Report

Subject:                  Oil well catches fire   

Date of Email report:   Sun 26/10/2008

Report Detail:

         
Sharon volunteer firefighters extinguished an oil well fire Monday morning around 11:40 at 27 Howard Walker Rd., off Sharon Road. No injuries were reported. The cause of the fire had not been determined Monday afternoon. The fire erupted at a Venture Oil and Gas unit. Flames destroyed a nearby pickup truck, and damaged several out buildings.Sharon volunteer firefighters sent in a fire truck and a tanker and used firefighting foam to extinguish the flames.Departments responding along with Sharon were Shady Grove, Sandersville, Rustin, Glade, M&M and Powers.Jones County Fire Coordinator Dan McKenna said no one was injured.

A Dixie Electric Power Association crew cut power to the pumping station, about 50 yards away. Dark, black smoke from the fire could be seen from the Laurel-Hattiesburg Regional Airport on I-59 near the Jones-Forrest county line.Residents within a 500 yard area were evacuated as a precautionary measure.The fire appeared to have started near a triplex unit, which pumps oil to storage tanks, said Lance Chancellor, public information officer for the Jones County Fire Council. He said employees were at lunch when the explosion occurred, but a nearby employee heard the explosion and called emergency personnel.“Their (Venture) personnel were invaluable to firefighters in telling us where valves were located to stop the oil flow and what dangers we might face,” Chancellor said.