PETROL TANK EXPLODES

Chronicle (Levin), 26 June 1947, Page 5

PETROL TANK EXPLODES

■Press Association

Desperate Battle With .Fire Which Followed

By Telegmph-

Received Wednesday, 9.30 p.m. BRISBAiYE, June 25. 'Plames rose 120 ifeet above a lauge ;petroi -storage .tan-k follow- , ing 'explosions today at the Shell depot in the suburb'df New-ste'ad. -Nearby Tesidents 'wbose bomes suffered cracked walis and -shattered windows, remembered the receiit Texas City disaster and hurriedly evacuated. •Firemen with water and foam hoses risked their Jives to bring the blaze under control before -it eouid spread to other ta,nks and to the British t-anker Newcombia which lay at the, Newstead wharf 80' yards away with nearly 7000 tons of petrol aboard. Luekily the flames spread in the opposite direction. After a desperate battle tlie fire was extinguished..-by the use of water after " jets.of escaping 'ga-s had proved too powerful for the foam hoses; InveStigations disclosed that the depot was full of highly inflammable gas which converted the area into a giant bomb. The cause of the fire has not been established but it is believed to have been due to a spark or flame igniting the "fumes which were eS.caping from the empty 2,500,000 gallon tank. The manhole and vents in the tank were found to be open. Tlie first explosion threw 'a watchman out of 'his chair in the office, damaged tlie fibrc walls-of nearby dwellings and smashed erockery but caused no injuries. Firemen found jets of flame issuing from the base of the tank and a nuniber of smaller fires biitning-in the depot. Stacks of empty drums near the fire began to explode and fly. abont the area. . After the fire was isolated and' the tank cooled by water from hoses, Fire Cliief George tlealy and a depnty climbed the tank and found the open vent-s which were closed and the exterior fires were slowly snbdued.