Leon Arthur Merrick: 1968 Fire

ONEIDA DAILY DISPATCH

Oneida, New York, Thursday, September 12, 1968

Spectacular $116,000 Fire in Oneida Valley

Caption: Blazing gasoline and fuel oil tanks and the wreckage of the Shell Co.'s gasoline tanker left marked the scene of the fire at Oneida Valley (Jerry Munroe Photos, Another picture page 7)

Flames in View about Five Miles from the Scene

Fire and explosions partially destroyed the Hamerrle service center on Route 31 of Oneida Valley, a quarter of a mile south of South Bay early today. Flames were visible for more than five miles. A tank trucker was badly burned in the fire. There were no other injuries reported. George Hammerle, 70, owner of the property, said he was still doing business today.

Darrell V Nolan, 29, of Knoxboro, driver of the Shell truck, suffered 60% second-degree burns of the face and body. He was taken to Oneida hospital by Leon Merrick, the night operator at the Hamerle station, and his wife, Ann. After treatment, Nolan was transferred to the Upstate Medical Center in Syracuse, New York. His conditions listed as 'fair' this morning. He was later transported by the Fiore ambulance.

Trooper Hary Young, who is heading the investigation, said the fire started about 1 a.m. The Shell Co.'s tanker was filling the 10,000-gallon high test gasoline storage tanks at the rear of the station. The tank overflowed, the trooper said. Some of the gasoline splashed on the cab of the truck and ignited, the trooper added. Trooper Young said while the cause of the fire has not been determined, it possibly might have started when the gas splashed on the cab or the exhaust.

Nolan jumped into the cab to shut of the flowing gasoline, but was unable to, Trooper Young said. The gas kept on pumping which may have caused. the fumes going into the 'breather' pipe. Nolan clothing caught fire, the trooper said. Hammerle and Mrs. Merrick ripped off his clothing and extinguished that fire. The trooper said Mr. and Mrs. Merrick live next to the service station.

Caption

Burning Garage: The garage at the Hamerle Sevice center in Oneida Valley was destroyed in a roaring fire this morning along with three tank trucks and a pick-up truck. The service station (above) had its windows blown out and was charred, but escaped major damage.

 Explosion

Chittenango, Lakeport, Durhamville and Oneida Castle departments were sent to the scene. The Sylvan Beach fire department ambulance stood by. Foam for fighting the fire was sent from Griffis Air Force Base, Rome.

Fire in Ditches

The firemen had to put out the fire in ditches before they could even start to reach the scene. A Canastota fireman said when the department reached the scene  'we were faced with a solid wall of flame'.Some of the men who have been firemen for 27 years said they had never seen anything like it before.'.

 Caption

Fight Fire - Firemen from eight departments fought the raging gasoline and fuel oil fire caused by exploding tanks at the Hammerle Service area early this morning. 

Hammerle said Nolan had previously made a trip to the service center earlier to fill up the tanks. Hammerle said, 'I was leaning against the Shell truck when it blew up. As the gasoline started to run over, Nolan jumped in the cab to shut it off. Nolan turned off the motor on the engine but he told me the motor would not shut off. He tried to pull the truck away from the tank, but it blew up.'

Hammerle said two of the tanks, one containing 20,000 gallons of fuel oil and the other 20,000 gallons of kerosene blew up. A 20,000-gallon tank of regular gasoline and a 10,000-gallon tank of high test, that was just filled, do not blow up. While the kerosene and the fuel tanks buckled, the two gasoline tanks leaked through their bottom. The firemen filled are four tanks with foam.

The four stall garage containing three fuel oil tank trucks and a car washer was destroyed.  A pick-up truck parked n front of the building, was also lost. Hammerle said $6,000 worth of new tires were destroyed.

Charred

Trooper Young said the service station was charred and most of the windows, including a large show window in the front of the building, were blown out. Two windows in the nearby restaurant were also blown out. Hammerle said the explosions also shattered the window in the Merrick home, Richard Hammerle home, and other nearby homes.  ...

NOTE: No old newspaper articles were cut up for this post. Scanned copies were 'cropped' digitally.

*Note: Relationships, such as grandmother, 2nd great, etc., are expressed from the perspective of the grandchildren of Leon Arthur and Anna Grace (Fuller) Merrick.

Terms of relationship - grandmother, uncle, aunt, cousin, etc.  - are used here generically to include relatives such as fourth great grandfathers, great grand uncles, second cousins twice removed, etc.