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GREENSBORO — The headlines were bold, the stories dramatic after lightning caused a massive gasoline tank fire last Sunday morning.

It was the talk of the city — heroic firefighters who rushed into harm’s way and spent nearly six hours in intense heat to extinguish a massive 52,000-barrel gasoline tank at Colonial Pipeline off Gallimore Dairy Road.

Crisis averted.

For much of Greensboro, it’s a story likely to be forgotten in the coming months.

But for 65 Greensboro firefighters, June 13, 2010, will remain with them for the rest of their careers.

They will remember mushroom balls of flames that consumed the sky, the plume of smoke that stretched for miles.

They will remember the intense heat and exhaustion after hours of rotations battling the fire.

They will remember their many hours of training to prepare for that day and ultimately, how it prevented a potential catastrophe.

This will be the one they will tell their grandkids about.

* * * * *

Capt. Frank Crow, like many of his colleagues, was asleep when the fire started about

12:45 a.m.

The thunder was deafening as lightning illuminated the sky.

His first thought: A house fire caused by a lightning strike.

“Because that’s usually what we get,” Crow said.

Then he heard the address: the tank farm, the 268-acre field off Interstate 40 that houses 72 fuel tanks for Colonial. 

Crow is assigned to the fire department’s foam task force. These specialized firefighters train to battle gasoline fires by spreading foam that smothers liquid gasoline to prevent the release of vapors, which burn in such fires.

This one was big. And bad.

“It’s the one call you train for and you lay in bed at night and kind of run scenarios in your mind. It was one of those fires ... that you dread it,” said Crow, assigned to Station 19, about a mile from the fire site.

Crow began meeting with other high-ranking fire officials — pulling charts and diagrams, preparing to battle fires on the Colonial site.

Then he went to work overseeing spraying of the foam on the massive blaze.

He prayed that his preparations for this day were sufficient.

He had done the formulas in his head, figuring how much foam would be needed for a tank of that size. But this was the real deal and the first time the fire department had to put its tank fire plan in place.

It wasn’t the time for things to go wrong.

“You just sit back and watch your plan go to work. You sweat a little bit, and when you start seeing the fire go out, you sit back and smile.”

He looks to the events of a week ago and is consumed with pride. His crew performed just as they were trained to. The fire went out just as it was supposed to.

Now the fire department is preparing in case it ever happens again:

“We will continue to work forward and pray that God don’t strike one of those big tanks,” Crow said.

* * * * *

Justin Hite waited and wondered: Would this be the real deal?

The 22-year-old firefighter heard that a 911 caller reported lightning had struck near the tank farm.

“In the back of our minds, we thought about what it could be,” said Hite, who is also assigned to the foam task force.

“When Engine 19’s equipment got there and said they had a working (tank) fire, that’s when our worst nightmare came to fruition.”

Hite was recently transferred to the foam task force and is assigned to Station 20. When he was first assigned to the station, he remembered the training he received on tank fires and watching videos of similar fires elsewhere.

“But when you get there, feel the heat and see it in person, it’s kind of different,” he said.

“We hate that it happened; we never wish bad on anyone or their property. But I was glad I was there to experience that and learn from it in case it ever happens again.” 

* * * * *

Capt. Carol Key was lying in her bed at Station 17 on Old Oak Ridge Road early Sunday as thunder clouds moved overhead. She knew it would be a busy night.

“The thunder was the loudest that I could ever remember hearing,” Key said. “I was thinking, 'If we don’t get a call in the next few minutes, I’ll be shocked.’”

A knock came at her door. It was her driver and he delivered news that the tank farm was on fire.

“We got our turnout gear on and sat in our truck waiting to be called,” Key said.

A call came, but it sent them to a house fire in another part of town. Eventually, dispatchers sent them to the tank fire after others were already on the scene.

Her crew was tasked with monitoring the other nearby tanks and keeping them cool.

“I was in a small support (role) for the entire process,” Key said. “But the captain who was first on the scene did a tremendous job of handing the pressure.”

On the way home from work that morning, Key estimates she got about five calls to her cell phone from friends wondering if she was involved in the blaze.

“It’s kind of exciting for them to know someone who was on it,” she said.

Key remembers the stories from the veteran firefighters she’s worked with throughout her career — and their stories of the Davie Street fire on April 13, 1985.

That’s when 68 firefighters spent more than three hours overnight battling 13-story flames that consumed eight buildings downtown.

That was their fire.

The tank farm belongs to her generation. “I’ll probably remember it for the rest of my career,” she said.

Contact Ryan Seals at 373-7077 or ryan.seals@news-record.com