Possibly a test for extinguishing a tank from outside of it in the case the foam pourers cannot be activated (malfunction or disconnection of the system)
They used foam. You can tell because it's white and forms a layer above the oil. Water sinks beneath oil making it less effective and more unpredictable to use on oil fires.
You NEVER use water on a fire like this. Water sinks below the oil and has no extinguishing effect, and the impact of the water on the oil just splashes the oil, making it burn more. Also, with the water at the bottom of the tank, if the water gets to the boiling-point, you have a BLEVE, a Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion. This is how we are taught to fight class B fires in the Navy, AFFF.
@@stephenhoward6829 almost correct, a bleve is a vapour explosion due to rising pressure in a closed tank when most of the liquid has vapourized. What you mean is a boil-over.
@@stanflahaut1893 The fire departrments refer to non-compressed fuel tank fires as BLEVE'S, because, oft-as-not, the fire-fighting effort has caused water to enter the tank from on-top, and when the water flashes to steam, it aerosolizes huge amounts of the fuel, and WHAMMO, flash-burn city at 1-mile distance. It is the water that acts as the boiling liquid in those cases.