1,000 evacuated in fuel storage site fire

8/6/2009

VIENNA TOWNSHIP, Mich. - A fire at a Michigan fuel storage facility that caused several oil barrels to explode - shooting the barrels 50 feet in the air - and prompted area evacuations may have started near an electric meter, authorities said yesterday.

Clio Assistant Fire Chief Kerry Paulson said the mandatory evacuation order, which displaced roughly 1,000 residents, was lifted yesterday afternoon within a two-mile radius around the White Oil Co. facility about 65 miles north of Detroit. He said a crew of six to eight firefighters and a truck shooting flame-retardant foam overnight battled the blaze that had engulfed two buildings.

The assistant chief said the fire was mostly out yesterday.