The Washington times., 1908-10-20
Pipe Line Bursts, Spreading
Fluid Over Old James
Creek-CatcheS Fire.
SHEET OF | FIRE ROSE
HIGH up INTO AIR
Entire Vicinity EnYeloped in Dense
Smoke-Diffefent Versions
of Cause.

Converted into a lake Of oil By the
bursting Of a large pipe line. the old
James Greek Canal, which is now used
as a District dump, caught fire this
morning, and Cor a time the flames
threatened to spread to the southeast
gas works and the distributing plant
OF the Standard OIL Company at Half
and K streets southeast
With flames shooting into the air to
the height Of $50 feet, The entire south
cast and southwest sections Of the city
in the vicinity of the canal were envel-
oped in a dense. black smoke.
The bursting Of the pipes was caused.
it is said. by the weight OF the dirt and
rubbish that is being dumped into the
canal. The line extends from the ls rye
tank at Half and : streets southeast,
where the oil is transferred from the
river barges to the central distributing
plant at Half and K streets southwest
Large quantities Of gasOlene and kero-
sene are stored In big tanks al the dis
tributing plant, which is directly across
the street from the gas works.
How Oil Leak Came
According to employees OF the Standard
OIL Company in this city, the flooding
Of the abandoned canal with oil was
due to an overflow from an abandoned
pipe line. which has not been in use
for three months. II was admitted,
however, that break occurred In the
new pipe line yesterday, and work
men were employed in fixing II when
the fire started this morning.
The fire was discovered shortly after
10 o'clock. and il is believed II was
started by some boys who had built
"A bonfire on the canal bank. A watch
man discovered the hre and an alarm
was sent in from the private box at
the oil plant Before the engines ar
rived the canal for a distance Of half
"A block was on fire, and a minute
later great tongues of flame began
The dense smoke made it difficult
for the fremen to work, and water
had no apparent effect on the blaze.
The fremeE finally resorted TO picks
and shovels and began throwing dirt
on the blaze This, fAOUe-er. had lit
t'e more effect than the water, for the
oil. which seemed to be flowing stead
fly, rose to the surface faster than the
men could throw on dirt.
Kept Under Control.
Fearing that the flames would spread
TO the oil tanks and the big gas tank,
the fremen confined their efforts tc
keeping the flames in the canal The
valves al the main oil tank were closed
but the ground was so saturated with
the oil that the fire was still burning
this afternoon
About / o'clock yesterday afternoon
il was diScoV cred that there was :
serious break in the new Pipe line al
the place where ii crossed the canal
Oil was coming to the surface II large
quantities, and il was decided tC send tC
Baltimore for men to repair the break
A foreman and several WorbTnen arrived
this morning, and had lust started dig
ging up the ground when the fire was
discovered. II is believed the leak OC
Cured several days ago. and several
thousand barrels Of oil ran out It is
also said that a large quantity Of oil
was emptied into the canal from tht
Old pipe line.
No. Is and No. Engine Companies
responded to the first alarm. Chiei
Belt and Fire Marshal Nicholson ar
rived a few minutes later, and when II
was found that water would not quenCf
the blaze, il was decided not to send fl
any more alarms. At first II wa:
feared that the heat would cause AT
explosion in the tank OF the Washing
ton Gas Light Company, but the FIRE
men succeeded in confining the fire 4
the canal