San Antonio: Fuel fire stabilized at South Side refinery

[Are_grits_groceries]

City officials expressed relief Wednesday after firefighters subdued a blaze at a Southeast Side refinery before it could ignite a dozen nearby fuel tanks holding hundreds of thousands of gallons of explosive jet fuel.
The midday blaze turned the city's eyes skyward as billowing plumes of smoke drifted overhead, causing mass evacuations and snarling traffic for miles in every direction.

At least one refinery worker was critically injured.

“This could have been a very tragic fire,” Fire Chief Charles Hood said. “If that jet fuel had caught on fire, we could have seen a major explosion big enough to kill people a half-mile away.”

It took more than 100 firefighters working in 90-degree heat nearly six hours to stabilize the two-alarm blaze.

Hood said firefighters gained control of the fire after a hazmat team closed three open valves that were allowing fuel to feed the fire.

The fire was reported just after 11 a.m., when a tanker truck exploded at a loading dock at AGE Refining Inc., which has a history of safety infractions, unleashing a series of fiery eruptions and trails of smoke visible at least 40 miles away.
More: http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/Fire_burning_on_South_Side.html

"which has a history of safety infractions" This seems to be a common denominator in a lot of stories.
Coal mining, oil, Wall Street shenanigans (IMHO regs are safety measures here too}....