NATION : Snow Fails to Quench Airport Fire
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DENVER — A snowstorm today coated firefighters and their equipment with ice, but officials were confident they had a handle on a blaze feeding on millions of gallons of jet fuel at Stapleton International Airport.
“The flames are not near as intense as they have been. Things are boiling down to a simmer,” said Fire Department spokesman Mike McNeill.
As snow fell, about 60 firefighters sprayed water and foam on the fire burning an 800,000-gallon tank and a 350,000-gallon tank. The fire today did not pose a threat to the eight other storage tanks half a mile from the airport tower, officials said. The fire, which started Sunday, reduced two 400,000-gallon tanks to smoldering, crumpled hulks. The tank farm had a 12.5-million-gallon capacity.
McNeill said he expects one of the tanks to burn itself out by midafternoon and the other by sometime Wednesday.
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