At 8:55 AM Monday, Laramie County Fire District #2 was called to a reported oil well fire near the intersection of US 85 and County Road 222. The oil well was located ½ mile south of milepost 29 on US85 and 1 ½ miles north of County Road 222.

The oil well site separates oil, water and gas from the underground oil and uses some of it to power the site. An apparent leak in a valve sprayed some of the mixture onto a flame used to heat the oil for separation which then ignited. A worker that was on the site at the time of the fire received some burns and was transported by private vehicle to Cheyenne Regional Medical Center.

The oil/gas mixture was shut off by arriving personnel and the fire burned itself out. Fire units continued to spray water and foam onto the nearby storage tank that holds between 1500 to 2000 gallons of oil to keep it cool. Due to the oil spray and leaking oil, a Hazardous Materials Response Team was requested to help contain the spill.

Fire District #2 responded with a Command vehicle, two fire engines, water tender and support vehicle. Additional assistance was requested and received by the Wyoming Air National Guard, F. E. Warren Air Force Base Fire Department American Medical Response and Region 7 Hazmat team.  All units cleared the location at approximately 2:30 PM.

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