by Kim Kilpatrick
October 21, 2009 10:06 AM
According to an October 20 posting on wxyz.com (an online news source for Detroit, Michigan, and its surrounding areas, and an ABC-affiliate), local firefighters put out a large fire that burned near several oil storage tanks in River Rouge, Michigan.
The fire, at the Michigan Marine Terminal facility, began while several workers tried to clean up an old asphalt spill. Fortunately, none of the workers was injured in the fire.
Residents of the area claim to have heard and felt a powerful explosion during the fire, which officials now say was a relatively small oil tank which exploded during the blaze.
The inferno sent heavy, thick black smoke into the sky for over an hour. Nevertheless, timely fire officials were able to extinguish it by using roughly 1500 gallons of foam.
Several nearby businesses were evacuated because of the fire, but the evacuation was soon lifted, and luckily none of the nearby homes had to be evacuated as a result of the fire.
Fluid Fuels, Incorporated, located at 246 Marion Street (and whose sister company is the above-mentioned Michigan Marine Terminal) is a petroleum management company providing a wide arrange of marketing, consulting and operational services to energy industry customers, producers and suppliers. According to their website, Fluid Fuels’ (which is based in River Rouge, Michigan), management and staff have "extensive knowledge and expertise in petroleum industry operations, products and services in both the national as well as international markets."
River Rouge is a city in Wayne County (Michigan), named after the River Rouge (or Rouge River from the French "Rouge" meaning red), which flows through a portion of the city into the Detroit River. The city includes the heavily industrial Zug Island at the mouth of the River Rouge, and has a total area of 3.4 square miles of which, 2.7 square miles is land and .7 square miles is water.