the air. Eight tanks, containing nearly a million barrels of oil each, are now burning. ,• t The neighbourhood over 'a radius of more than a dozen miles is soaked with oil, anej. farms, villages, and country homes have been ruined. The fire has attracted visitors from all parts of California. The adjoining town of Aina has been abandoned because it was spoiled with oil-soaked cinders. Five tank steamers are rushing to San Luis, hoping to be able to pump some of the remaining millions of barrels from the underground pools. Otherwise, the fire will spread to all of these, and they will explode or burn. —Sydney "Sun” Cable. Q SECOND GREAT OUTBREAK RESERVOIRS STRUCK BY LIGHTNING (Rec: April 9, 7.5 p.m.) San Francisco, April 8. A Los Angeles telegram, states that two 750,000 barrel reservoirs, in the area of the Union Oil Company, whose tanks at San Luis Obispo are still ablaze, late on Thursday were struck by lightning, and are the scene of a second gigantic conflagration. At San Luis Obispo the spreading lake of fire is now half a mile square. The loss on the two fields is over thirteen million dollars. —Reuter.