Top fire was last summer about this time, no injuries. Refinery continued to operate at reduced rate for a day or so and equipment was isolated.

Bottom fire was in the 70's when I first came to work. It was on a gas plant where there was a small fire impinging on a tower (heating it up). They had fought it for a few hours when it blevied (the tower split open like an orange peel). There is a college about 2 miles away where a student from a photography class was taking pictures of the (then) small fire using a telephoto lens. Just as he clicked the tower blevied and he caught the shot you see here. We later were given the pictures he took. The 2 men who perished in the fire were never found. The heat was so intense that even a lot of structural material was melted or just blown away. That is the worst fire in our history.

I have seen MANY almost as bad in my career. We fight own fires and have state of the art equipment; we've never lost a firefighter. These guys take their jobs very seriously. In the even we can't handle a fire we ask for help from the city. I only know of 1 time this happened. The fire was so bad one of the city firefighters jumped off the back of truck on the way to the plant, hitchhiked back to the station and quit . A fire here can literally be the end of the world! Our people are not among the best in handling crises, THEY ARE THE BEST!