Oil Slop Recycling Facility Burns Down, Injures Three

WIBAUX, Mont. (AP) — A fire at an eastern Montana oil slop recycling facility that injured three workers is being allowed to burn because of the danger of more explosions.

Wibaux County Disaster and Emergency Services spokesman Mike Schneider said Sunday he and fire crews are watching the fire from about a quarter mile away. The facility near the Montana-North Dakota state line is at the edge of the Bakken crude patch.

He says the fire started Saturday afternoon at a Custom Carbon Processing facility and is limited to the trailer of a tanker truck and a large, three-sided structure that has been destroyed.

He says the fire started with a flash explosion as the truck's operator was pumping the trailer's flammable contents into the structure where the three workers were putting in insulation.

Schneider says the three workers needed medical attention but it's unclear how badly they were burned.