Thousands of liters of LPG burning near Wroclaw, Poland

February 8, 2010

Thousands of liters of LPG are burning near Wroclaw, Poland, and 200 Polish people have been evacuated. Seventeen fire brigade regiments are fighting the fire which is at a petrol station in Katy Wroclawskie. Officials estimate it will take at least 10 hours to extinguish the fire.

The early-morning fire got to an underground tank of burning propylene-butane quickly and firefighters couldn’t reach the valve to stop the flow of fuel making it now impossible to put out the fire. Firefighters understand that propylene-butane will have to burn out. The 6600 liter tank was about 70 per cent full of gas. The fire brigade’s operation is to cool the flames to prevent an explosion of the petrol pump. But the operation is risky.

People from a kilometer zone around the flaming station have been evacuated. Nearby roads have been cut off and trains are not stopping at Katy Wroclawskie station. Police and chemical rescue units and standby ambulances are also at the fire.

The cause of the fire is unknown.