25 Killed by LPG Tank Car Blast, Fireball Two Days After Derailment
All photos by the author
A devastating rupture and fire that rocked the small Tennessee town of Waverly, claiming 25 lives last February 24, could have major repercussions across the country as hazardous materials experts reevaluate safety precautions for handling LPG transport vessels involved in accidents.
No fire or spill resulted from the initial derailment of 24 cars of a 92-car Louisville & Nashville Railroad freight train on February 22. What has officials so concerned is that over 40 hours later, one of two derailed 30,000-gallon LPG tank cars ruptured without warning. In addition to those killed, the resulting fireball injured more than 90 persons and leveled a three-block area of the town.
Those killed included both the fire and police chiefs of Waverly and hazardous materials experts from the Tennessee State Civil Defense, the L&N Railroad, and the Liquid Transport Company, owner of the tank car. More than 50 persons required hospital treatment, half suffering from serious burns covering 60 to 85 percent of their bodies. Most of these critically burned were fire fighters, policemen, and railroad workers.
Protected by volunteers
Waverly, a rural Humphreys County town of 5000, located 60 miles west of Nashville, is protected by 18 volunteer fire fighters manning a 1958, 750-gpm pumper and a 1939, 500-gpm pumper. The Fire and police departments are housed in the same building, which also contains the communications center manned by a single dispatcher.
A phone call from a local resident first, notified the communications operator of the derailment at 10:38 p.m. Wednesday, February 22. Police units were dispatched to investigate the accident approximately five blocks from the fire and police station. An investigation and search of the area disclosed that no fires, leaks, or injuries had resulted from the derailment.
Noticing that two derailed LPG tank cars were among the wreckage, police requested the fire department to respond to the scene. Both Waverly pumpers responded, along with Chief Wilbur York.
Upon arrival, York saw that the propane cars were derailed in front of a commercial district consisting of two large lumber companies, a restaurant and tavern, and a garage, among other occupancies. Directly across the track stood several dwellings, including a frame structure housing the James Group Home for the mentally handicapped.
Precautionary lines laid
As a precaution, York ordered parallel 2½-inch lines to be laid directly from a hydrant at Commerce and North Church Streets, to the front of the commercial establishments which bordered the railroad tracks. Here, the lines were connected to a portable deluge set aimed at the propane cars. Across the tracks, two single 2½-inch lines were laid from separate hydrants to protect a residential area next to the derailment. None of the lines was charged.
Waverly fire fighters stood by throughout the night and by early Thursday morning, a Tennessee state civil defense hazardous materials team arrived from Nashville to oversee cleanup operations. Railroad crews, including specialists in handling LPG derailments, also arrived in Waverly. Before work to clear the derailed cars was started, about 50 residents living in a quarter-mile radius of the derailment were evacuated. Included in this number were residents of the James Group Home.
At 10:49 a.m. Thursday, the evacuation was completed. By this time, the propane tanks had been checked with explosive meters and no leaks were found. Once this was determined, workers began to concentrate on clearing the wreckage so new track could be laid. All during Thursday, the tanks were periodically checked for leaks. The results were always negative.
During Thursday’s operations, York ordered the hose lines charged as a precaution. Hose clamps were placed just behind the deluge set so the lines could be activated quickly. No water flowed. The cleanup continued through Thursday night with temperatures well below freezing.
On Friday morning, fire fighters discovered that ice had formed in the hose lines. Each section was broken down, flushed, and recoupled. The lines were again charged and clamped as railroad crews used a crane to raise the derailed propane tankers. Once righted, they were placed on the side of the tracks, one in front of the other.
Acetylene torches were then used to cut through the remaining twisted debris. Once this operation began, York ordered the hose clamps removed. As water began to play on the propane tankers, railroad officials assured York there was no danger. Besides, railroad officials complained that the water was making the area “too muddy for the men to work.” The flow of water stopped as the lines were clamped shut.
Temperature soars
The crews broke for lunch around noon as the temperature soared into the high 50s. A sense of normalcy began to return to the town as residents filtered back to their residences and businesses. Residents, fire fighters, and railroad workers all talked of their plans for what was shaping up to be the first spring-like weekend of the year.
At 1 p.m., work resumed. At 2 p.m., civil defense personnel again ordered evacuation of the immediate areas as preparations were made to transfer the LPG. Some residents balked at again leaving and remained in their residences. The tank was again checked for leaks and the results were negative.
At 2:59 p.m., before the transfer process began, disaster struck as one of the LPG tankers ruptured and immediately ignited, creating a huge fireball.
Five blocks away, Waverly dispatcher Jim Thompson was almost knocked down by the force of the blast. A second later, his radio came alive with, “It blew! We need some help!” Then silence.
‘Send us everything’
The director of Humphreys County’s ambulance service also heard the transmission. Immediately he broadcast the following message on the statewide radio frequency: “Mayday, SOS! This is Waverly, send us everything you got!” His transmission was received in over 40 Tennessee counties, some more than 100 miles away. Each dispatched emergency units to Waverly.
Meanwhile, chaos reigned at the scene. Richard Wheeler had just started to relocate the Waverly pumper when the tank ruptured.
“I was headed away from the tanker when I heard this ‘poof and the truck lurched forward,” Wheeler recalled. “I first thought someone had run into the rear of the truck. Then I looked into the rearview mirrors and all I could see was fire everywhere.”
Dispatcher William E. Bishop, who was helping direct traffic about two blocks from the tanker, said, “I was with Police Officer Nancy (Tootsie) Bell when it blew. Fire and debris started falling everywhere. Tootsie was wearing a bright orange polyester vest over her police uniform…. the kind they use to direct traffic in. As we started to run, some fire landed on her vest and it caught fire. I tried to get it off her, but it melted and set her uniform on fire, too. I had to roll her on the ground and take her clothes off before I could get her out.”
People on fire
Within seconds, Wheeler had turned the pumper around and was back at the scene. He couldn’t believe what he saw.
“People were on fire everywhere. It seemed they were just walking around in a daze. I put the pump in gear, grabbed a booster line and started to put them out.”
Among these victims was Waverly Police Chief Guy Barnett, who died two days later in a Birmingham burn center. Wheeler also recognized Fire Captain Frank Craver, who was crying out for his 6-year-old daughter whom he brought with him that morning to watch the cleanup operations. She, too, was on fire. Both Craver and his daughter were transferred to Baptist Hospital in Nashville. Both were later transferred to burn centers in Cincinnati.
After extinguishing all the people he could see, Wheeler turned his attention to what was burning around him. He saw the charged hose lines to the deluge gun on fire. He started to direct a stream on them when someone shouted, “Stop, it’s no use, we’ve lost it all!” Looking toward the tracks, Wheeler now saw that almost every section of both lines had been split open by the blast, with water spraying in all directions.
Only foundation left
At this point, Wheeler remembers looking across the tracks where the James Group Home had stood moments before. Now only the foundation remained. Fortunately, the residents had not returned to the home.
After attending to Officer Bell, Bishop made his way back to the Waverly pumper and grabbed its second booster line. He also extinguished several persons before turning his line on Waverly’s 1939 pumper, which was burning. He extinguished the pumper and several other vehicles before the 500-gallon booster tank ran dry.
By now, mutual-aid companies began to arrive. They found a three-block area of commercial establishments heavily involved in fire. As companies began to hook to the town’s hydrants, conditions worsened.
A 20,000-pound section ripped off the railroad tank car by the force of the rupture traveled 600 feet in the air before crashing on an auto, cutting it in half and severing a water main under the street. Companies hooking up to hydrants on this main found them dry.
Another mutual-aid company connecting to the only close-in hydrant on the other side of the street encountered a different problem. This hydrant was installed with reverse threads. Fire fighters unfamiliar with this fact tried to open it in the usual manner and sheared off the stem.
Second LPG tanker cooled
Fire was also burning dangerously close to the second fully-loaded LPG tanker. It was decided to concentrate on fires in this area and to cool the tanker with master stream devices. This required long lines to be laid from outlying hydrants. A drafting operation was also set up from a nearby creek to augment the town’s diminished water supply. Three master stream devices were put in service and these streams were successful in cooling the remaining tanker.
Ambulances from all over central Tennessee were now arriving in Waverly. They transported the injured to Waverly’s Nautilus Memorial Hospital. From Nautilus, those with serious and critical burns were transferred to Nashville hospitals by Army med-evac helicopters from Fort Campbell, Kentucky. As the first victims reached Nashville, the hospitals activated their disaster plans. The next day, about 20 of these patients were transferred to burn centers around the country.
The fires in Waverly’s commercial district continued to burn out of control until late Friday night. On Saturday, residents within a 1-mile radius of the derailment were evacuated as railroad officials began preparations to transfer the LPG from the second tanker. This operation was completed in the predawn hours of Sunday morning. By 8:30 a.m., the area was declared safe and residents were allowed to return to their homes.
Why did it happen?
Investigators are now asking the question, “What went wrong?” Why did the propane tanker rupture 40 hours after the initial derailment when safety precautions were being taken? As this article goes to press, these and other questions are under active investigation by a number of Tennessee and federal agencies.
According to sources familiar with the investigation, there is a theory that is being given serious consideration. When the LPG tanker derailed on Wednesday night, it may have received some structural damage, perhaps a crease on its underside. This went unnoticed by railroad crews. During operations the next day, the vessel could have been further weakened when a crane was used to right it.
During this period, temperatures remained cold. – However, Friday’s dramatic rise in temperature could have increased the LPG pressure until the tank ruptured. The released propane, mainly in liquid form, then found one of the numerous ignition sources in the area, literally creating a sea of fire.
Numerous eyewitness accounts mention a wet substance “coming down like rain.” Burn patterns in the area seem to bear this out. It now seems as though many people, vehicles and buildings were first coated with liquid propane and then ignited.
Whatever the cause, it seems clear that one of the lessons of Waverly will be a rethinking of safety procedures regarding hazardous material pressure vessels involved in transportation accidents.
Editor’s note:
