In 2022 I had the opportunity to speak directly with some of the firefighters who were at the Doraville Triangle fire in 1972. Lieutenant J. D. Boozer took a great deal of time to share his personal recollections and explain anything that I didn’t understand, and there was a lot that needed further explanation for me.

Lt. Boozer was working at DeKalb County fire station #1 in 1972 when the Doraville Triangle Refinery fire took place and had been with the department for ten years. He arrived on the first day of the fire and stayed through until the end of the fire, three days later.

Two underground pipelines, Plantation and Colonial, bring gasoline to the Doraville oil fields. Many gasoline companies had storage tanks at Doraville in 1972. Triangle Refinery had five storage tanks in one dike area, three for gasoline and two for kerosene. The three gasoline tanks each held one million gallons and had floating roofs. As gasoline is pumped into the storage tank, the floating roof rises to the top. The kerosene tanks were sealed containers.

Below each tank is a dike to hold gasoline overflow. In the pre-dawn hours of April 6, 1972, someone allowed the gasoline tank to overflow and run out of the dike. From the dike, the gasoline reached a drainage ditch intended for dike excess water removal. It had a valve that was open, so unfortunately, the gasoline flowed down the ditch and into the neighborhood of houses on Doral Circle.

The gasoline vapors reached a pilot light or other ignition source at one of the houses which caused a huge explosion. There was a loud boom sound with a giant ball of fire. The ball of fire reached Tank # 1 at Triangle Refineries, causing it to catch fire.

First-in fire companies’ hand laid fire hoses across the top of the railroad tracks to reach fire hydrants on Peachtree Road. Railroad traffic adjacent to Triangle Refineries had to be halted due to the danger of the fire and to prevent running over fire hose. As soon as possible, a space was dug underneath the railroad tracks to place hose coming up to the burning tanks. Once this was done and it was considered safe, railroad traffic was allowed to continue.

When Lt. Boozer arrived at the oil field, the loading docks and an adjacent metal storage building had already burned. Triangle Refineries tank number one was burning- two, three, four, and five were not burning.

Lt. Boozer’s responsibility initially was being in rotation on dike deluge guns. There was a valley down below and a steep hill up to the top of the dike. It was so hot around the tanks that the firefighters had to take breaks every 15 to 20 minutes behind a concrete block building. The building was the Triangle Refinery office. There were teams of two or three people on each deluge gun and there were many deluge guns in operation.

On his way back to the deluge guns after a break, Lt. Boozer and his driver David Kennedy were called over by Battalion Chief Clark. Clark said come with me. They were assigned to a special detail, a project to fight the fire with submersible foam.

Red Adair, who had expertise fighting oil fires in Texas using submersible foam, called DeKalb Fire Chief Martin and offered his assistance. Submersible foam in 55-gallon drums was ordered from Boston and sent by a chartered aircraft to the Atlanta Airport. Once the foam was on site, it was sent by an eductor from the drum to a manifold through pipes and into the bottom of the tank. The foam would float to the top to put out the fire.

Thirteen fire engines were each pumping maximum water, but more was needed. The water department had already boosted the water supply as much as they could. An additional 1000 gallons a minute was needed. The only way to get additional water would be from Tilly Mill Road fire hydrants, a couple of neighborhoods and streets away.

DeKalb firefighters collected all the hose they could get and laid it along Tilly Mill Road, through neighborhoods, to Triangle Refineries. In the meantime, the second tank started burning.

Chief Martin called Atlanta Fire Department and requested two engines. Atlanta Fire sent two pumpers and a battalion chief car. The Atlanta trucks came to Longmire and Peachtree Road, where they were escorted to the site to relay water for submersible foam application.

The oil field owners had pitched in together and bought a pumper truck to keep on the property for emergencies. Lt. Boozer and Kennedy got that truck, got it to the manifold, and hooked everything up. The foam had still not arrived at this point.

Tank three started burning, so a deluge gun was placed on the dike to cool kerosene tank four. “I raised up and I looked at my driver David Kennedy and his fire coat was smoking,” remembers Lt. Boozer. His coat was also smoking. The two men ran off the dike, slid down the dirt hill on their backsides.

They saw that the pumper truck was not running, so Lt. Boozer hopped in the truck, “cranked it and turned it wide open.” Then, they jumped out of the truck and ran for the woods where everyone was running for cover.

The deluge gun being used to cool the kerosene tank was spraying water over the tank instead of on it. Some people from the Georgia Fire Academy were standing with others in the woods in silver crash suits, which could withstand even higher heat. Two of them were able to climb up to the dike and adjust the nozzle of the deluge gun so the water would cool the tank. One of the main goals at this point was keeping the kerosene tanks from catching fire.

Word came that the foam had arrived at the Atlanta Airport and was on its way. There was 6,500 gallons of submersible foam at a cost of $82,000. That is about $570,000 today. At this point, tanks one, two and three were burning. The tanks were made in a way that they collapsed inward after they burned.

Firefighter Mike Ridings made a pie cut in each drum top with a fire ax that allowed the foam eductor to send foam through the pumper, then through the manifold and into the bottom of the tank. Once they used all the foam on hand to fight the fire, a decision was made to let the fire burn out. That took about three days.

Jerry Miller went to work for the DeKalb County Fire Department in 1969. He was living in Chamblee when the Doraville fire broke out. The explosion rattled his windows and woke him up. He reported to his station, #11 on Constitution Road, where his unit started the day by covering other DeKalb fires.

That afternoon, Miller’s unit was told to report to the Triangle Refinery fire. The engine and firefighters were needed as deluge guns were starting to blow up.

21-year-old Dan Moore had been with the DCFD just over two years when the Triangle Refinery fire occurred. He was working at station #5 in Tucker in 1972. It was his 24-hour day off on April 6, but everyone was needed in Doraville.

As Moore arrived at the oil field along with others from his station, he describes how he felt. “I was in awe seeing something like that. You could feel the heat from 1000 feet.”

Jim Barron had only worked with the DCFD two months when the fire broke out at Triangle Refineries. He was working at station #16 at I-20 and Wesley Chapel Road and had not yet been through the training program. His unit was sent to Doraville on the second day of the fire.

When Barron arrived, he felt overwhelmed and not sure if was ready for the task. His Captain said, “If it blows up you wouldn’t know.”

Miller, Barron and Moore were all assigned to operate deluge guns. They alternated between staying on a deluge gun for 20 minutes and taking breaks away from the heat. Their blood pressure was checked, salt tablets were given to prevent dehydration, and they were given a new pair of socks to replace their wet ones.

Lt. Boozer remembers that the heat was so intense, firefighters wore their helmets backwards with the long flap in the front.

Moore remembers sleeping on a cardboard box in the warehouse while on a break.

Miller recalls laying in the hot mud of the dike while holding the deluge gun. Next to him was a firefighter from Marietta. The two became friends. When Miller returned home, carrying his uniform and equipment in his arms, covered in soot and mud, his wife didn’t recognize him standing at the door.

Moore continued with the DCFD until retirement after 23 years. Barron and Miller each worked for the department for 30 years.

Lt. Boozer gives credit to Chief Martin who “was chief of the department and incident commander and did an excellent job.”  J. D. Boozer later became a Chief and retired after 26 years.

I asked Chief Boozer if the Triangle Refinery fire was the worst fire he ever dealt with. He said yes. “That one was just relentless. Every way you turned, wherever you went, you couldn’t get away from the heat. Unless you experienced it, it’s hard to even realize how hot it could be.”

The final report shows DeKalb Fire Department was first called to the scene at 5:41 a.m. April 6, 1972. The time they returned to their stations-5:54 p.m. April 9, 1972.