Crews to return to fire at Michigan fuel facility

VIENNA TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Fire crews planned to return Wednesday to a Michigan fuel storage facility where a stubborn blaze sparked multiple oil barrel explosions and prompted area evacuations.

Crews battling the fire at the White Oil Co. facility about 65 miles north of Detroit were forced to leave containment efforts to an unmanned truck shooting flame-retardant foam because the scene was too dangerous Tuesday night, said Clio Assistant Fire Chief Kerry Paulson.

Exploding fuel barrels, many 50-gallon drums filled with oil, had flown about 50 feet into the air, he said. One ignited an adjacent building.

“We backed off, for the firemen’s safety,” said Paulson, noting two firefighters suffered minor injuries.

Crews also were concerned that flames, oil runoff or smaller explosions could spark a massive explosion in a 15,000-gallon tank of unleaded gasoline and two 25,000-gallon tanks of diesel fuel sitting in a parking lot about 100 feet from the blaze, Paulson said.

But the fire started to die down by early Wednesday. “I think we’ll be just fine,” Paulson said.

An evacuation order remained in effect within a two-mile radius as officials monitored air quality. About 4,000 residential and business telephone numbers were advised of the order through a “reverse 911″ process, said Genesee County Emergency Management Director Tammy Yorks.

It was not clear how many people left their homes, but about 100 displaced residents were staying at a Red Cross shelter inside Trinity Assembly of God in Mt. Morris Township early Wednesday.

Greg Taylor, 43, who lives about three-quarters of a mile from White Oil, said he thought the explosions were “awesome” at first. But when the wind started blowing a huge plume of smoke toward his home, he “started panicking a little bit.” Taylor and his two children left their house when police showed up on his block.

His wife, Heather, helped her 81-year-old grandfather with Alzheimer’s evacuate his residence after seeing the fire.

“I didn’t want to take a chance,” said Heather Taylor, 30.

The fire department received a report of an electrical meter smoldering before the fire, which was first reported about 3:30 p.m. Tuesday, but it remained under investigation, Paulson said.

Associated Press writer Ben Leubsdorf contributed to this report from Detroit.