Denver Firefighters Gain Control Over Jet Fuel Inferno at Airport

Firefighters gained the upper hand Monday on an inferno in a jet fuel tank farm at Stapleton International Airport, where flight schedules returned to normal after major disruptions Sunday.

Four of the 12 tanks have caught fire, burning more than 2 million gallons of jet fuel.

The strategy of the 150 firefighters was to let the fire that began Sunday consume fuel in the ignited tanks and prevent it from spreading by drenching nearby tanks with water and foam.

“We . . . feel like everything is under our grasp,” said Denver Fire Department Capt. Nick Nuanes. “Things are going real, real good. The intensity has dropped dramatically.”

Firefighters have been pouring 10,000 gallons of water per minute on nearby tanks. By Monday evening, two 400,000-gallon tanks had burned themselves out and collapsed on the muddy ground. Nearby, an 800,000-gallon tank of fuel was in flames and a fourth tank holding 350,000 gallons more had caught fire.

All four of the involved tanks were leased to United Airlines, which was forced to delay or cancel an undetermined number of its 186 flights Sunday.

The fire caused few problems for other airlines at Stapleton because most had alternative sources of fuel. Stapleton is the nation’s fourth-busiest airport in passenger volume.

United spokesman Joe Hopkins said the airline was “ferrying enough fuel from other storage tanks in the vicinity to meet requirements.” Hopkins said it could be as much as 60 days before the normal underground fueling system is operating again, but he does not expect United passengers to be further affected.

The probable cause of the fire was a broken valve that leaked.