Propane Inferno Near Toledo

The fire burned for hours after it began but was contained Tuesday night. It engulfed a second building but did not spread to larger 20,000- and 30,000-gallon tanks, Bedford Township Deputy Fire Chief Joe Keane said.
"The fire is under control at this time," Keane said. "We're allowing some of the cylinders that are on fire to burn out."

Keane said firefighters were wrapping up their work for the night. Firefighters planned to return to the scene early Wednesday, he said.

All employees apparently got out safely, said Bedford Fire Capt. Bob Young.

Firefighters began pulling back from the plant before the tanks started exploding. They were staying a mile away from the plant, which is in a rural area near a few industrial businesses and a handful of homes.

"It'd be a losing battle," David Kehres, a captain with the Erie Fire Department, said earlier Tuesday. "There's too many explosions."

He said the plant is a filling station for propane tanks, including those used in backyard grills.

"There's really no way of putting out a propane fire," Dave Harmon, spokesman for Reliance Propane, told WDIV television in Detroit. 

A spectacular fire at a Bedford Township propane plant burned one employee, destroyed at least two buildings, blew small propane tanks hundreds of feet into the air, and forced a three-hour evacuation of homes and businesses within a 1 1/2-mile radius.

The fire at Reliance Propane and Fuel Oil, 180 Lavoy Rd., near Telegraph Road was considered so dangerous that firefighters withdrew from the scene for about three hours late yesterday afternoon.

The worker, Robert Wilcox, Jr., suffered first, second, and third degree burns and drove himself to seek treatment without firefighters' knowledge. He drove to a medical office in Toledo, he said, and from there was taken to St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center where he remained last night.

The fire started where Mr. Wilcox was draining gas from propane tanks, the 27-year-old Toledo man said last night from the hospital.

He blamed the blaze on static electricity or a spark created by the screwdriver he was using to loosen a screw from a propane tank. Mr. Wilcox said he paints, fills, and washes propane tanks at the firm where he has been employed for almost 11 months.