Smoke and blaze from fire seen for miles

At 5:54 p.m. this evening, St. Johns County Sheriff’s spokesman Chuck Mulligan informed Historic City News reporters that the “self-evacuation” has been lifted in the area of the gas station fire on SR-16 and Masters Drive, however, the fire has still not been extinguished.

The Florida Highway Patrol was dispatched to the scene at 4:51 p.m. with information that while refueling the tanks at the former Skinner Oil Company, now 5th Wheel BP gas station, a tanker truck carrying thousands of gallons of gasoline, exploded into flames.

Traffic was halted along SR-16 between Ponce de Leon Boulevard and Masters Drive; and along Masters Drive to Ravenswood. Historic City News reader Samantha Cosme forwarded her photograph of the towering inferno as it appeared across the marsh from US-1.

St. Johns County Fire Rescue continues to extinguish the blaze at this time, “It’s certainly better under control at this point, but firefighters and apparatus from St. Johns County, the City of St. Augustine, Northrop Grumman, and Duval County are still actively engaged in the effort,” said Lieutenant Jeremy Robshaw, spokesman for St. Johns County Fire Rescue; just after 7:00 p.m.

“At this time, we have one known victim who sustained injuries and was transported by air ambulance to an area hospital,” Robshaw said. “I cannot confirm the severity of the burn injuries or the identity of the patient; I do not know if it was a man or woman, if it was the truck driver, a station employee, or a customer.”

The commercial structure that was the gas station is going to be declared a “total loss” according to Robshaw. “There will remain a few pieces of the frame, but, they won’t be able to do business there in it’s current condition.”

The investigation is continuing into what sparked the explosion.

Photo credits: © 2011 Historic City News contributed photograph by Samantha Cosme