(Photo courtesy of The Pat Hathaway Collection)
(Photo courtesy of The Pat Hathaway Collection)
It was Monday, September 14, 1924. A freak storm covered the Monterey Bay. It had a series of hail, wind, rain, lightning and thunder. Lightning split a tree on the Presidio. Then, at 10:10 a.m., a bolt of lightning struck the top of one of the Associated Oil storage tanks near the wharf in Monterey. The 55,000 barrel tank, filled with oil and covered only with a layer of oil paper, burst into flame, and huge clouds of black smoke rose into the sky.
Soon, fire alarms sounded, and fire trucks from Monterey, New Monterey, Oak Grove, Pacific Grove, and Carmel- every available fire truck in the area- arrived at the scene. Someone even called the Salinas fire department to send out their trucks.
Instead of aiming their hoses at the fire, the firefighters sprayed at the surrounding tanks, to save the other tanks from getting too hot and starting new fires. Gradually, the oil burned itself down into the tank. Observers could see the paint on the outside of the tank peeling away, marking the level of the fire. Oil pumps were busy draining the oil from the tank at the rate of 6,000 barrels an hour, to take away the fuel from the fire and make it burn out sooner- based on the idea of no fuel, no fire.
(Photo courtesy of The Pat Hathaway Collection)
Soldiers from the Presidio came to help fight the fire, crouching behind a fence to protect themselves from the intense heat. At about 3:00, sixteen mule wagons were brought down from the Presidio, to unload hay from a warehouse that was near the fire. The hay was brought up to higher ground at the Presidio. At 4:20, Fire Marshal Major F.D. Daly ordered the 300 men who were driving the mules and loading the wagons to return to the Presidio. As it turned out, that order saved their lives.
Things seemed to be going well, and the oil had burned down past the halfway mark. People thought that the oil was burning safely, and many of them came out to watch from the Presidio parade grounds.
At 4:30, the flames suddenly got higher and hotter, and flaming oil boiled over the edge of the tank, with a hiss and a vroom. The Peninsula Daily Herald described how "like a flaming Niagara, the burning oil rolled from the tank to the ground, instantly lapping the wooden fence into itself." Within seconds, another explosion occurred, from the nearest tank.
(Photo courtesy of The Pat Hathaway Collection)
Firefighters, soldiers, and onlookers ran for their lives. Some looked back and saw a wall of flame rising over 500 feet into the air. A river of flaming oil was running down Lighthouse Avenue. Pvt. Eustace Watkins died as he fell from a ladder into one the tanks that had just exploded. Pvt. George Bolio died as he jumped from a truck and into the flaming river of oil on Lighthouse.
Oil ran 400 feet from where it started. The oil ran into the hay that the men had moved from the warehouse in which it was kept. An army truck was burned before the driver could start it, and he fled to safety. A team of mules were being driven to safety but they started panicking and just ran right back into the fire. Their driver fled to safety.
There were explosions one after another. At 6:00 PM on September 14,1924, an extremely loud explosion was heard as the sixth tank exploded and its roof flew up into the air and landed in the flaming tank. At 9:30 PM on September 14, 1924, there was another explosion of one of the tanks. The explosions continued until after 3:00 AM on September 15,1924.
(Photo courtesy of The Pat Hathaway Collection)
It still wasn't over. Monday afternoon, September 15, when plans were being made to bury the dead from the fire, the last 55,000 barrel tank was slowly melting, until it spilled the rest of its contents of burning oil into the bay. This created a huge floating slick of flaming oil, headed toward Fisherman's Wharf. The oil came within 300 feet of the wharf, but because the wind was not strong, the oil burned itself out before reaching any buildings.
Oil storage tanks were soon banned from the City of Monterey. The Associated Oil Company built new tanks in Seaside, which were in operation until after World War II.