FIRE ENGINEERING
June 1983
Volume 136 No. 6
Invisible flame … See page 24
DEPARTMENTS
6 EDITOR’S NOTEBOOK
Things That Go Bump in the Night
8 VOLUNTEERS CORNER
What’s This “Big Stream” Stuff?
11 LETTERS 13 COMING EVENTS 49 NEWS
61 EQUIPMENT DIGEST
WATER SUPPLY
14 WHAT TO DO WHEN THE WATER SYSTEM FAILS?
A 72-inch aqueduct feeding the water system for a major northeast city burst, forcing the fire department to make quick adjustments.
16 HOW EFFICIENT IS YOUR HOSE?
Many fire departments hamstring their apparatus by using hose that doesn’t offer maximum water flow. Large-diameter hose could make the difference in terms of cost and efficiency.
50 LARGE-DIAMETER HOSE: PROS AND CONS
North Carolina fire departments are finding that, overall, the benefits of larger hose outweigh the few drawbacks.
FIRE REPORTS
24 INVISIBLE FLAME
A fire in a 13,000-gallon liquid hydrogen tanker presented Phoenix fire fighters with the possibility of a BLEVE. Fire fighters set up master streams and evacuated the area, waiting to see if the tank would survive.
28 NEWARK’S TEXACO EXPLOSION
An analysis of why the January explosion at Newark’s Texaco refinery occurred—and how it could have been prevented.
37 VOLCANO
The greatest mutual aid effort in Hawaii’s history took place early this year as fire fighters engaged in a 10-week battle with lava flows, brush fires, and lack of water supplies. Highly organized incident command procedures were of critical importance.
58 IGNITED GAS VAPORS SNAKE THROUGH SEWERS
Fourteen house fires were touched off after 2000 gallons of gasoline were accidentally unloaded into the sewer. Uniform training and standard operating procedures played a key role in halting the incident.
HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
42 20,000-GALLON NITRIC ACID SPILL
A tank car carrying 99.1 percent pure nitric acid was damaged in a downtown Denver trainyard, releasing a deadly cloud of toxic acid fumes.
54 TRANSPORTING HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
An overview of the general problems encountered in the various methods of transporting hazardous materials.
