LP-Gas Tank Explosion Kills Two Volunteer Firefighters (Carthage, Illinois - October 2, 1997)

On Thursday October 2, 1997, two Carthage, Illinois Fire Department volunteer firefighters died, one was seriously injured, and another was injured when a horizontal liquefied petroleum gas (LP-Gas) tank BLEVE’d (Boiling Liquid Expanding Vapor Explosion). The rocketing tank struck them as they prepared to advance pre-connected hoselines from their high-pressure fog pumper about eight minutes after their arrival. The first fire company to arrive on the scene to a reported dryer fire found not only the grain dryer fire but also 30 to 40 foot intermittent fire plumes from the safety relief valves on two 1,000 gallon LP-Gas tanks, and a fully involved field tractor. Deciding on a direct attack, the first-in fire officer positioned the engine and firefighters behind a large grain silo 100 feet away from the burning tanks. But the engine’s tailboard extended beyond the silo’s vertical edge and was nearly inline with the end of one of the tanks. Three of the firefighters were advancing around the rear of the tailboard when a large tank section struck them.

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Reproduced from Report 120 of the Major Fires Investigation Project conducted by Varley-Campbell and Associates, Inc./TriData Corporation under contract EME-97-CO-0506 to the United States Fire Administration, Federal Emergency Management Agency. Reported by: Thomas H. Miller, P.E., Michael W. Lackman

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