Lack of awareness of the dangers from ammonium nitrate despite published guidelines and earlier similar historical tragedies caused the tragedies at the port of Texas City on Galveston Bay. Two explosions of ammonium nitrate fertilizer shattered Texas City and its surrounding area beginning on the morning of April 16, 1947. In the first explosion the …
In the dying days of World War II inferior materials, because of war shortages, were used to repair a gas tank. It exploded, killing 135 and injuring one hundred others. In the dying days of World War II when all the media were concentrated on the final outcomes in Germany and Japan, a massive gas …
Cleveland Gas Explosion – Ohio – October 21, 1944 Read More »
The explosion that ensued was one of the world’s greatest prior to the arrival of atomic bombs. It shattered the port of Halifax and surrounding area. The death toll was 1,600, while 9,000 others were injured, and 6,000 homes were destroyed. Two ships were approaching Halifax harbor on the morning of December 6, 1917, one …
Halifax Explosion – Nova Scotia – Canada – December 6, 1917 Read More »
Monongah was an exceptional example of the great risks that have always faced miners. While some reduction in risks has occurred as technological improvements are brought into use, the risks still remain at an unacceptably high level. Pennsylvania and West Virginia were major producers of coal in the early years of the twentieth century. In …
Monongah Explosion – Pennsylvania – December 6, 1907 Read More »
The theater that was claimed to be fireproof went up in flames shortly after its first opening. Of the 1,900 people in attendance six hundred lost their lives. Chicago’s deadliest fire of the twentieth century occurred shortly after the opening of the new, fireproof, Iroquois Theater. On December 30, 1903, when the Iroquois Theater was packed …
A bigger fire, compared with all the previous ones, broke out in the center of the city of Chicago. Inability of firemen to get to the fire quickly gave the flames a quick start from which, aided by a brisk wind, they were able to push the fire beyond the control of the fire department. …