Westland Oil Fire- Part 2 –

There were five casualties of the Westland Oil Fire….. One man was a transient from South Dakota looking for work in Minot. Edward Brown was walking north over the Third Street Overpass when the explosion occurred. He watched the fire for a while and then went to help another man with a hose spraying water on the Mandan Creamery building north of the burning oil tanks. Another blinding flash and explosion occurred which soaked their clothes with burning gasoline. Brown ran back up the overpass a ways and jumped into the river to extinguish the flames. He told his story from the hospital bed but died later that day. The other four casualties were Orton Nelson, a firefighter, William Foster, Adam Runyon and Charles Westrom