VERNAL — Firefighters from several agencies are battling a fire at an oil field location in a remote part of Uintah County.
Crews were called out at 9:42 a.m. to the Dirty Devil Waste Disposal site about 40 miles south of Vernal near Little Bonanza after an oil tank battery caught fire
Uintah County Sheriff's Lt. John Laursen said when firefighters arrived one tank containing crude oil was fully engulfed. The heat of the fire caused additional tanks at the site to erupt into flames, blowing the tops off the tanks. Laursen said the site had a total of four tanks holding crude oil and three tanks containing a gasoline by-product known as condensate. It was unclear how many tanks are burning.
Firefighters, assisted by local water hauling companies, have put more than 100,000 gallons of water on the fire in an attempt to control it.
Laursen said the damage to the site, which is owned by Montana-based Remtinco, is estimated at $500,000.