No Injuries Reported In Oil Well Blaze

USA -- An oil well fire caused for some tense moments Friday afternoon, but despite intense flames there were no injuries.

The fire burned a work over rig and another tanker was destroyed. Charles Robinson, training officer of the New London VFD, said fire units were called to the well located down a dirt road off Rusk County Road 4154, about 1 p.m.

A crew, Top Cat Oil, was capping the well owned by the Texas Railroad Commission when a spark ignited the fire, Robinson said.

Units from throughout the area put out the fire and are keeping water on the structure, Robinson said.

Firefighters from around the area put out the blaze and no injuries were reported.

Plans are to bring equipment to the scene to help topple the rig’s charred structure and cap the well.

“We got real lucky today that no one was hurt,” Robinson said.

Oil Rig Accident Kills Man

A Montana man working on a rig near Stanley was killed yesterday afternoon while he was working on this rig.

21-year old Nathaniel Zinn of Chinook, Montana was hit by a metal piece when it was blown off by pressure in the well.

He then fell 15 feet to the ground.

Sheriff Ken Halvorson says Zinn was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident.

The fatal incident happened on Cyclone Drilling Rig number 20, the exact rig that we visited a day earlier to shoot a story on new drilling technologies

- end -

Back to Top