Footage of Hellish Fire in Wyoming Goes Viral

Sulfur mound ignited by motorcycle exhaust
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Jul 12, 2017 7:31 AM CDT

It's not often you hear firefighters describe a blaze as "beautiful," but that's exactly what happened following a fire in Worland, Wyo. In a Facebook post accompanying a video that has since gone viral, the Worland Volunteer Fire Department explains it was called to "an unknown type of fire" on Friday and was met with stunning blue and orange flames. But though beautiful, the blaze covering a 10,000-square-foot area resembling "a UFO crash site" was also highly dangerous, per the AP: A sulfur mound left over from a former sulfur plant had been ignited by the exhaust of a motorcycle, sending sulfur dioxide into the air.

While water is usually a firefighter's primary line of defense, water combined with sulfur dioxide creates sulfurous acid. Fortunately, "the fire was burning in a 'bowl'-shaped area, allowing all runoff to be collected in the fire area. A minimal amount of water was used to cool the surface of the sulfur and reduce the temperature below the molten stage," the department says. A crust then formed on the surface of the sulfur, extinguishing the fire, reports the Verge. Firefighters, equipped with special breathing equipment, had the blaze under control in just 20 minutes. The fire chief adds no one was injured. (More Wyoming stories.)

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