The State - News from Sept. 13, 1988

A cracked pipe in a burning oil well near Fillmore has delayed efforts to put out a fire along the border of the Los Padres National Forest until later this week, officials said. A team of experts from Boots & Coots Inc., a Houston company specializing in oil well fires, and Ventura County firefighters attempted to extinguish the fire by filling the well with saltwater and then capping it. But a crack developed in a pipe and the effort was curtailed, fire officials said. “We’re looking at an additional wait of at least two days while the part is ordered,” Fire Department spokeswoman Paula Aliano said. A spark from a ventilating fan ignited fumes and triggered an explosion and fire in the Seneca Resources Corp. well, seriously burning one worker. The flames had spread to an 800-barrel storage tank, but that fire was extinguished earlier, firefighters said.