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A10 Saturday,October 2, 1999 The Record TIRE FIRE public meeting Continued from Al The Stanislaus County Management Board. Office of Emergency Using a mixture of foam and Services is hosting an water, and specially designed fire informational meeting on hoses, firefighters began spreading the Westley tire file at 6 a thick, white layer of fire sup- p.m. Monday in the pressant over the petroleum por- Patterson High School tion of the tire fire that's burning cafeteria, 200 N. Seventh in a small gully at the eastern St., Patterson. State and edge of the blaze Friday, said Kate federal officials will discuss Hora, spokeswoman for Stanislaus how they are handling the Count, fire, its health risks, water By late Friday afternoon, foam pollution and fire suppres- covered the oil slick that had been sion efforts. Information: burning red and hissing that Monica Della Maggiore, morning. 892-4455; or Karen Cox, "It appears that (fire crews) are 894-5371. making a little progress there. It looks like the smoke may have and have already removed 60,000 decreased slightly, Hora said. But by no means does that gallons of petroleum. A melting mean the fire will be suppressed tire releases approximately 2`/2 gal- soon. lons of oil, he said. "This is going to be a long, try- Hora said officials do not know ing process," Thalhamer said. how much oil is on fire. The start of a petroleum fire Williams Fire and Hazard late last week caused a thick Control has fought more than 108 cloud to worsen over Westley, fires like the Westley tire fire and prompting officials to decide they has a patented fire hose and fire had no choice but to fight the suppressant called ATC foam. blaze.They called in Williams Fire "The foam forms a barrier and Hazard Control, a Texas-based between the oil and its oxygen fire-suppression company that supply. That's a fancy way to say earned its reputation fighting it smothers it," Hora said. The refinery fires during the Persian patented fire hose shoots foam Gulf War, said Dan Shane, on- p scene coordinator for the U.S. from multiple holes but is Environmental Protection Agency. designed to allow firefighters to "The immediate problem right predict where the fire suppressant now is we have an oil fire, and will land. there is a huge cloud of thick Officials said they cannot pre- smoke," he said. dict how long it will take to Fire officials chose to let the squelch the oil fire. Royster tire fire, near Tracy, burn Fire crews are focusing on the because it was contained in a oil fire and will not address extin- bowl-like valley and didn't have guishing the tires until after the oil runoff, Thalhamer said. petroleum blaze is put out. Although officials were hesitant Our immediate objective is to to fight the fire initially for fear that the water and hazardous reduce the smoke in the area," materials from the tires would Hora said. mix and seep into the groundwa- The next step is to remove ter, Shane said they discovered small, burning tire piles from the that the water table is at least 450 standing oil to prevent the petro- feet below the surface. leum from reigniting, Hora said. Firefighters are dealing with two In the meantime, Stanislaus blazes — an oil fire and a fire County spokesman David Jones fire. The oil fire is largely respon- said, the county's Office of sible for the smoke hovering over Emergency Services has received Westley, Shane said. an increased number of com- That oil began flowing out of plaints from people with irritated the gully into a dry creek bed and pooling in a small pond late last and sore throats. week, Shane said. In the winter, So far the fire's impacts on air Martin Creek carries rain runoff quality have been minor, Air under Interstate 5 and into the Resources Board spokesman Allan San Joaquin River. Hirsch said. Shane said fire crews are "We really have not found sig- pumping the oil out of the gully nificant levels of toxins," he said. 11111