Evening star., 1938-07-18
OIL BLAST KILLS
THREE,|NJURESb
Damage to Westvi||e, N. Y,
Plant Set at S. 900, 900
by Fire Chief.
Ey the Associated Press.

WELLSVILLE, N. Y, July 18.-
A spectacular explosion early today
spread new havoc in the SIS, 900, 900
Sinclair Oil Co. refinery after three
men were killed and rs injured in a
chaos Of fire and explosions last night,
but firemen finally appeared to be
bringing the fire under control.
A storage tank containing $500
barrels of naphtha exploded shortly
before daybreak with a deafening roar
and q cloud-sweeping flash of fire.
No one was reported injured, but a
similar tank. exploding last night,
skyrocketed 500 feet across the nearby
Genesee River and killed three spec
tators on the opposite bank.
Chief Hollim Johnston OF the COM
pany's fire department said damage.
including business as well as stock and
equipment, would amount to about
S5,000,000.
Emergency calls for oil flre-f1ght-
ing chemicals we're broadcast through
Western New York and Pennsylvania
after the new explosion today. Soon
afterward, a 50,000-barrel tank of
highly inflammable naphtha caught
took their lives in their hands and
approached close enough to snuff out
the fire with chemicals.
New Danger Develops.
A new danger developed when fire,
blazing up anew in the ruins of the
dewaxing plant and power house,
flared to within scant S feet Of the
naphtha plant, filled with high-explo-
sive chemicals.
Another band of fire fighters built
q dixie of sandbags against flames and
burning oil.
In the meantime, anxious firemen
stood guard over approximately 800
storage tanks of various sizes, con-
' tanning various fluids, which stand
on the refinery property. Many Of
these we're on fire at some time last
night.
Late last night it was believed for
q time that four men had perished
Firemen saw what they believed was
a fourth body in the ruins, but it
turned out to be part of body pre-
viously found
Thirteen tanks exploded last night
while the fire was raging through the
heart Of the $15,0o0,0O0 refinery of
the Sinclair Oil Co., one of the larg-
est reflneries in the country.
One of the exploding tanks was
hurled clear across the Genesee River,
to land in crowd of spectators and
cause the three deaths. Some of
the injuries also resulted from the
meteor plunge of the flaming bulk.
The dead:
Walter Maeder. As, unemployed.
Robert Powers, 35, a restaurant
worker.
Eugene Mccormick, ~.
All we're Wellsville residents.
Sixty-flve persons were treated for
, minor burns in an emergency hos
pital set up by doctors and nurses
at the plant. Eye-witnesses esti-
mated 10 other persons were slightly
burned. One man was taken to the
village hospital.
Early today w. D. Chenault, man.
Ager of the plant, refused to admit
any one but flremen to the refinery
grounds. Although electric lights were
out in several nearby villages due to
the burning of power line. Chenault
barred electric company repalrmen,
telling them another one of those
tanks might go and kill you. too."
The tank which killed the three
men had 2,500- 0-barrel capacity, and
was the largest to explode.
Firemen said it began to bulge while
they were building dikes to hold over
flowing oil in the refinery grounds.
Suddeny sheet Of flame 200 feet
thigh and 600 feet wide roared skyward.
One fireman, Ed Pickens. said the
big tank went up just like a little
tin can set over a flrecracker"
The huge bulk cleared the top of
a building 10 feet high, crossed the
river and landed. The crowd of spec
tators saw it coming. Men and women
san in terror.
Body Driven Into Ground.
The tank fell directly on Maeder.
His body was driven 3 feet into the
earth.
Powers and Mccormick were struck
down by flying pieces of metal
Pickens said trees on a hillside 400
feet away were scorched
The fire began in the dewaxing plant
late yesterday afternoon and spread
80 quickly that plant fire pumps were
put out of commission before they
could be used. Soon several storage
tanks took fire.
AT one time it looked like many of
them were burning, but they didn't
explode" Chenault said. He said
hremen risked their lives to extin-
guish fire in the tanks before they ex-
ploded
Chenault said the cause of the fire
will probably never be determined"