Propane Tanker Explodes, Killing 11 Persons
EXPLOSION of a propane gas tank truck at Red Church in Schuylkill County, Pa., on June 2, killed 11 persons including a volunteer fireman, and injured about 15 other persons. The tanker, carrying 7,000 gallons of the liquefied petroleum gas, had stopped on busy Route 122 to permit a school bus directly ahead of it to pick up children. A tractor-trailer in back of the tanker skidded on the wet highway and crashed into the rear of the tanker, which immediately spurted flames. The trailer driver managed to escape. The driver of the tanker ran back with an extinguisher, but saw at a glance that he could not cope with the fire. He ran up the road and asked two motorists to sound a fire alarm. Meanwhile, the school bus in front of the tanker and a second bus, stopped back of the tanker, were driven away from the fire.
Chief James R. Marotte of Friendship Hose Company No. 1, Orwigsburg, received a call at about 8:20 a.m. that a tank truck was on fire at Red Church. He immediately went to the firehouse to sound the alarm, but found that someone had already sent it in. When Chief Marotte judged that he had sufficient men on hand, the company responded to the fire.
Blast unexpected
From past experience, reading and training, Chief Marotte was under the impression that the tank truck would not explode. In an interview later, the driver of the tanker said that at several fire and safety schools he had attended, he had been told that if a truck caught fire and the safety valves at the top of the tank were open and flames coming out of them, the tank could never explode. A fireman of Friendship Hose Company confirmed that he and the other firemen were working under the impression that the tank would not explode if the safety valves were working.
Chief Marotte told FIRE ENGINEERING that he decided to let the gas burn itself out, and concentrate all efforts on saving a nearby farmhouse. He instructed his men to coat the side of the house with foam. Realizing that the 600 gallons of water and the limited supply of foam on the fire truck would not last long, the chief called for help by radio. Mean-while a group of some 30 spectators, standing as far as 300 feet from the truck, were watching the fire. A state trooper, assisted by fire police and firemen, attempted to hold the group back, and several times warned the bystanders to move farther back. The firemen had made several applications of foam to the farmhouse while Chief Marotte went around to the other side of the house to check on falling wires. Then, roughly a half-hour after the collision, the chief heard the tanker explode and saw a ball of fire shoot up the road past him and hit a retaining wall in front of the Red Church.
Gigantic missile
The LPG tank was ripped from its chassis and, spurting flames, shot jet-like more than 300 yards up the road. Bodies were hurled through the air by the force of the explosion, and parts of them were spread over a wide area. One body was found some hours later in a field 600 feet from the scene. Debris, jagged metal from the trucks and stones from the retaining wall mowed spectators down. Earl L. Hillbish, a member of Friendship Hose Company was one of those killed. The explosion was heard in Hamburg more than 9 miles away, and volunteer firemen from that community came in their personal cars to help. Meanwhile, the Schuylkill Haven Fire Department under Chief Paul Hinnershitz arrived with a truck from Liberty Hose and one from Rainbow Hose, in response to Chief Marotte’s call for aid. The fire was extinguished immediately after the explosion, and the firemen then aided rescue workers in rushing the injured to hospitals and in taking the dead to mortuaries for identification.
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—photos by Stanley Gring
PROPANE TANKER EXPLODES
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Fire marshals from the Pennsylvania State Police began an immediate investigation. State Police Commissioner Frank G. McCartney went to the scene on the evening of the explosion to confer with officers in charge of the investigation.
Heat caused failure?
Commissioner McCartney expressed the belief to FIRE ENGINEERING that the tank was subjected to undue local heating from burning gas which escaped from piping and connections damaged in the collision. Failure of the rear segmented portions of the head, especially in the lower left section, seemed to indicate that the shell surface was subjected to excessively high temperatures. These were probably caused by the flaming propane gas impinging on that portion of the container shell. The commissioner stated that inasmuch as the leaking propane continued to burn for approximately 45 minutes, it can be assumed that the three 1 1/4-inch safety valves on the container were adequate to relieve increased pressure in the container. However, the localized heating at the lower portion of the rear head was sufficient to cause weakening of the walls and start failure of the container at that point. Since the container had been subjected to severe fire for approximately three-quarters of an hour, it is probable that practically all the liquid had been vaporized in the container. This theory would then indicate that the skin temperatures on the containers had permitted the steel to weaken sufficiently for the ensuing rupture.
