Fire at Wilkes Base!
From the journal of Seb Borrello
5 Jan 1959 about 0100 hours
Waken by alarm - put on robe and slippers over skivvies - run to squawk box - hear nothing - people running to galley, am told fire in generator room - grab water extinguisher, run to generator room, no fire there - as I leave told by Drew fire is in carpenter shop - run there via radio shack passageway carrying Ansul extinguisher - see smoke billowing from skylight broken open by Ski- people coming from all over carrying fire extinguishers - worry about acetylene tanks, paint , solvents, oxygen bottles - too much smoke for anyone to enter - extinguishers being sprayed in doorways & skylight - doing no good - fire spreading - running out of extinguishers - chemicals not working - Ansul not effective - water fire extinguishers too small - I search for more extinguishers, find some - blast blows Swan and Rob Churchill out the door, Rob's head hits a 4 x 4 -knocked out for a few seconds - Bring up D4 with two 400 gallon water tanks on the Artley Wagon - small oxygen bottles are cleared out - Dave tries to move weasel out of way for the water wagon - it floods - he gives up as he is needed to direct fire fighting - asks me to try to clear it out - I do - water tanks brought in - flames shoot out of hole in wall - looks bad - A D4 is backed to the tunnel connecting the shop to the other buildings, a chain is wrapped around the tunnel to pull it away if necessary - flames near paint and thinner - suddenly there is just lots of smoke - water is directed in hole up at overhead - water stream is weak - flames reaching for acetylene tanks at west end - Allison knocks hole in wall and hoses of large Ansul tanks are directed in one at a time - takes two men to hold a hose - (tanks were hand carried from galley and generator room and garage - took six men to carry one) - Ansul checks fire around acetylene tanks but can not put out the flames - water is directed over to Preway stove area- fire is checked - Lynsky and me on the roof pouring water in through skylight from generator drain pump (water collects below floor of generator room) - men busy recharging large Ansul tanks - Lynsky and Smith go in - direct water onto hot areas - fire is under control - meanwhile men with D4 took water tanks back (half mile) to lake to recharge tanks - D4 throws a track - another goes to rescue - more water brought in - small water hand pumps carried in by many people - smoke abates - water brigade passes in water in small empty Ansul cans to replenish hand water pumps - this continues for half hour - danger over - some stay to cool timbers, others head to the galley for coffee - some start to recharge large Ansul tanks for future use - job finished about 4 AM. All night watch kept on building - I go to bed, sleep to 10:30.
Weather:
20knot winds several hours before fire.
During fire no wind
One hour after fire 10 to 15 knot winds with much snow
1300 hours next day, 40 knot winds.
Postnote: If we had this wind during the fire the entire base would have been destroyed.