Fire rages at Puerto Rico fuel depot

        On Friday afternoon, a massive fire broke out at a fuel storage complex in Puerto Rico. The sky was filled with a thick cloud of black smoke over San Juan, which forced firefighters to act quickly to contain the blaze. Fire Lt. Jose Atorre was at the scene, and he told reporters that this might be the worst fire in the history of Puerto Rico. The fire was apparently started when eleven of the 40 fuel tanks at the Petroleum Corporation facility in the city of Bayaman caught fire. Officials were investigating the cause of the blaze, which started just after midnight. An FBI agent is looking into graffiti found on at least one San Juan tunnel that mentioned the fire. The facility is located on San Juan's bay, which could very well be contaminated by the fire according to Gov. Luis Fortuno. He declared a state of emergency for the area so that Puerto Rico can get aid from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Newspaper and TV reports said that the fire was hard to contain because a 4 inch pipe from a lagoon on the property was broken, which prevented firefighters from using 2 million gallons of water to battle the fire. Over 350 people were evacuated from their homes, due to the heavy clouds of smoke in the San Juan area, and only one was taken to the hospital because of smoke inhalation. The smoke can be toxic, so the governor is asking people to stay away from the area. Due to the danger of the fire, schools in Bayamon, San Juan, Toa Baja and Catano were closed. Puerto Rico Road 28 was also closed, as well as Roads 5 and 22 which were partially closed. Flights in and out of Luis Munoz International Airport in San Juan were not affected and continued on schedule.

          This is a very unusual event for Puerto Rico. This is said to be the biggest fire in Puerto Rico's history, which is affecting a high population in the San Juan area. I am hoping that the fire was started by accident, not on purpose. It is very unfortunate for the fire departments to have to contain a fire without one of their lagoon pipes which can access 2 million gallons of water. I believe that there is more to this fire than what is visible. I am guessing that whoever wrote the graffiti on the tunnel wall is responsible. It could be a gang, or just a citizen trying to cause trouble. The culprit was very smart, as he/she thought to dismantle one of the lagoon pipes, knowing that it would be ten times harder for the fire department to battle the blaze. This is a very unfortunate event, and I hope that the officials and the FBI figure out the cause of the fire. I hope that the firefighters are able to overpower the fire, so that the people who were forced to leave their homes are able to return to their normal lives again.