Large forces of firefighters have been trying this morning to gain control of a fire at Oil Refineries in Haifa.
The fire broke out in a fuel storage tank, and the thick black smoke from it is visible from much of Haifa and the surrounding area. This comes about a month after fires that broke out in Haifa destroyed many houses.
The cause of this morning's fire is as yet unknown, and is being investigated as efforts to gain control of the fire and prevent it from spreading to other nearby tanks also containing fuels. Adjacent roads have been closed to traffic.
The capacity of the burning tank is 10,000 cubic meters, but as far as is known it actually contains about 1,000 cubic meters of benzene.
Ministry of the Environment officials are monitoring air quality in Haifa to check whether the fire has resulted in excessive quantities of pollutants being emitted.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on December 25, 2016
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