WOODS CROSS — It had the makings of a real disaster.

Last week more than 100 firefighters, police and personnel from six area oil refineries converged on Holly Oil on a report of a fire in a tank, the potential release of gasoline to a nearby creek and injuries to plant personnel. But it was a drill — one which went off very well and demonstrated that those involved can work well together.

Holly Refinery spokesman Mike Astin said the drill went very well, showing, “We do have the systems in place to coordinate well.”

Coordination between the various agencies has been a concern of Woods Cross residents following a fire in January at the Silver Eagle Refinery, in which some city residents were evacuated who didn’t need to be.

But Astin said the best thing about last week’s drill, was that those involved found they could work well together in a coordinated effort. Part of that coordination involved the Mobile Command Center, which was donated to the South Davis Metro Fire Agency by Holly in May. “The command center provided real good communication between all of us.”

At 9:45 a.m. Thursday the fire evacuation alarm went off alerting the community that something was up at the refinery. The police responded by closing 800 West between 400 North and 500 South and the City Watch program (a reverse 9-1-1 system) was activated, according to Astin.

Astin said that non-essential Holly personnel were evacuated and emergency teams from Holly, Tesoro, Chevron, Flying J, Silver Eagle, the Pioneer Pipeline, the South Davis Metro Fire Agency, Salt Lake City Fire Department and the Wood Cross and West Bountiful police responded.

The tank which supposedly caught on fire was in the northeast portion of the refinery on the east side of 800 West. Astin said Silver Eagle Refinery used its new ladder truck to get water onto the tank from above.

The drill wrapped up about 11 a.m.