Oil tanks burn during grass fire

Bourbon County emergency personnel and rural firefighters had their hands full with an out-of-control grass fire that spread to a group of oil tanks in the area Thursday night.

Bourbon County Emergency Manager Will Wallis said several rural fire agencies responded to the blaze, which broke out in an area just south of 135th Street and Soldier Road. Wallis said he wasn't sure when the fire started, but it took a few hours for firefighters to get it under control. He said that fortunately, there were no injuries in the incident. He estimated that firefighters had the fire extinguished just before 7 p.m.

Wallis said he arrived at the scene about 5:30 p.m. The fire spread to what Wallis said was a "minimum of five tanks" that contained what could be "as many as 600 barrels of oil." He said he wasn't sure who called in the fire but emergency personnel had no prior notification.

"It took awhile due to a lack of water, a lack of foam," he said. "It melted down three of the tanks tremendously. There was a lot of heat, a lot of black smoke."

Wallis said the fire was started by property owners in the area to burn off a chunk of pasture land "and it got out of hand."

Wallis said he wanted to emphasize that danger exists with controlled burns like this one when they are not called in advance by the property owners who plan to set them.

"It got away from them," he said. "That's what happens. People set these fires and they may still be there tending them but that doesn't matter. They don't notify the fire departments who could send a brush truck ... the sooner they (fire departments) can get someone there and get it under control."

Wallis said the blaze melted down three oil tanks and nearly reached another 3,000-gallon tank nearby, but it was untouched. He said there was also a natural gas pipeline nearby that "didn't catch on fire."

"The tanks didn't explode, but once they catch on fire, the actual heat from the oil melts them down," he said. "It's raw, crude oil, so it's not going to burn like gasoline. It will just burn and burn, hot and black. It's kind of like burning a tire ... And you can't put these out with water, they are put out with foam."

Wallis said he wasn't sure of the exact amounts of water and foam used, but seven fire trucks responded with 1,500 to 1,800 gallons of water. Firefighters had to go back and forth for additional water and foam.

"They ran out of water and foam," he said. "You cannot fight that type of fire unless you have foam."

Among rural fire agencies that responded to the blaze were Bourbon County Fire District No. 3, Scott Township and Hiattville rural fire department.

"It was about a three or four-hour burn at least," he said. "I don't know how many acres of grass are there."

Wallis said he understands that people need to use controlled burns, but he strongly recommends that property owners notify emergency personnel before moving forward. He said rural firefighters have had to deal with a number of grass fires in the county this week. When grass fires get out of control, it typically takes more personnel and equipment to fight them, he said.

"There are so many people setting fires, and I understand why, because we have farmland and pasture land and it has to be burned," he said. "All they have to do is call into dispatch and when they do, tell them when they're going to start the fire and where. If they did, volunteer fire departments could dispatch someone within about 30 minutes or so after they start the fire. And they (firefighters) would rather do that than go out there and fight a fire they can't get under control."