From memory the fire occurred on Australia Day sometime in the mid 80's, it was at the Ampol (now Caltex) on Brighton Road at Brighton.
The tanker was unloading unleaded fuel when a static electricity charge ignited the vapors, I believe three of the four compartments in the fuel tanker were breached when the fire occurred.
I happened to be driving past it about 2 mins after the fire took hold, no firies or police on scene at that stage. The flames and heat had already ignited the brush fence on the other side of the road when we went past.
We've got the vision from news stories at the station on a VHS, always good to put on occasionally and see what a 'real' fire looks like.