| The quiet before the firey storm... |
...which none of us had expected, and it lit the sky, and we felt
the heat even a hundred yards away. |
The fire took hold of the wooden platform and began to consume it. |
| The fire continued to work against the wood, but it was slow going,
it seemed. |
The platform finally toppled over at 1:05am, 17 minutes after the
explosion at 12:48am. |
The derrick lay in flames, with the figures continuing to praise
the oil platform (off to the left). |