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Vault Visit | Remembering the Colonial tank farm fire

On June 13, 2010, people in Greensboro woke up to a massive fire at the Colonial Pipeline gas tank farm.

GREENSBORO, N.C. — This year, WFMY News 2 turns 75! So, to celebrate, we're opening the WFMY News 2 vault.

On June 13, 2010, people in Greensboro woke up to a ball of fire at the Colonial Pipeline gas tank farm.

Dispatch: “Guilford metro 911, what’s the address of the emergency?

Caller: “We were driving down I-40, and we just saw lightning hit one of the big colonial pipeline things, and it caught fire. It almost like exploded.”

That lightning bolt hit a tank of 4,500 barrels of petroleum just after midnight.

It created a massive blaze.

Overnight, the fire could be seen for miles. In the morning, the smoke lingered for hours.  

Firefighters from Greensboro, High Point, Raleigh, and Charlotte responded. They used a special foam to contain the blaze in five and a half hours.

The Colonial Pipeline delivers 100 million gallons of jet fuel, gasoline, and other fuel across the country daily.

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