KERSEY, Colo.—A worker was burned when a fire erupted at an oil well on Wednesday and sent flames 20 to 30 feet in the air, a fire official said.
The worker was airlifted to North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley, Union Colony Fire Rescue division chief Dale Lyman said. A nursing supervisor said the man’s condition wouldn’t be released because of patient privacy laws.
The flames were extinguished about 20 minutes after firefighters arrived and did not spread beyond the well in a sagebrush field near Kersey, about eight miles east of Greeley, he said.
Workers told firefighters the blaze broke out as they were cleaning the well, using pumps to remove debris into holding tanks, Lyman said. They said one of the pumps caught fire and ignited a mixture of oil, water and sand in the holding tanks.
Lyman said a mechancial malfunction in the pump may have started the fire. He said there was no immediate estimate of the damage.
Platte Valley firefighters spread foam on it the fire and Union Colony firefighters worked to cool the steel storage tanks.
Northern Colorado has numerous oil and gas wells, but Lyman said fires are rare, occurring only about two or three times a year.
