Five injured in Galvaston crude oil fire

USA - Galveston - Fire-fighters dealt with flare-ups at the site of a crude oil fire on Friday morning, but the fire has been put out. Strong winds caused serious problems for crews trying to get control of the raging crude oil fire. Explosions rocked the area and flames could be seen for miles when the blaze ignited at Texas International Terminals on Port Industrial Boulevard around 7 p.m.

"Heard a boom, but it wasn't like there was a thunderstorm or anything," witness Daniel Brown said. "Then I looked this way and I saw the flames, the colour of the flames."

Officials said they don't know what caused the 12,000 barrel tank to catch fire, but suspect there may have been some type of equipment failure. "Right now, we're looking at the vapour recovery system of the plant," said Jeff Smith with the Galveston Fire Department. "They've had some work done on it. We'll find out more as the investigators pull apart and start salvaging some of the equipment." Emergency crews drained some of the crude oil to help slow the raging fire. Around 5 a.m. Friday, strong winds blew flame retardant foam off of the tank, and that caused the flare-up. "We had a hard time containing the fire," Smith said. "The fire did have a significant flare up in the middle of the night." Part of the tank has collapsed, officials said.

One fire-fighter and four company employees have been injured. All of them suffered heat-related injuries and smoke inhalation. Port Industrial Boulevard is closed because of the on-going investigation. Environmental experts are making sure that nothing hazardous leaked into the ground or waterways.