A fire lasting more than four hours Sunday afternoon engulfed a 7,000 square foot building in Zionsville, Ind., used by distributor Taylor Oil Co. to store petroleum products that included waste oil and lubricants.
It was waste oil for our furnaces that we heat the warehouses with, that was the big fuel for the fire, Taylor Oils Nancy Thayer told Lube Report. There was a tank wagon that had some diesel and gas on it, not a big quantity. There were also four totes with lubricants in them.
Thayer said Taylor Oil, owned by her father Lloyd Taylor, has been a Shell jobber for 60 years. Taylor also carries a smaller line of Fina-branded lubricants made by Lubricants USA, she added. According to the companys Web site, Taylor Oil distributes products for Shell that include motor oils, greases, aviation lubricants, transmission fluids, automotive gear lubricants, and antifreeze.
A Zionsville Fire Department report stated that fire officials remained on the scene through Monday to investigate the cause of the fire, which took about four and a half hours to contain. No civilian or firefighter injuries were reported. According to fire officials, Taylor Oil was back in operation by 6 p.m. on Sunday. The cause remains under investigation, Thayer said yesterday.
The fire department was dispatched Sunday, at 12:29 p.m., to the fully engulfed building fire. With no fire hydrants in the area, fire officials said crews connected nearly a half mile of hose. Fire crews contained the spread of the fire and dug containment ditches to prevent any water runoff from escaping the site. According to the fire department, the drainage ditches collected water from the fire hoses and contained it so it would not reach nearby waterways.
Initial reports indicated the building contained about 6,000 gallons of various petroleum products, and that the bulk of that was contained by the dikes located inside the building. The building also contained a semi delivery truck, fork lift and related fuel delivery equipment.
Officials noted several large explosions during the suppression effort. Zionsville requested additional assistance from six other fire departments to gather a large supply of foam and begin final efforts to completely extinguish the fire.
Initial reports indicated no hazardous materials had left the site, and that a clean-up contractor was on site removing product from the containment ditches dug by fire crews.