Mirror (Perth, WA : 1921 - 1956), Saturday 28 January 1956, page 15


FIRE FOLLOWS WORST FLOOD IN 20 YEARS

Los Angeles, Today: Fire followed floodwaters yesterday in one section of drenched Southern Cali-fornia where thousands of persons were cleaning up after yesterday's worst storm in 20 years

The freak fire broke out in the big Ford assembly works at Los Angeles harbor, starting with a series of explosions and flashing through the installation.

Flaming petrol floating atop of flood waters in-flicted burns and in-juries to the group of works officials inspecting flood damage in a row boat. Pire engines joined with fire boats in fight, ing the blaze in the 23* acre works. Nearby oil wells and Btorage - tanks were en dangered, but quick ac tion by firemen kept the flames from spreading to the oil installations. The Ford works had been closed because of yesterday's floods. It em ploys several thousand workers when in opera tion. The works are situa atgd behind dykes below the level of harbor waters at high tide and a break in one of the walls helped increase :he depth of the water m the Ford grounds and spread the flames. Th« fire apparently started when flood praters reached electrical circuits. I Petrol storage tanks toppled by the floods broiided fuel for the flames which sent up plack clouds of smoke visible for miles. Flooded and blocked streets delayed the ar rival of fire-fighting equipment by -land but fireboats rushed to the irea by water and began slaying water on nearby structures to save them from the flames.