CRUDE OIL AFIRE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LV, Issue 42, 17 January 1935, Page 4

CRUDE OIL AFIRE.

BLAZE NEAR NEAY PLYMOUTH. EXTINGUISHED BY AYATER. NEAY PLYMOUTH, Jan. IC. New Plymouth can reproduce the vast American oilfields fires on a small scale. The town fire brigade received a call when a sump containing 3000 gallons of crude oil began to blaze as the result of ignition by sparks irorn a passing railway .engine. The sump was on the site of the Blenheim Oil Company’s old well near the port, but fortunately jt had been congealed for several years and is now mostly covered by mud. However, patches of exposed oil blazed with a roar, sending vast clouds of dim so smoke, which were seen ten miles away. Fortunately, the breeze was in the right direction, and neighbouring properties were not endangered. It had been thought that an .oil fire could not lie extinguished h.v water, but the complete Hooding of the sump was effective. This is one of the few wells winch have ever provided the district with the thrill of a “gusher,” but it has not been worked for many yeais, and the derrick and other gear have been dismantled.