Colin Hendricks (right), chief operating officer of Cool Petroleum, talks to the men who put out a fire at the Shell service station, in Manor Park, St. Andrew, that destroyed a pump and a Toyota Hilux SUV yesterday. The men had to use raw sewage from a cesspool truck to extinguish the blaze. - Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer

Rasbert Turner, Gleaner Writer

St. Catherine:

Onlookers praised a group of cesspool workers who used the contents in their truck to extinguish a massive fire at a gas station along Constant Spring Road, yesterday.

At about 9:00 a.m., a pump at the Shell service station at 211 Constant Spring Road exploded into flames setting off chaos. "After mi start to pump di gas inna a container like mi usually do, mi only si di flame a come out a did pump, mi scream an run," remarked David Levy, a customer.

He continued that what happened next left him in awe as workers on a cesspool truck set about spraying the flames that engulfed the pump, a pickup truck and the surroundings with raw sewage.

"Di man dem from di truck start to put out di blaze wid some other men helping dem and den the fire truck come," Levy said.

Workers praised

When a Gleaner reporter visited the scene, the stench was almost unbearable and raw sewage covered the burnt-out pump and the Hilux Toyota 4x4 vehicle driven by Levy. Several persons praised the workers for using raw sewage to put out the fire.

Manager of the gas station, Causewell Johnson, told The Gleaner, it is alleged that Levy who is a regular customer, was pumping gas into a container when the blaze started, "I am very glad that no one has suffered any physical injury."

Meanwhile, chief operating officer of Cool Petroleum Company, Colin Hendricks, supplier of petrol to the station, said that the burnt pump pulls an average of $200,000 daily, but he was thankful that the fire did not spread enough to catch the 3,000 gallons in the tank, he said that the business was fully insured.

A truck from the Stony Hill fire department carried out cooling-down operations and washed away some of the mess. District officer Barrington Marsh said further investigation would be done to determine the cause of the blaze.