1 Critical Infrastructure disasters thru 1999

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Critical Infrastructure Disasters thru 1999

News etc. digested by Alister William Macintyre

CI Boom thru 1999 tracks critical infrastructure disasters, split into smaller, digestible time
line chunks. Whats doable to mitigate such incidents are in my main related analysis document.1 Last updated 2014 Feb 18
Version 1.43

Table of Contents, thru level 3 Summary ......................................................................................................................... 2 Notable Explosions / Time Line so far ............................................................................... 3 Time line thru 1999......................................................................................................... 4 1845-1849 Irish Potato Famine................................................................................ 5 1877 Oct 22 Blantyre UK Coal Mine Explosion ..................................................... 5 1913 Oct 14 Senghenydd UK Coal Mine Explosion ............................................... 6 1916 Apr 12 Faversham, Kent, UK Explosives Factory ...................................... 6 1918 Oct 4 Sayreville NJ Munitions Depot.......................................................... 6 1919 June 5 Baltimore Coal Mine Tunnel disaster..................................................... 6 1921 July 26 Kriewald Germany-Poland ammonium nitrate ............................... 7 1921 Sep 21 Oppau Germany BASF Fertilizer explosion.................................... 7 1924 Mar 1 Edison Township NJ Nixon .............................................................. 7 1925 Apr 4 + 1925 May 3 Muscle Shoals AL ......................................................... 7 1927 Nov 14 Pittsburg PA Stupid Gas Explosion ................................................... 7 1937 March 18 New London TX School Gas Explosion kills 425 ......................... 8 1940 Aug 5 Miramas France.................................................................................... 8 1942 April 29 Tessenderlo Belgium ........................................................................ 8 1944 Oct 20 Cleveland Ohio Two Gas Explosions ................................................. 8 1947 April 16 Texas City Disaster........................................................................... 8 1947 July 28 Brest France...................................................................................... 12 1954 Jan 23 The Red Sea....................................................................................... 12 1956 PG&E lays groundwork ....................................................................................... 12 1959 Aug 7 Roseburg OR...................................................................................... 12 1960 Dec 17 Traskwood Ar................................................................................... 13 1963 Oct 31 Indianapolis Coliseum Gas Explosion .............................................. 13 1965 Mar 1 La Salle Heights Explosion, Quebec Canada..................................... 13 1965 Mar 4 Louisiana ............................................................................................... 14 1967............................................................................................................................... 14 1968 April 6 Richmond Indiana Two Explosions ................................................. 14 1968 Dec 5 Yutan NB............................................................................................... 14 1969 Sep 9 Yutan NB ............................................................................................... 15 1970............................................................................................................................... 15 1971 Oct 21 Glasgow Scotland shopping center Explosion.................................. 15
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1970 Dec 9 Mo.......................................................................................................... 15 1972 June 20 Butler Al ............................................................................................. 15 1973............................................................................................................................... 15 1974 June 1 Flixborough UK Chemical Explosion ............................................... 16 1977 Lurgan UK .................................................................................................... 16 1980 Pittsburg ........................................................................................................... 16 1981 Aug 25 - San Francisco CA ............................................................................. 16 1983 Sep 23 East Boston MA incidents ................................................................ 17 1987 Goiania Brazil radiation incident ..................................................................... 17 1988 - Ashland oil spill................................................................................................. 17 1988 July North Sea Oil Rig Gas Explosion ......................................................... 18 1988 Nov 29 Kansas City MO............................................................................... 18 1989 Exxon Valdez........................................................................................................... 18 1989 May 12+25 San Bernardino CA Oops and Again ........................................ 18 1989 June 4 Ufa Russia Train disaster kills 575.................................................... 19 1991 Grand Rapids oil spill. ..................................................................................... 19 1992 April 22 Guadalajara Mexico Ten Gas Explosions kill 252 ......................... 19 1993 Milwaukee........................................................................................................ 20 1994 Edison, N.J ....................................................................................................... 20 1994 Aug 2 - Papua New Guinea ............................................................................. 20 1994 Dec 13 Port Neal IA...................................................................................... 20 1996 Threats to US drinking water ........................................................................... 21 1998 Dirty Bomb Attempt ........................................................................................ 21 1998 Jan 6 Xingping Shangxi China ..................................................................... 21 1999 Nov San Diego CA ....................................................................................... 21 Continued in more documents .......................................................................................... 22

Summary
Heres description of this time line installment, which I posted to Scribd: Critical Infrastructure disasters time line thru 1999. I am splitting my research notes into smaller, more digestible, gulps. Watch for other installments coming soon. The news media labels every weather storm, and every humanitarian disaster as worst so far, to the point that we seldom believe that any more. This is statistically unlikely. After the Colorado Theater incident, the news media said this was the worst mass shooting in US history. Apparently modern news media is ignorant of the larger mass shootings of Indians at places like Wounded Knee. The media needs other adjectives than worst to describe scale of a disaster. They also should stop using the phrase once in a century for events that occur every 2 -3 years. The worst industrial incidents (some of them were not accidents but criminal negligence on steroids) I have found include:

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Thousands of these incidents in the USA, for many of the same reasons. NGO studies showing thousands of accidents waiting to happen. Irish Potato Famine was man made millions died. 575 killed in Ufa Russia train disaster. 561 killed in Oppau Germany BASF fertilizer explosion. 500+ dead and 3,500 injured in Texas City. 439 killed in Senghenydd UK coal mine explosion. 425 killed in New London Tx school explosion.

Of course, that may be worst from perspective of # people killed. Other worst includes harm to environment, $ cost to clean up. Not many people were killed in the BP Deepwater Horizon Gulf Oil spill, but the regional economic harm was catastrophic. We learn from this history, that lessons are very slowly implemented to mitigate against same thing happening again, and many organizations management and personnel are totally ignorant of lessons learned by the industry they supposedly specialize in. This is especially true for several industries world wide, including: oil and chemicals, institutions using radiation hardware. It may be thanks to the trend to conglomerates where the people in charge lack any hands on contact with why they are in business.

Notable Explosions / Time Line so far

Here are my notes, following news of a massive explosion in Indianapolis, impacting over 100 homes, allegedly the second largest gas explosion in US history. 2 This one is now believed to have been deliberately caused to happen. I had thought Indiana had a history of deadly gas explosions,3 and inept government officials.4 But in this crisis, the citys first responders seem to have done a first rate job. According to Pro Publica,5 Indiana has only had 120 unpleasant incidents with gas pipe lines, with a total of 11 deaths, 73 injuries, $54.2m property damage. Texas has had 1,669 incidents (state with largest # of incidents California-573 and Louisiana-580 almost tied for second place), with a total of 78 deaths (state

San Bruno CA was allegedly the worst gas explosion in US history. Every time I see a claim that something is the worst, I am suspicious, because I have seen many such claims which were totally false. It certainly seems to me that it was one of the worst, in recent history. It is not the most people harmed, when you consider New London TX (425 students and faculty killed when a school blew up in a gas explosion). It may not be the worst fire, when you consider Cleveland OH (2 underground storage tanks blowing up) and Formosa Plastics TX (took 5 days to get the fire out). 3 This may be a distortion thanks to me being located in Indiana, when I check on history of past events of a similar nature. 4 See my research notes on the Indianapolis Fairgrounds incident. 5 https://projects.propublica.org/pipelines/

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with largest # of deaths), 371 injuries (state with most injured), $668m property damage. California had 573 incidents, 43 deaths (second place for # of deaths), 198 injured (second place for # injured), $725m property damage. Louisiana had 580 incidents, 20 deaths, 96 injured, $1.42b property damage (state with the most of that). Check the footnote for statistics on other states.6 I guess we might like to see volume of incidents per capita, or per population at risk. After seeing various contradictory comments, speculating about how this event fits into the history of whats possible, I visited Wikipedia, and other sources, seeking a bigger picture in perspective. This is not an exhaustive directory of Gas Explosions,7 just some of the biggest ones, and notable ones, to see if biggest and worst disaster, is correct labeling. Almost everything we think we know, is found to be wrong, when we investigate.

Time line thru 1999

These events occurred in: Britain; Canada;; China France; Germany; Mexico; New Guinea; Poland; Russia; The Red Sea; USA. The disasters listed here include: Chemical explosions; Cutting corners to save money, leads to disaster more expensive than any saved money. Dangerous Chemicals, such as explosives, stored at some site, which catches on fire, and no one warns first responders what they are getting into. Disasters in which first responders lacked proper training to handle the materials involved, assuming they knew what the chemicals were, whose fire they were sent to fight. o Examples o If you have a suspected gas leak, using flames to locate it, just makes things worse. o Workers on ships which ultimately were totally destroyed in the Texas City Disaster, at the behest of their leadership, took actions which made the situation worse. Evacuation not on radar screen of first responders, or institutions experiencing some crisis. Farming famine. Gas Leak reaches a flame, humongous fire and explosion results. Leak catches fire & explodes. People think the problem has been contained, so they return home, but more stuff is caught up in the fire and explosions, killing people who returned home before all the fires were out. Ignorance about risks from various chemicals.

6 7

https://projects.propublica.org/pipelines/ If you follow my links, you will find references to many lesser gas explosions.

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Ignorance about various dangerous chemicals stored in, or transported thru some community, so that when they go boom, it is a total surprise to the local community, including first responders. Industrial accident. Lack of training in how to cope with mishaps with chemicals located at a place of business. This lack of training is with both the people who work there, and the communitys first responders. Mining explosions. Systemic failures at companies mis-managing fuels, such as pipelines o Examples: o Dispatching people, to deal with some crisis, who lacked the training and tools to do anything constructive about it. o Inaccurate record keeping. o Pipeline leak is fueling a fire and explosions. Pipeline company seems to take forever to shut down the fuel for the fire. Train derailment, carrying dangerous chemicals. Utilities connected SCADA to wi fi, so it gets scrambled by ordinary radar. Vehicles carrying stuff, which might explode at any moment, going thru populated areas without police escort, or evacuation of people in harms way. War Munitions accidents, and accidents with the ingredients for explosives. Water problem flood gas regulators, cause fuel surge, causing multiple fires and explosions in Boston in 1983. When Super Storm Sandy arrived in 2012, the company had not yet fixed this problem, so history repeated. Witnesses report smell of gas, authorities say no evacuation needed, hundreds of people die in the subsequent disaster. Witnesses report smell of gas, not investigated in time.

1845-1849 Irish Potato Famine

This is generally considered to be the largest death toll of any British disaster. 1.7 to 2.5 million died. History now teaches that it was deliberate. The British Monarchy did not understand democracy. They had lost to the USA, in two wars, the American Revolution, and The War of 1812 when they tried to fight it again. There was trouble brewing in India. They were horrified what was happening in France. So they engaged in repressive tactics against where there might be a similar revolution in Britain.

1877 Oct 22 Blantyre UK Coal Mine Explosion

This was not a gas explosion, but a coal mining explosion. It is labeled as the worst mining disaster in Scotlands history. It killed 207 miners, the youngest being a boy of 11, leaving 92 widows and 250 fatherless children,8 who got evicted from their homes. Mine management prevented rescue efforts, and the mine had a long history of safety violations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blantyre_mining_disaster

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What a shame almost 150 years later, nothing much has changed, other than the ability of mine management to influence government. In the USA, any Congressman who tries to improve safety regulations, will be thrown out of office in the next election, via negative advertising, paid for by the mining industry.

1913 Oct 14 Senghenydd UK Coal Mine Explosion

This is listed as one of the largest death tolls in a UK explosion,9 not including ship disasters, and wartime events. It was not a gas explosion, but a coal mining explosion. 439 miners were killed.

1916 Apr 12 Faversham, Kent, UK Explosives Factory

On April 2, 1916 a factory in Uplees, Faversham, exploded after a fire spread to a store of 15 tons of TNT and 150 tons of ammonium nitrate. The blast at the Explosives Loading Company killed 120 people and shattered windows in Southend-on-Sea across the Thames Estuary while the tremor was felt in Norwich.10 See similar incidents: 1947 April 16-17 Texas City 2013 April 17 West, Texas Fertilizer plant with ammonium nitrate

1918 Oct 4 Sayreville NJ Munitions Depot

On October 4, 1918, an explosion at the Morgan Depot occurred, leading to many artillery shells being launched into the air, some of which landed on a neighboring warehouse where 4000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate were stored in barrels. One of the shells caused a large explosion, but the majority of the ammonium nitrate did not detonate. 11 See similar incidents: 1916 Apr 12 Faversham Kent UK 1947 April 16-17 Texas City 2013 April 17 West, Texas Fertilizer plant with ammonium nitrate

1919 June 5 Baltimore Coal Mine Tunnel disaster

In 2014 we are reminded of this incident thanks to a historical marker recording the site of a coal mine disaster some are claiming is one of the worst ever where? The world, the USA, Maryland? Two coal mine disasters which killed more people, see: 439 killed 1913 Senghenydd UK 207 killed 1877 Blantyre UK Blasting powder hit an electrical wire in the tunnel and caused an explosion. 92 people died, 60 more people were hurt.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senghenydd_Colliery_Disaster https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_nitrate_disasters 11 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_nitrate_disasters

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Lessons learned: The U.S. Bureau of Mines investigated the incident and drafted new rules prohibiting miners and explosives from traveling in the same rail car. 12

1921 July 26 Kriewald Germany-Poland ammonium nitrate

Kriewald was in Germany when this happened. Kriewald is now in Poland. On July 26, 1921, in this railway town, workers tried to dislodge 30 tons of ammonium nitrate that had aggregated (solidified into one mass) in two wagons. When mining explosives were used on this solid mass, the wagons exploded and killed 19 people.13

1921 Sep 21 Oppau Germany BASF Fertilizer explosion

An attempt at disaggregation of a fertilizer mix with industrial explosives caused the death of 561 people and left more than 2000 injured. The fertilizer was a 50:50 mixture of ammonium nitrate and ammonium sulfate and the factory had used this method of disaggregation over 20,000 times without incident. It is thought that, on this occasion, poor mixing had led to certain parts of the mass containing more ammonium nitrate than others. Only 450 tons exploded, out of 4500 tons of fertilizer stored in the warehouse. 14 For similar incidents, see: 1921 Sep 21 Oppau Germany 1942 Apr 29 Tessenderlo Belgium

1924 Mar 1 Edison Township NJ Nixon

On March 1, 1924, a fire and several large explosions destroyed a warehouse containing ammonium nitrate at the Nixon Nitration Works. The explosiveness of the product was perhaps enhanced, as it had been prepared using nitric acid that had previously been used for the production of TNT. 15

1925 Apr 4 + 1925 May 3 Muscle Shoals AL

Two carloads, each containing 220 barrels of ammonium nitrate, were dispatched from Muscle Shoals, Alabama and caught fire in transportation. The barrels had been stored in a warehouse with varying humidity for 6 years, so it is believed that they were ignited by friction with their nitrate-impregnated manila paper lining. 16 Other shipments were reportedly more successful.

1927 Nov 14 Pittsburg PA Stupid Gas Explosion

o Here is a bizarre story. If you have a suspected gas leak, using flames to find it, is a really bad idea.17 Thankfully, our education has improved in the interim.

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http://citizensvoice.com/news/baltimore-mine-tunnel-marker-unveiled-1.1621408 http://golackawanna.com/news/local-news/1142803/Womans-super-efforts-helped-land-marker 13 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_nitrate_disasters 14 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_nitrate_disasters 15 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_nitrate_disasters 16 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_nitrate_disasters 17 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1927_Pittsburgh_gas_explosion

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1937 March 18 New London TX School Gas Explosion kills 425

o I am curious why San Bruno is officially the worst gas explosion in US history. The New London one killed 425 students and teachers. 18 o It was not an accident, but rather man made, although not intentional, a culmination of bad practices. In the aftermath, Texas passed some laws about safety, and qualifications to be an engineer. o New London is considered, by some, to be the worst disaster in a US school building. Some people might consider Separate but Equal to be the worst disaster of US schools. o The building exploded when a teacher turned on a sanding machine, touching off the ignition of the methane-soaked air in a crawlspace beneath the school. Turns out, natural gas had been leaking there for quite some time.19

1940 Aug 5 Miramas France

240 tons of ammonium nitrate in sacks exploded after being hit by a shell from a nearby fire in a munitions train.20

1942 April 29 Tessenderlo Belgium

An attempt to disaggregate a pile of 150 tonnes of ammonium nitrate with industrial explosives ended tragically on April 29, 1942: 189 people were killed, 900 wounded. 21 For similar incidents, see: 1921 Sep 21 Oppau Germany 1942 Apr 29 Tessenderlo Belgium

1944 Oct 20 Cleveland Ohio Two Gas Explosions

o The explosion, of an underground storage tank, killed 130 people and destroyed a one square mile area. After spectators thought the problem contained, and returned home, a second storage tank exploded. An exact count of the dead was complicated by many victims being totally incinerated. 22

1947 April 16 Texas City Disaster

Note similarities between the 1947 April 16 Texas City Disaster and 2013 April 17 Texas Fertilizer Explosion. Ignorance about risks from various chemicals; Ignorance about safety procedures; Evacuation not on radar screen, until after a lot of damage done; Close proximity of dangerous materials and conventional soft targets;

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_London_School_explosion http://www.naturalgaswatch.org/?p=1799 20 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_nitrate_disasters 21 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_nitrate_disasters 22 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cleveland_East_Ohio_Gas_Explosion

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Disconnect between knowing nature of what is burning, probable consequences of the fire continuing; Lack of relevant training in how to deal with problems, should they occur, for relevant personnel who normally handle the material, and emergency responders. In 1947, war secrecy may have been responsible. In 2013 corporate corruption may be accountable.

Some dangerous materials, when burning, create deadly poisons which can maim and kill people who inhale too much of that smoke. People trying to fight that fire need to be wearing proper respirators, and anyone in the vicinity needs to be evacuated to a safe distance. Some dangerous materials contain their own fuel to keep a fire going, even when standard fire fighting techniques are used. People need to know what the fuel is for a fire, to select the optimum means of fighting that fire. Material, needing special fire fighting methods and safety procedures, ought to be stored separately Just before 8:00 A.M., longshoremen removed the hatch covers on Hold 4 of the French Liberty ship Grandcamp as they prepared to load the ship with dangerous materials, not having any safety procedures associated with the materials. A fire started, and the local fire fighting efforts failed to bring it under control, so the workers backed away. While Leonard Boswell, the gang foreman, and Peter Suderman, superintendent of stevedores, discussed what action to take, the captain of the ship joined the conversation. The captain did not want water used against the fire, because that would ruin the rest of the cargo, which should never have been in the same hold in the first place. Instead, he elected to suppress the flames by having the hatches battened and covered with tarpaulins, the ventilators closed, and the steam system turned on. 23 This is a strategy which makes things worse, not better, for that kind of chemical mixture. See same scenario 1947 July 28 in Brest France. The fire increased in ferocity, so Suderman called the Fire Department and called Galveston for a fire boat. Around 8.30 am, growing pressure from the compressed steam fed into Hold 4 blew off the hatch covers, and a thick column of orange smoke billowed into the morning sky. The volunteer fire dept showed up, but the water they sprayed onto the ship turned to steam. Around 9:00, flames erupted from the open hatch, with smoke variously described as "a pretty gold, yellow color" or as "orange smoke in the morning sunlight...beautiful to see." Twelve minutes later, the Grandcamp disintegrated in a prodigious explosion heard as far as 150 miles distant, and breaking windows up to 40 miles away. 24 A thick curtain of
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http://www.local1259iaff.org/disaster.html https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_nitrate_disasters

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steel shards scythed through workers along the docks and a crowd of curious onlookers. At the Monsanto plant, located across the slip, 145 of 450 shift workers perished. There was property damage as far as a mile away.25 Falling shrapnel bombarded buildings and oil storage tanks at nearby refineries, ripping open pipes and tanks of flammable liquids and starting numerous secondary fires. After the shrapnel, flaming balls of sisal and cotton from the ships cargo fell out of the sky, adding to the growing conflagration.26 Now people from 20 miles away could see the cloud from the explosions and fires. People rushed to provide help, meeting wounded survivors staggering away. Within an hour doctors, nurses, and ambulances began arriving from Galveston and nearby military bases. They came not knowing local situation, having seen the firestorm cloud, and knew something terrible was happening. There was similar response from police of other cities in Texas, and state authorities. Local hospitals were overwhelmed, so aid stations were setup, wherever practical. As help poured into Texas City, no one gave much thought to another Liberty ship tied up in the adjoining slip. The High Flyer was loaded with the same kind of cargo, contained 1050 tonnes of sulfur and 960 tons of ammonium nitrate, and the force of the Grandcamp explosion had dislodged it from its moorings, crashing it into another nearby ship, the Wilson B. Keene. The High Flyer crew had to abandon ship because of the poisonous smoke from the burning fumes. Much later in the afternoon, two men looking for casualties boarded the High Flyer and noticed flames coming from one of the holds, later believed to be a fire started thanks to either the Grandcamp or the secondary troubles from there.27 Although they reported this to someone at the waterfront, several more hours passed before anyone understood the significance of this situation, and not until 11:00 P.M. did tugs manned by volunteers arrive from Galveston to pull the burning ship away from the docks. Even though a boarding party cut the anchor chain, tugs were unable to extract the ship. By 1 am, flames were shooting out of the High Flyer so the tug crew evacuated the volunteers, and ten minutes later, the High Flyer exploded in a blast witnesses thought even more powerful than that of the Grandcamp. There was a repeat of what happened with the earlier explosion, with a chain reaction of lots more fires started at places which had escaped the earlier conflagration.28 By dawn of the second day, large columns of thick, black smoke were visible thirty miles away. These clouds hovered over Texas City for days until the fires gradually burned out or were extinguished by weary fire-fighting crews.
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http://www.local1259iaff.org/disaster.html http://www.local1259iaff.org/disaster.html 27 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_nitrate_disasters 28 http://www.local1259iaff.org/disaster.html

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All but one member of the Texas City fire department died in the combination disaster. 29 Many agonizing hours were to pass before a semblance of order began to replace the shock and confusion caused by these totally unexpected and devastating events. At the time, this was considered to be the worst industrial accident in American history. The damage was so extreme, and any documentation destroyed that might identify how many people were working at nearby sites, it was impossible to get an accurate count of the dead and missing. Ultimately, the Red Cross and the Texas Department of Public Safety counted 405 identified and 63 unidentified dead. Another 100 persons were classified as "believed missing" because no trace of their remains was ever found. Estimates of the injured are even less precise but appear to have been on the order of 3,500 persons. Although not all casualties were residents of Texas City, the total was equivalent to a staggering 25 percent of the towns estimated population of 16,000.30 Aggregate property loss amounted to almost $100 million, or more than $700 million in todays monetary value. Even so, this figure may be to low, because this estimate does not include 1.5 million barrels of petroleum products consumed in flames, valued at approximately $500 million in 1947 terms. Refinery infrastructure and pipelines, including about fifty oil storage tanks, incurred extensive damage or total destruction. The devastated Monsanto plant alone represented about $ 20 million of the total. 31 One-third of the town's 1,519 houses were condemned, leaving 2,000 persons homeless and exacerbating an already-serious postwar housing shortage.

Read the Texas City, Texas, Disaster Report.

This report was put out on April 29, 1947, 13 days after the first explosion and is complete with photographs. Texas City Disaster Online Exhibit A Portal To Texas History Monsanto Letter pertaining to a check written for membership dues to the Texas City Volunteer Fire Dept. Lots more links are here, to info about this disaster.32

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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_nitrate_disasters http://www.local1259iaff.org/disaster.html 31 http://www.local1259iaff.org/disaster.html 32 http://www.local1259iaff.org/disaster.html

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1947 July 28 Brest France

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The cargo ship Ocean Liberty was loaded with 3300 tons of ammonium nitrate and various inflammable products when it caught fire at 12:30 July 28, 1947. The captain ordered the hold to be sealed and pressurized steam was pumped in. This is a strategy which makes things worse, not better, for that kind of chemical mixture. See same scenario 1947 April 16 in Texas City. As this did not stop the fire, the vessel was towed out of the harbor at 14:00, and exploded at 17:00. The explosion caused 29 deaths and serious damage to the port of Brest.33

1954 Jan 23 The Red Sea

A fire was detected on the cargo ship Tirrenia on January 23, 1954, while it was carrying 4000 tons of ammonium nitrate. Attempts to extinguish the fire with steam were unsuccessful, and the ship was abandoned before it exploded later in the night. 34 Same scenario repeats, with ship unequipped and leadership untrained, in how to deal with ammonium nitrate fire, so they make things worse instead: 1947 April 16 Texas City. 1947 July 28 Brest France. 1954 Jan 23 The Red Sea.

1956 PG&E lays groundwork

See 2011 Aug NTSB report on 2010 Sep PG&E San Bruno incident. One of the probable causes of this disaster was in 1956 when PG&E moved a pipeline, and in the process used a substandard defective pipe section, which over time got broke, and went undetected, due to PG&E being an organizational disaster.

1959 Aug 7 Roseburg OR

A truck carrying dynamite and ammonium nitrate caught fire in the early morning. When it exploded it killed 14 people and injured 125 more. Several blocks of downtown Roseburg were destroyed. The accident is locally referred to as "The Blast". 35 After I read several stories which sound very similar, I conclude: Vehicles carrying stuff which might explode at any moment, need a police escort, with people evacuated from its path. We need technology to put a robot at the wheel, perhaps operated by remote control like most drones. The driving route needs to avoid major population centers.

33 34

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_nitrate_disasters https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_nitrate_disasters 35 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_nitrate_disasters

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In the case of ships, they need to have a loading dock many miles from soft targets, with high barriers, so if there is an explosion, the barrier catches the debris. The barrier could be like an earthen dam, reinforced with concrete. When the ships go to sea, they need a companion safety boat, with everything needed for an evacuation, and a military escort to keep soft targets far enough away to avoid victimization.

1960 Dec 17 Traskwood Ar

A 96 freight car train suffered partial derailment, in which the last 23 cars were derailed. The derailed cars included: four fuel oil tank cars, two tank cars of gasoline, three tank cars of petroleum oil, four cars of lube oil drums, three cars of liquid fertilizer, one car of fuming nitric acid and two cars of fertilizer grade ammonium nitrate. 36 In this particular accident, neither car of ammonium nitrate exploded. However, the nitric acid reacted with the fuel oil, essentially creating ANFO to feed the conflagration, resulting in the spread of the ammonium nitrate material around the incident site. 37

1963 Oct 31 Indianapolis Coliseum Gas Explosion

o The Indianapolis Coliseum Explosion (now known as the Pepsi Coliseum)38 occurred during opening night for the Holiday on Ice show, killing 74 and injuring nearly 400.39 Fifty-four people were killed on the scene and another 20 later died of their injuries. The cause was an explosion following a propane tank leak, from a rusty tank in the concession area.40 o A Marion County grand jury indicted the state fire marshal, the Indianapolis fire chief, the general manager and the concessions manager of the Coliseum, as well as officers of the company that supplied the gas. But there was only one conviction, the president of the gas supplier, and that verdict was later overturned by the Indiana Supreme Court. According to the Encyclopedia of Indianapolis, victims and survivors ultimately received about $4.6 million in settlements. 41

1965 Mar 1 La Salle Heights Explosion, Quebec Canada

March 1, 1965, a Quebec Natural Gas Corporation natural gas line explosion destroyed a several low-cost housing units.42
36 37

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_nitrate_disasters https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_nitrate_disasters 38 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_explosions 39 http://www.library.ca.gov/CRB/96/05/over_4.html http://www.indystar.com/story/news/history/retroindy/2014/01/15/coliseum-explosion/4495037/ 40 http://www2.indystar.com/library/factfiles/accidents/history/coliseum_explosion/coliseum.html 41 http://www.indystar.com/story/news/history/retroindy/2014/01/15/coliseum-explosion/4495037/ 42 I found out about this, thanks to Oksana Szulhan on G+: https://plus.google.com/u/0/110340179058825009829/about https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaSalle_Heights_Disaster A newspaper story shortly after, while initial story still somewhat chaotic: http://www2.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/archives/story.html?id=ef28abce-75d0-41fb-b5cd8986b8638d26 https://www.google.com/search?client=ubuntu&channel=fs&q=lasalle+heights+gas+explosion&ie=utf8&oe=utf-8

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28 people dead. 39 injured. 200 left homeless. 60 vacant dwellings were made available, for free for the 200 homeless. Approx 8.05 am the explosion occurred Approx 8.25 am, first responders had arrived LaSalle Heights is a suburban residential block of low income rental units, in the city of La Salle, Quebec, Canada, on the island of Montreal. The residential block consisted of 25 identical U shaped buildings, each containing 36 apartments of various sizes. The explosion damaged of the 3 buildings, totaling 36 of the apartments.

1965 Mar 4 Louisiana

According to un-natural gas org:43 Gas Transmission Pipeline, north of Natchitoches, Louisiana, owned by Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company exploded from stress corrosion cracking, killing 17 people. This incident lead to then President Lyndon B. Johnson to call for the formation of a national pipeline safety agency.

1967 The Torrey Canyon spill released approximately 35 million gallons of crude oil into
the coastal environments of both Britain and France (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Oil Spill Case Histories, Summaries of Significant U.S. and International Spills, 1967-2001, 1992). At that time, many considered this spill to be among the worst environmental disasters in history. 44 This led the Johnson administration in 1968

to launch the National Contingency Plan (NCP) in case something similar happened in the USA.

1968 April 6 Richmond Indiana Two Explosions

Two explosions occur in mid-afternoon, in the middle of downtown Richmond, Indiana. The first is caused by a natural gas leak, and the second, by gunpowder and ammunition inside a sporting goods store. 41 people are killed and more than 150 injured. Four square blocks of downtown Richmond, Indiana are heavily damaged by the explosions or subsequent fire. Safety checks after the explosion found 20 gas leaks in the city in the next 2 months, although some of these may have been caused by the explosions. 45

1968 Dec 5 Yutan NB

According to un-natural gas org:46 An LPG pipeline ruptured near Yutan, Nebraska. Repair crews responded, thought vapors were dispersed, but ignited a vapor cloud by driving into it. 5 Repairmen were killed.
43

http://www.un-naturalgas.org/hydraulic_fracturing_a-z.htm#pipelines See 25 page report = http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/R43251.pdf I named my copy CRS Spill Response 2014 Jan. I found out about this report here: http://blogs.fas.org/secrecy/2014/01/usmcdrawdown/ Also see Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan Overview, at http://www.epa.gov/osweroe1/content/lawsregs/ncpover.htm 45 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richmond,_Indiana_explosion 46 http://www.un-naturalgas.org/hydraulic_fracturing_a-z.htm#pipelines
44

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1969 Sep 9 Yutan NB

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According to un-natural gas org:47 A 14 inch natural gas pipeline, near Houston Tx, ruptures, causing a massive fire. Construction work, downstream of the accident, led to a pressure build up that contributed to the rupture. As I have written elsewhere, I believe that construction work should be coordinated with companies operating pipelines below where the work is going on, to prevent stuff from this happening.

1970
A series of superfund sites in the 1970s, such as Love Canal in New York, led Congress to pass the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980.48

1971 Oct 21 Glasgow Scotland shopping center Explosion

A gas main leak, later found to be accidental, caused a build up of gas, which subsequently exploded, killing 21-22 people, and injuring about 100. Customers and workers reported the smell, but the investigation was either slow, or there was no safety evacuation.49

1970 Dec 9 Mo
According to un-natural gas org:50 a leak led to rupture of Phillips Pipeline Companys Port Hudson Propane Gas Pipeline. The gas cloud exploded with a force of several tons of TNT. This was in Franklin County, Missouri.

1972 June 20 Butler Al

According to un-natural gas org:51 a high pressure propane pipeline ruptured, near Butler Alabama, because a road grader hit the pipeline. Then a short time after the line was ruptured, a car drove into the vapor cloud, igniting it, which killed 4 people.

1973
Stories about gas line disasters as recently as 2011, say that a federal agency advised gas providers to phase out as far back as 1973, citing issues with deterioration and corrosion.52 This plan has yet to be implemented.

47 48

http://www.un-naturalgas.org/hydraulic_fracturing_a-z.htm#pipelines See 25 page report = http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/R43251.pdf I named my copy CRS Spill Response 2014 Jan. I found out about this report here: http://blogs.fas.org/secrecy/2014/01/usmcdrawdown/ 49 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarkston_explosion 50 http://www.un-naturalgas.org/hydraulic_fracturing_a-z.htm#pipelines 51 http://www.un-naturalgas.org/hydraulic_fracturing_a-z.htm#pipelines 52 http://www.wfaa.com/news/local/Hundreds-of-miles-of-Atmos-gas-pipes-made-of-corroding-cast-ironexperts-warn-191920011.html

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1974 June 1 Flixborough UK Chemical Explosion

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A 2005 Gas Explosion was said to be the largest in UK since this one, so I thought worth reviewing. However this was Chemical Explosion(s). The official story has been called into question, due to eyewitnesses reporting other complications, and indications of a whistle blower being suppressed. Two months prior to the explosion, a crack was discovered in the number 5 reactor. It was decided to install a temporary 50 cm (20 inch) diameter pipe to bypass the leaking reactor to allow continued operation of the plant while repairs were made. But a nearby pipe was burning for about an hour, then this temporary arrangement ruptured, about 40 tons of the plant's 400 ton store of cyclohexane leaked from the pipe and formed a vapour cloud, which found an ignition source, exploded, and totally destroyed the factory. The fuel-air explosion was estimated to be equivalent to 15 tonnes of TNT (60 gigajoules) and it killed 28 people. Had the explosion occurred on a weekday it is likely that more than 500 plant employees would have been killed. Resulting fires raged in the area for over 10 days. It was Britain's biggest peacetime explosion until the 2005 Buncefield fire.

1977 Lurgan UK
It is not clear from a 2013 January article if they just had another similar gas explosion in Lurgan Carn UK.53

1980 Pittsburg
There was some kind of disaster contaminating the water supply, similar to the Charleston W Va 2014 January incident.54

1981 Aug 25 - San Francisco CA

Several deficiencies revealed by the NTSB investigation of the San Bruno 2010 Sept 9 incident,55 were also factors in the 1981 PG&E gas pipeline leak in San Francisco,56 such as inaccurate record-keeping, the dispatch of first responders who were not trained or equipped to close valves, and unacceptable delays in shutting down the pipeline. Some of these San Bruno deficiencies were also factors in the 1981 PG&E gas pipeline leak in San Francisco, which involved inaccurate record-keeping, the dispatch of first responders who were not trained or equipped to close valves, and unacceptable delays in shutting down the pipeline.

53

http://www.lurganmail.co.uk/community/way-back-when/way-back-when/gas-explosion-damagedhouses-and-shops-1-4627514 54 http://blog.al.com/live/2014/01/usa_professor_grad_students_he.html http://www.southce.org/ajwhelton/ 55 See 2011 Aug 30 NTSB report on San Bruno incident. 56 See Pacific Gas & Electric Company Natural Gas Pipeline Puncture, San Francisco, California, August 25, 1981, Pipeline Accident Report NTSB/PAR-82/01 [Washington, DC: National Transportation Safety Board, 1982].

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NTSB concluded that PG&E's multiple, recurring deficiencies are evidence of a systemic problem.

1983 Sep 23 East Boston MA incidents

o A broken water main had flooded a gas regulator, causing fuel surge, leading to multiple fires and an explosion.57 o In 2012 Sandy Super Storm, the risk of gas regulators getting flooded, had not yet been fixed, so history repeated.

1987 Goiania Brazil radiation incident

Goiania Brazil had over a million inhabitants in 1987. Most large cities make extensive use of radioactivity and radiation in medicine and Goiania was no exception. When a cancer therapy clinic closed in 1987 the radioactive therapy source was abandoned instead of being transferred to a disposal facility. Thus, when scrap metal scavengers broke into the clinic they were able to walk out with a radiation therapy unit, including a high-activity (almost 1500 curies) Cs-137 source. Not knowing what they had found, the scavengers opened the irradiator head and the source itself. Impressed with the pretty blue talcum powder-like filling, they took it home with them to show to family and friends. This led to 4 people dead of radiation sickness and over 100 exposed to enough radiation or contamination to require medical attention.58 We can infer scanty regulatory controls, to permit the Brazilian source to be abandoned. See similar incidents: 2010 India 2013 Mexico

1988 - Ashland oil spill

The spill went down the Monongahela and Ohio rivers, temporarily contaminating drinking water of approx 1 million people in Pa, WV, and Oh. I dont yet have the date of this. It was mentioned in testimony of Mr. Erik D. Olson Senior Strategic Director for Health and Food Natural Resources Defense Council59 This was at the Feb 2014 US Senate hearing into safety of W Va drinking water in the wake of a chemical spill Jan 2014.

57 58

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Boston_gas_surge http://blogs.fas.org/sciencewonk/2013/12/mexican-radiation-accident-ii/ http://blogs.fas.org/security/2013/12/radioactive-theft-mexico-thief-doesnt-know-can-kill/ http://www-pub.iaea.org/mtcd/publications/pdf/pub815_web.pdf 59 I downloaded this 10 page 140k statement, calling it: US Senate 2014 Feb Olson NRDC.

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1988 July North Sea Oil Rig Gas Explosion

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o 167 people died when Occidental Petroleum's Alpha offshore production platform, on the Piper field in the North Sea, exploded after a gas leak.60

1988 Nov 29 Kansas City MO

At 4:07 am two trailers containing approximately 50,000 lb (23,000 kg) of ammonium nitrate exploded at a construction site located near the 87th street exit of Highway 71 in Kansas City, Missouri. The explosives were to be used in the blasting of rock while constructing Highway 71.61 The result of the explosions were the deaths of six firemen from the Kansas City Fire Department's Pumper Companies 30 and 41. Both companies were dispatched after 911 calls indicated that a fire had been set to a pickup truck located near the trailers. The responding companies were warned that there were explosives on-site; however, they were unaware that the trailers were essentially magazines filled with explosives. At 4:07 am one of the "magazines" caught fire and a catastrophic explosion occurred, killing all six firemen instantly only sparing remains were found. A second blast occurred 40 minutes later, although all fire crews had been pulled back at this time. The blasts created two craters, each approximately 100 feet (30 m) wide and 8 feet (2.4 m) deep. The explosions also shattered windows within a 10-mile (16 km) area and could be heard 40 miles (64 km) away. It was later determined that the explosions were acts of arson, set by individuals embroiled in a labor dispute with the construction company contracted to build the highway

1989 Exxon Valdez

1989 had the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska waters. This led Congress to enact the Oil Pollution Act of 1990.62 U.S. Rail Transportation of Crude Oil: Background and Issues for Congress, February 6, 201463 reminds us that spill unloaded 260,000 barrels of oil.

1989 May 12+25 San Bernardino CA Oops and Again

o In my studies of Haiti disaster recovery, I found a clear pattern of rescue efforts, which made disaster victims especially vulnerable to more disasters, keeping the island nation in a permanent state of being a failed nation. I asked if this is an

60 61

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_explosions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/East_Boston_gas_surge 62 See 25 page report = http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/homesec/R43251.pdf I named my copy CRS Spill Response 2014 Jan. I found out about this report here: http://blogs.fas.org/secrecy/2014/01/usmcdrawdown/ 63 http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R43390.pdf 25 pages

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o o

anomaly, or part of the UN state-of-art of humanitarian aid. Other people cited more examples of this being true for other disasters around the world for decades. So here we have a similar situation in the USA, although on a much smaller scale than Haiti. May 12, a runaway train derailed, plowed into a residential neighborhood. 64 Employees of the train company had made multiple errors, which led to a crisis getting worse. It sounds to me like a combination of inadequate record keeping, and inadequate training. During the cleanup, May 25, earth moving equipment ruptured a pipeline, which ran 6 feet under the rail road right of way. The pipeline was marked with stakes, during the cleanup, to try to avoid exactly this happening. The pipeline company halted usage immediately after the derailment, but was under pressure to resume operations as soon as possible, so they did so, before the derailment cleanup was finished. The rupture was detected by the pipe line company, in time to avoid the explosion, but again, a problem with proper training of the people who see instrument readings, and a company cutting cost corners, leads to another disaster.65 Chernobyl was caused by a similar problem. There was a plan to do a test, which should have been communicated to all personnel affected. There was good training for the personnel to do the test. But on the eve of the test, there was a demand by one of the players to have the test delayed, which meant it was done by a later shift of workers, untrained in how to do it correctly. It was an organizational accident avoidable by having senior officials on all relevant shifts, with the authority to either deny the delay, or delay it longer until properly trained people can be available for the relevant shift.

1989 June 4 Ufa Russia Train disaster kills 575

o A pipeline was leaking beside railroad tracks. Three hours before the explosion, engineers noticed a drop in pressure, so they increased the pressure, did not check for leaks. Two passenger trains were passing each other when the explosion, carrying many children associated with a holiday resort. 575 people died and more than 800 were injured. This was the worst railway disaster in Russian history.66

1991 Grand Rapids oil spill.

I am not sure of the month but U.S. Rail Transportation of Crude Oil: Background and Issues for Congress, February 6, 201467 says 40,000 barrels were spilled from a pipeline near Grand Rapids MN.

1992 April 22 Guadalajara Mexico Ten Gas Explosions kill 252

o Officially, by Lloyd's of London accounting, 252 people were killed, nearly 500 injured and 15,000 were left homeless.68
64 65

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Bernardino_train_disaster https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_Bernardino_train_disaster 66 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ufa_train_disaster 67 http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R43390.pdf 25 pages

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o April 19, residents of the area reported strong gas smell. o April 21, investigators say it is not necessary to evacuate the area. o April 22, over a period of approx 1 hour, there are ten explosions.

1993 Milwaukee
There was some kind of disaster contaminating the water supply, similar to the Charleston W Va 2014 January incident.69

1994 Edison, N.J

After the Edison, N.J. explosion injured 29 people, and left hundreds homeless, the NTSB has been recommending that public utilities install equipment which would identify leaks, and remotely shut off gas flowing into the areas where a leak or fire has been identified as occurring. This should happen automatically when sensors detect a problem, and also should be doable from company offices. Instead, in these crises, we have to wait for the company to be notified, then send personnel to the scene to manually shut it down. o Industry officials complain this safety feature is too expensive to install on the more than 2.6 million miles of pipeline already crisscrossing the U.S. 70

1994 Aug 2 - Papua New Guinea

At 9:45 am, 11 workers were killed when the sensitized AN emulsion plant they were working on exploded at the Porgera Gold Mine. The fatal explosion involved at most a few tons of explosive. A larger explosion of about 80 tons of emulsion (Ammonium Nitrate Emulsion, ANE, UN 3375) was caused by fires under storage facilities at the site at 11:02 am. There were no fatalities in the second explosion because the site had been evacuated.71 ANE is an emulsion of ammonium nitrate, fuel and water.

1994 Dec 13 Port Neal IA

At about 6:06 am, two explosions rocked the Port Neal, Iowa, ammonium nitrate processing plant operated by Terra Industries. 4 people were killed and 18 injured. Approximately 5,700 tons of anhydrous ammonia were released and releases of ammonia continued for six days after the explosions. Groundwater under the processing plant was contaminated by chemicals released as a result of the blast. The explosion occurred prior to the arrival of the 8:00 am shift personnel, or the death toll may have been larger72

68 69

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1992_explosion_in_Guadalajara http://blog.al.com/live/2014/01/usa_professor_grad_students_he.html http://www.southce.org/ajwhelton/ 70 http://www.theithacajournal.com/viewart/20121215/NEWS11/312150028/WV-gas-explosion-comesamid-line-shut-off-debate 71 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_nitrate_disasters 72 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_nitrate_disasters

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1996 Threats to US drinking water

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In 1998 the US federal Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) was amended to fund, via the EPA, for all states to identify what chemical facilities existed upstream of water supplies, which would place them at risk, in the event of a leak. Some industries successfully lobbied to be excluded from the process. This evaluation was done, then nothing was done with the info. For example, West Virginia found dozens of high risk sources in the Charleston area, then did nothing about it. This was mentioned in testimony of Mr. Erik D. Olson Senior Strategic Director for Health and Food Natural Resources Defense Council73 This was in association with the W Va water contamination by a chemical spill in Jan 2014.

1998 Dirty Bomb Attempt

Officials in Chechnya in 1998 reportedly defused a booby-trapped explosive connected to radioactive material.74

1998 Jan 6 Xingping Shangxi China

At midnight, the Xinghua Fertilizer company plant had a series of explosions.. About 27.6 tons of Ammonium nitrate liquor was in a container there. The explosion claimed 22 lives, with a further 56 wounded. The explosion was officially announced as an accident.75

1999 Nov San Diego CA

Several public utilities experienced electromagnetic interference to their SCADA wireless networks, so severe that everything had to be managed by hand.76 o The cause of the interference was traced to the radar of a ship 25 miles off the California coast. o In my opinion, it is criminal negligence to be operating SCADA thru wifi, because the state of art cannot protect wifi networks from solar flares and other natural electromagnetic interference, let alone ordinary man made interference.

73

I downloaded this 10 page 140k statement, calling it: US Senate 2014 Feb Olson NRDC. David E. Kaplan and Douglas Pasternak, Terrors Dirty Secret, U.S. News and World Report, December 3, 2001. See downloaded http://cns.miis.edu/opapers/op11/op11.pdf having found out about it here: http://blogs.fas.org/security/2013/12/radioactive-theft-mexico-thief-doesnt-know-can-kill/ CNS = Center for Non-Proliferation Studies. 75 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_nitrate_disasters 76 http://www.wnd.com/2013/01/solar-flares-like-flash-bulbs-at-a-rock-concert/
74

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22 Critical Infrastructure disasters thru 1999 Continued in more documents

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Time Line of these critical infrastructure disasters to be continued in related documents to be named: CI Boom 0 thru 199977 CI Boom 2000 to 200678 CI Boom 200779 CI Boom 2008 to 200980 CI Boom 2010 to 201181 CI Boom 201282 CI Boom 2013 Jan-Mar83 CI Boom 2013 Apr84 CI Boom 2013 May-Dec85 CI Boom 2014 Jan W Va Water86 CI Boom 2014 Jan Later time lines, in history, shall be uploaded to the same SCRIBD Critical Infrastructure collection.87 Revision history will be maintained in the main parent document.

77 78

http://www.scribd.com/doc/203317455/CI-Boom-0-thru-1999 http://www.scribd.com/doc/203688481/CI-Boom-2000-to-2006 79 http://www.scribd.com/doc/204262969/CI-Boom-2007 80 http://www.scribd.com/doc/206714326/CI-Boom-2008-to-2009 81 http://www.scribd.com/doc/206962922/CI-Boom-2010-to-2011 82 http://www.scribd.com/doc/204042682/CI-Boom-2012 83 http://www.scribd.com/doc/204889417/CI-Boom-2013-Jan-to-March 84 http://www.scribd.com/doc/204575461/CI-Boom-2013-April 85 http://www.scribd.com/doc/207356334/CI-Boom-2013-Mar-to-Dec 86 http://www.scribd.com/doc/203973261/CI-Boom-2014-Jan-9-W-Va-Water 87 http://www.scribd.com/collections/4108500/Critical-Infrastructure

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