Jessie Hughes saw a 15-foot-high flame shooting from the top of a tank and knew he had little time to escape .

The 56-year-old had stepped out at midday on Friday to switch hoses on equipment at Smitty's Supply Inc. near Roseland, only to see the fire when he returned to his work area.

Hughes, an 11-year employee of Smitty's, said there was no time to find and use a fire extinguisher on the 10,000-gallon motor oil mixing tank. He began evacuating an estimated 50 people from his part of the large lubricants plant.

"I told everyone to get out that was in my location. I told them to get out," he said in an interview Tuesday.

Hughes, who specialized in mixing additives into the various brands of motor oil packaged at Smitty's, survived the harrowing moments of the fire and related explos

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