East Texas

By KENNETH DEAN
Staff Writer

Three Smith fire departments battled an oil well fire early this morning in the eastern section of the county.

Smith County Fire Marshal Jim Seaton said lightning struck one of the holding tanks at the site and spread to another tank before firefighters could get the blaze under control.

“The call came in about 2:53 this morning that there was an oil well fire just east of Farm-to-Market Road 2908 on Texas 31 east,” he said. “We had Jackson, Whitehouse and Chapel Hill all responding to the fire and Winona was on standby.”

Seaton said three families in the area were evacuated, but have since returned to their homes as the fire has been extinguished and the scene has been cleared.

Seaton said there was no monetary loss information provided by the company, but the company did tell him it would be several weeks before the well is up and running.

“One tank was destroyed and the other was damaged. The oil company representative said that this was one of the company’s best producing wells in the area so this will set them back a bit,” he said.