Fire in the Night

The fire was visible seventy miles away as a distant, flickering flame on the horizon. The heat generated was so intense that a helicopter could only circle at a perimeter of one mile. Flying at a ...

The fire was visible seventy miles away as a distant, flickering flame on the horizon. The heat generated was so intense that a helicopter could only circle at a perimeter of one mile. Flying at a height of 200 feet, the air crew saw that the tongues of flame extended high above the rotor blades. On the surface a converted fishing trawler inched as close as possible, but the paint on the vessel''s hull blistered and burnt, and the rope handrails began to smoke. In the water surrounding the inferno, men''s heads could be seen bobbing like apples as their yellow hard hats melted with the heat. A