Historic Hood River
Oil Spill
1-31-2014
Notes
They may not have had all the equipment we have today, but the fire department had to deal with some pretty dangerous situations in 1952. This tanker appears to have jackknifed in a populated neighborhood, and presented a considerable challenge.
charlott
Does anyone have any idea what they mopped it up with. Only a guess, but with the mills all in operation then, it might have been sawdust.
l.e.
Is it icy or are we just looking at oil? It looks like ice at the base of the power pole.
Kenn
Where did this occur, is the location of the house known?
Ralph
inflammable
spinsur
in·flam·ma·ble
/inˈflaməbəl/
adjective
adjective: inflammable
1.easily set on fire.
"inflammable and poisonous gases"
synonyms: flammable, combustible, incendiary, ignitable;
spinsur
ya gotta luv the English language… 😉
charlott
Are those leaves on the tree by the pole? Wouldn’t be ice if those are the kind of leaves they look like.
We have come a long way in street lights!!!
Arthur
Answering a few questions:
No idea where this is, but all the Joe Young photos seem to be HRFD actions.
That’s definitely a skiff of rapidly melting snow on the ground.
It looks like there are leaves in the tree with a little snow on them– maybe those oak leaves that hold on well past they should.
My best CSI guess: fall cold snap with a touch of snow caused the tanker to skid and flip.
Buzz
Don’t know what they used in the 50’s for oil spills, but worked at Prudhoe Bay on the North Slope for awhile in the late 70’s and early 80’s and got involved in a few oil spills.. They used what they called elephant diapers to kind of clean things up. They were about the size of a small blanket and very absorbent. When they soaked up all they could, they burned them. Also watched some of the debacle when they tried to clean up the mess from the Exxon Valdez in Prince William Sould. That so-called cleanup was more of a joke than anything. The oil companies just threw enough money around to shut everybody up until mother nature hid most of it underwater and buried in the gravel bars. If they ever let them drill under the ice in the Arctic Ocean they will have a monumental mess someday.
Arlen Sheldrake
I seem to remember Joe Young to be aka Joe "oil heat" Young…maybe this load was headed to him.