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The Kingman explosion, also known as the Doxol disaster or Kingman BLEVE, was a catastrophic boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion (BLEVE) that occurred on July 5, 1973, in Kingman, Arizona, United States.
The explosion occurred during a propane transfer from a Doxol railroad car to a storage tank on the Getz rail siding near Andy Devine Avenue/Route 66. The incident began when a hairline crack in the side of the tanker was leaking non-odorized gas that was ignited by static electricity. This caused a spark that ignited the leaking propane gas, facts identified after a long investigation and trial had been conducted. The initial fire badly burned the two railroad employees present, one of whom later died from his burns. The burning propane gas escaping from the valve connection on the rail car quickly heated the liquid propane inside, increasing the tank pressure. This in turn increased the leak and fire, further heating the tank car. [1]
The Kingman Fire Department responded, and began setting up attack lines to cool the propane car. Within minutes of the initial fire, the safety valve on the car opened from the dangerously increased pressure in the tank car. The stream of propane gas blowing out of the safety valve immediately ignited as well. At this point, two burning streams of propane were shooting from the car, one horizontally from the transfer valve, and one vertically from the safety valve. The heat from the streams of burning propane continued to heat the tank, increasing pressure to dangerous levels. [1]
The fire department was in the process of setting up a deluge gun to cool the car, which would have delivered far more water than the booster attack lines they initially were using. Before the deluge gun was readied, the pressure in the tank car reached the design bursting limit, and the car exploded. Almost instantaneously, thousands of gallons of boiling liquid propane flashed to gas with the drop in pressure and simultaneously ignited. The resulting explosion produced a shock wave that was heard and felt for over 5 miles, and a fireball over 1,000 feet in diameter. Burning propane rained down on everything in the vicinity, and the remnants of the rail car were propelled over a quarter mile from the explosion site. The three firefighters closest to the explosion were killed instantly, and eight more died from burns shortly thereafter. In addition to the eleven city firefighters and one railroad worker killed in the disaster, one state trooper was also killed in the explosion.
Those who died were:
William L. Casson, 52, volunteer fire captain (former fire chief),
Myron B. (Jimmy) Cox, 55, assistant fire chief, 22-year veteran fireman,
Roger A. Hubka, 27, volunteer firefighter,
Joseph M. Chambers III, 37, 16-year veteran volunteer lieutenant fireman,
Marvin E. Mast, 42, manager of Doxol Gas Co., Korean War veteran,
Arthur C. Stringer, 25, Vietnam veteran and member of the Arizona National Guard, volunteer fireman for one month,
Christopher G. Sanders, 38, captain of Hualapai Fire Department,
Richard Lee Williams, 47, volunteer fireman and principal of Kingman High School,
Frank S. (Butch) Henry, 28, 7-year volunteer fireman,
John O. Campbell, 41, volunteer fireman, head of the Kingman Water Department, assistant city works director, and a Little League manager (died July 16, on the eve of the opening of a Little League tournament);
Donald G. Webb, 38, volunteer fireman, and
Alan Hansen, 34, Arizona highway patrolman and a fireman. [2]
Over 90 onlookers gathered on the highway were burned or injured, some badly. The most severely burned, including some of the firefighters, were airlifted to hospitals in Las Vegas and Phoenix. This incident was the worst firefighter tragedy in Arizona until 2013 when 19 Granite Mountain Hotshots firefighters were killed in the Yarnell Hill Fire. [1]
The incident was photographed in detail by a photographer on the roof of his home near the explosion site, and was also captured on 8mm film by a vacationing family. [3] Because of this documentation, this explosion has become a classic incident studied in fire department training programs worldwide. The Arizona State Archives in Phoenix has 24 cubic feet (680 L) of original material, including civil case material and photographs, concerning the "Kingman Explosion." The incident was chronicled in the July 1993 issue of American Fire Journal in an article titled "Kingman Revisited". [1]
Firefighters Memorial Park in Kingman is dedicated to the eleven firefighters who died in the explosion. [1]
Propane is a three-carbon alkane with the molecular formula C3H8. It is a gas at standard temperature and pressure, but compressible to a transportable liquid. A by-product of natural gas processing and petroleum refining, it is commonly used as a fuel in domestic and industrial applications and in low-emissions public transportation. Discovered in 1857 by the French chemist Marcellin Berthelot, it became commercially available in the US by 1911. Propane is one of a group of liquefied petroleum gases. The others include propylene, butane, butylene, butadiene, isobutylene, and mixtures thereof. Propane has lower volumetric energy density, but higher gravimetric energy density and burns more cleanly than gasoline and coal.
A boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion is an explosion caused by the rupture of a vessel containing a pressurized liquid that is or has reached a temperature sufficiently higher than its boiling point at atmospheric pressure. Because the boiling point of a liquid rises with pressure, the contents of the pressurized vessel can remain a liquid as long as the vessel is intact. If the vessel's integrity is compromised, the loss of pressure drops the boiling point, which can cause the liquid to convert to gas expanding rapidly. BLEVEs are manifestations of explosive boiling.
The Weyauwega derailment was a railroad accident that occurred in Weyauwega, Wisconsin, United States, in the early morning hours of March 4, 1996. The derailed train was carrying a large quantity of hazardous material, which immediately caught fire. The fire, which involved the train cars and an adjacent feed mill, burned for more than two weeks after the actual derailment, resulting in the emergency evacuation of 2,300 people for 18 days, including the entire city of Weyauwega, with about 1,700 evacuees.
A gas explosion is the ignition of a mixture of air and flammable gas, typically from a gas leak. In household accidents, the principal explosive gases are those used for heating or cooking purposes such as natural gas, methane, propane, butane. In industrial explosions many other gases, like hydrogen, as well as evaporated (gaseous) gasoline or ethanol play an important role. Industrial gas explosions can be prevented with the use of intrinsic safety barriers to prevent ignition, or use of alternative energy.
The Formosa Plastics propylene explosion was a propylene release and explosion that occurred on October 6, 2005, in the Olefins II Unit at the Formosa Plastics plant in Point Comfort, Texas, United States. The subsequent fire burned for five days.
The Los Alfaques disaster was a road tanker explosion that occurred near a holiday campsite on Tuesday 11 July 1978 in Alcanar, Spain. The exploding truck, which was carrying 23 tons of highly flammable liquefied propylene, killed 215 people and severely burned 200 more. Several individuals from the company that owned the vehicle were prosecuted for criminal negligence. The accident resulted in new legislation in Spain, restricting the transit of vehicles carrying dangerous cargo through populated areas to night time only.
Firefighting is the act of extinguishing destructive fires. A firefighter fights these fires with the intent to prevent destruction of life, property and the environment. Firefighting is a highly technical profession, which requires years of training and education in order to become proficient. A fire can rapidly spread and endanger many lives; however, with modern firefighting techniques, catastrophe can usually be avoided. To help prevent fires from starting, a firefighter's duties include public education and conducting fire inspections. Because firefighters are often the first responders to victims in critical conditions, firefighters often also provide basic life support as emergency medical technicians or advanced life support as licensed paramedics. Firefighters make up one of the major emergency services, along with the emergency medical service, the police, and many others.
The San Juanico disaster involved a series of fires and explosions at a liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) tank farm in the settlement of San Juan Ixhuatepec, municipality of Tlalnepantla de Baz, State of Mexico, Mexico on 19 November 1984. The facility and the settlement, part of Greater Mexico City, were devastated, with 500–600 victims killed, and 5000–7000 suffering severe burns. It is one of the deadliest industrial disasters in world history, and the deadliest industrial accident involving fires and/or explosions from hazardous materials in a process or storage plant since the Oppau explosion in 1921.
The Feyzin disaster occurred in a refinery near the town of Feyzin, 10 kilometres south of Lyon, France, on 4 January 1966. An LPG spill occurred when an operator was draining water from a 1,200m³ pressurised propane tank. The resultant cloud of propane vapour spread, until it was ignited by a car on an adjoining road. The pool of propane in the bund caused the storage tank to be engulfed in flames, which produced a Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapour Explosion (BLEVE) when the tank ruptured. This resulted in a fireball which killed and injured firemen and spectators. Flying missiles broke the legs of an adjacent sphere which later BLEVE'd. Three further spheres toppled due to the collapse of support legs which were not adequately fire protected. These vessels ruptured but did not explode. A number of petrol and crude oil tanks also caught fire. The conflagration took 48 hours to bring under control. This incident resulted in the deaths of 18 people, the injury of 81 and extensive damage to the site.
A refinery owned by Gulf Oil Corporation in Philadelphia, located at Girard Point on the Schuylkill River in South Philadelphia, caught fire on Sunday, August 17, 1975. This incident grew into an 11-alarm fire, not brought under control until 24 hours later, and resulted in the death of eight firefighters of the Philadelphia Fire Department (PFD), injuries to 14 other firefighters, and the loss of four PFD vehicles.
On the evening of December 27, 1983, firefighters in Buffalo, New York responded to a call regarding a propane gas leak. Shortly after their arrival, the propane ignited, leveling a warehouse and causing a wide swath of damage. Five firefighters and two civilians were killed in the blast, and left dozens more injured. The event remains the largest single day loss of life for the Buffalo Fire Department.
The Chala LPG tanker disaster was a road transport accident that occurred on August 27, 2012, on Indian National Highway 17 at Chala in the Kannur District of India's Kerala State. The accident occurred when an Indian Oil Corporation Limited (IOCL) LPG road tanker hit a road lane divider, overturned and exploded, starting several building fires between 9:30 p.m. and 11 p.m. The accident killed 20 people.
The 1946 Greenville propane explosion occurred on 19 November 1946, at the Ideal Laundry laundromat in Greenville, South Carolina. A tank containing around 3,500 US gallons (13 m3) of propane exploded around 6 PM, after leaking vapors were ignited by the boilers in the basement. The blast, which killed 6 people and injured over 150, was felt as far away as Gaffney, 50 miles to the northeast.
"A History of KRMC". Kingman Regional Medical Center. June 14, 2005. Archived from the original on February 16, 2007.