Show BEAUMONT Oil FIRE I I 1 I r Loss Not So Large as Was First Reported BLAZE MOW UNDER CONTROL 1 t The Loss Is Variously Estimated asI I I Hanging From 75OOO to S250uUO Thirly Derricks Were Destroyed I I 1 Fifteen Tanks Somo of Them Filled With Petroleum Were I Burned nncl Several Pumping Plants Put Out of Service Blaze Started by Workmans Carelessness r y Beaumont Tex Sept 12 At daylight day-light this morning the fire In the oilfield i oil-field burned Ill out and tonight t there are only four wells md two tanks burning One of the wells Is u big I gusher and there will b much trouble I Jn extinguishing It The smaller wells can be handled easily as the fire is fed IJ principally by gas The oil Is I being I uitiii irum me tames as rapmiy l as possible und they probably will burn I jJi themselves out tonight I There Is a breeze blowing but it Is i j sweeping across the fields toward the l fire Even if It changes there III belittle i be-little danger of further loss for the reason that all the exposed oil has been j burned A large force ot workmen IK Ion I-on the ground and a spread of tho frI fr-I can be checked In Its Incipiency Preparations I I Prep-arations are going forward in the work oC extinguishing the burning wells and it is l believed that an effort will be toward I to-ward that end tomorrow I The loss caused by the fire Is variously vari-ously estimated The lowest figures by 1 those competent to Judge place the total 1 to-tal loss at about 70000 From thIs It i ranges up to 2fiOOOO So far as can be ascertained about thirty derricks < were destroyed The loss on these was I comparatively small Fifteen tanks j J some of them filled with oil were burned out and they will have to be repaired before they are again serviceable Several Sev-eral pumping plants were put out of j service and arc rendered useless and in this the heaviest loss lies outside of the oil district 4 The fire uis Started by the earless ness of a workman He went Into 3 lank partly filled with oil with a lighted j foIl 14 i lantern An explosion o gas that lowed Ignited the all The man escaped JI though badly burned The Wood gush l i er had been l left open and It was 1 Ignited I within a few minutes Before an alarm could he given to control the burning I tank the flames leaped high Into the air the derrick caught lire as did the oil that was standing around the well The Ignition was comparatively slow but the fire once started spread rap Jdly over the KeithWard tract which Is on the outer edge of the Held Immense Im-mense volumes of smoke were created and gave the impression that the sea I of lire was greater than It really was The flames shot up through the smoke forked and Jagged like lightning in some instances and In great sheets In other portions The ground was thoroughly thor-oughly soaked with oil and until this I had burned off the smoke obscured everything 1 ev-erything even creating a foglike effect In the city four miles HAS ay |