Evacuations around site of Mich. fuel storage fire

VIENNA TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Exploding oil barrels flew into the air as a fire raged Tuesday at a fuel storage facility about 65 miles north of Detroit, authorities said. Area residents were evacuated and two firefighters suffered minor injuries.

Multiple explosions forced fire crews to back away from the White Oil Co. storage facility in Genesee County’s Vienna Township, said Clio Assistant Fire Chief Kerry Paulson. Blasting fuel barrels — many 50-gallon drums filled with bulk oil — flew about 50 feet into the air, he said. One burning barrel landed on and ignited an adjacent building.

“We backed off, for the firemen’s safety,” Paulson said. “There’s a lot of explosions going on.”

Two firefighters suffered minor injuries at the scene, and one was hospitalized, Paulson said.

An evacuation order was issued within a two-mile radius of the blaze, while federal and local officials monitored air quality. About 4,000 residential and business telephone numbers were called through a “reverse 911″ process and advised of the order, said Genesee County Emergency Management Director Tammy Yorks. She did not know how many people left their homes but said the Red Cross set up a shelter at a nearby church.

About 100 people were staying at the 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. He was close enough to feel some of the big ones.

But when the wind shifted and a huge plume of smoke starting blowing toward his home, “I started panicking a little bit.” Taylor, a maintenance worker at a mobile home park, and his two children left their house about 10 p.m. when the police showed up on the 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, a paraprofessional at Mt. Morris Schools.

Officials also had been concerned about a 15,000-gallon tank of unleaded gasoline and two 25,000-gallon tanks of diesel fuel sitting in a parking lot about 75 feet to 100 feet from the fire, Paulson said. Crews worried the fire, oil runoff or smaller explosions could spark the tanks and a massive explosion.

By early Wednesday morning, Paulson said the fire had started to die down and flames were not shooting as high or wide as they had been. Firefighters headed home to get some sleep but planned to return by 7 a.m, he said. Officials would monitor the situation as an unmanned truck shooting flame-retardant foam worked to contain the blaze.

“I think we’ll be just fine,” Paulson said.

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

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