Petrol tanker blast investigation continues

as posted here

Posted Fri May 15, 2009 5:08pm AEST
Updated Sat May 16, 2009 10:58am AEST

Police evacuate parts of Maddington as petrol tanker explodes (Ben White)

Authorities are investigating the cause of a petrol tanker fire in the Perth suburb of Maddington.

A rupture in a compartment of the tanker sparked a blaze which burnt through about 15,000 litres of fuel.

The fire spread to a nearby petrol station and shop on Albany Highway, forcing the evacuation of people within 500 metres of the blaze.

Local roads were closed for up to 10 hours during the clean up.

That involved transferring the remaining fuel to a second tanker, pumping fuel out of drains which lead to the Canning River, and mopping up.

20 Fire and Emergency Service firefighters remained at the scene overnight.

FESA spokesman Alan Gale says the blaze caused a significant amount of damage.

"The damage certainly to the rear of the tanker itself is fairly substantial, but probably more so to the building," he said.

"All the front driveway and canopy is extensively damaged."

Mark Brunt works opposite the petrol station and saw the explosion.

"I went and got a bit closer and could see everyone was bailing out of the servo and some guy was yelling 'Get out, get out' and yeah, this fire was just taking off," he said.


as posted here