The Garden City Telegram
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Fire destroys equipment, burns up oil at asphalt processing plant outside of Lakin
Published 6/19/2008 in News : Area coverage
By The Telegram
LAKIN ¬-- A fire Wednesday at an asphalt plant one mile outside of Lakin closed down the area near there and destroyed the plant's asphalt processing operation, with smoke clouds visible as far as Deerfield.
The APAC asphalt processing equipment, trailers housing oil and hoses were destroyed at the Klotz sand pit one mile south of Lakin on Kansas Highway 25.
It appears the fire started after hoses that were transferring oil out of a trailer broke and the oil spilled onto the ground, igniting when it came into contact with a heat source, Kearny County Sheriff James Jarboe said this morning.
The fuel spilled onto one man's arms, though his condition and name were unavailable this morning.
Between 40 and 50 emergency personnel from the Kearny County Sheriff's Office, Kearny County Emergency Management, Kansas Department of Transportation, Kearny County Volunteer Fire Department and Garden City Fire Department helped fight the blaze, which caused some explosions of propane tanks. The fire was under control by 6 p.m. and extinguished this morning.
The Garden City Fire Department's truck equipped with Triple F Foam, a fire suppressant when dealing with oil or petroleum, was used to help in battling the blaze because water is ineffective, said Garden City Fire Department Deputy Chief Jeff Deal.
Deal characterized the fire as a medium petroleum fire, taking out about a 50-by-50-foot area.
The sheriff's office and KDOT handled traffic control, with people not allowed to enter the area for about three hours after the fire.
Two homes in the area were evacuated because the plume of smoke was billowing their direction. The smoke is considered toxic, and the Dodge City office of the Kansas Department of Health and Environment is monitoring the air for contamination.
The Kansas Fire Marshal is investigating, though no information is available from that office this morning.
Messages left at APAC's Hutchinson office were not returned this morning.
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