5 Burned in Blast at Oil Refinery

A fiery explosion at an oil refinery Monday burned five workers, four severely, officials said.

It was not immediately known what caused the blast, which started fires in two of more than 100 tanks at Frontier Refining Inc.

The fire in one tank containing 20,000 gallons of naphtha, a petroleum product, was put out early in the afternoon. A 250,000-gallon tank of raw unleaded gasoline was left to burn itself out, officials said.

A nearby section of Interstate 80 was closed for about 30 minutes.

Four of the injured workers were taken to North Colorado Medical Center in Greeley, Colo., where a nursing supervisor said two of them were in critical condition and two others were in serious condition with second- and third-degree burns over 70% to 90% of their bodies.

A fifth employee received less serious burns and was treated in Cheyenne; a sixth was treated for smoke inhalation.