Kingman explosion
 | This article relies largely or entirely on a single source. (December 2015) |
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. I Kevin Cavenagh will give a first hand account of the Doxol explosion. On July 5 1973 , I was working on my 1961 lincoln 4 door. Decided to drive it up to hilltop on my way as I drove pass the Dam bar I noticed what appeared to be water running down the side of the road from ahead. I remember thinking how it was Very hot over 100 degrees and that someone was wasting water , as I continued up 66 my Car became to lose power and stalled right where the liquid was coming from my car stopped ( stalled out) Right in front of the LP tanks that the guy was filling from the train He left and went to the dam bar letting the tanks fill. I didn't give much thought to any of this worried about my car being stalled on the road. Directly in front of the tanks. I popped the hood and worked on it for a few minutes, then finally got it started. I noticed traffic coming so I hurried across 66 onto the side street only being able to go slow ,I made it about half a block away when BAM. Something pushed my car forward from behind I looked into my mirror and saw the mushroom cloud directly behind me. Right where about 30 seconds ago I was stalled. I had been spared any major injury. But around to corner from me across the street from the tanks some friends of mine whom I just talked with were not as fortunate. Pat Hadley and his wife just passed me and pulled into the store parking lot. They walked about 10 feet from his truck toward the doors of the grocery store. Patrick suffered 3 degree burn as did his wife from the top of there heads to there feet from behind. And lived to tell me what they saw ,as they where both thrown forward but survived . After they where released from the hospital came over to my house where we shared accounts of the Explosion. I was told by an employee of the Dam Bar about the one person working while filling the tanks figured he had time ran down to the dam bar to get something to eat Not knowing there was a leak. . End... This was My Eyewitness account . ...
Description
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 smelling 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 out of the car, one horizontal from the transfer valve, and one vertical 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; however, before the deluge gun could be made ready, the pressure inside the tank car reached the design bursting limit and the tank 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; eight more died from their 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. 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 reportedly also was captured on 8mm film by a vacationing family. 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 those 11 firefighters who died in the BLEVE.[1]