THRILLING scenes were witnessed 63 years ago this week when fierce flames roared and a huge black mushroom cloud of smoke rose above the silver towers of Fawley oil refinery.
Despite the alarming appearance, no one was unduly alarmed and fortunately there was no cause to panic.
The terrific oil blaze – started at a safe distance from the storage tanks at the refinery – was all part of Operation Avonmouth, a large-scale Hampshire Fire Service exercise to test plans for coping with any major outbreak at the plant.
Two hundred firemen were on the scene to see that things didn’t get out of hand, and a number of firemen with up to 20 fire appliances had earlier arrived to answer the “call” for aid from Fawley Fire Department dealing with an imaginary blaze at No.15 compound.
As the men arrived to deal with the inferno they were presented with a scenario where one of the refinery tanks was well alight and three of the adjoining tanks – each containing two-and-three-quarter million gallons of diesel – were dangerously overheating.
Crews from 17 stations quickly swung into action as firemen with walkie-talkie sets relayed instructions to divisional officers on every side of the compound and nearly 30 jets threw up 6,000 gallons of water around the tanks to quell the flames.
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