Multiple trucks catch fire at depot in Barkeyville, Venango Co.
BARKEYVILLE, Pa. (KDKA) -- Two firefighters were injured after a fire broke out at an oil refinery in Venango County.
The fire broke out at Heath Oil along Route 8 near the I-80 interchange in Barkeyville. The flames were fierce, and the explosions shook residents awake just before 4 a.m. Tuesday.
"Actually, the whole house shook. We heard several explosions, and we came out the front and kind of watched the glow in the sky," said resident Alvin Patton.
Clintonville Volunteer Fire Department Assistant Chief Brayden Rea said they believe a parked truck carrying a tanker caught fire first then spread to two other trucks.
"We found one tanker on fire along with two trucks. We started moving trucks and trying to extinguish the fire. We did have one tank BLEVE. It did go in and catch one of the manifolds on fire in the refinery. We got that extinguished," Rea said.
Multiple fire departments from as far as 30 miles away had to assist because crews needed a lot of foam and water to extinguish the fire.
Two Clintonville firefighters sustained minor injuries and were treated on scene.
Rea said their fire engine's windows blew out, some of their equipment was damaged and some gear got contaminated.
"We've been trying to work with our municipalities to get more funding. Obviously in a situation like this, we used a lot of resources. When the tank BLEVEd, we blew out our windows in our engine and damaged lots of equipment today. Several sets of gear are contaminated with fuel that we are going to have to replace. It's going to cost us a lot of money as a volunteer department that relies just on funding from the community and a couple municipalities," Rea said.
Rea said this was at least the third fire at the refinery that he can remember.
Images and video of the aftermath taken by first responders shows the damage, the trucks all melted and charred.
Firefighters were able to prevent the flames from spreading to Heath Oil's Anchors Away gas station and a Subway.
Route 8 in Barkeyville was closed for several hours. It reopened around 8:30 a.m.