KC explosion
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University Daily Kansan / Wednesday, November 30, 1988
Understanding the impact
The explosion yesterday morning was powerful, but not as powerful as the 1947 ammonium nitrate accident in Texas City, Texas. That blast destroyed the city and killed 561 people.
Explosive power is commonly measured in kiloton force,where 1,000 tons of TNT equals one kiloton.
The 45,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate that exploded may have been roughly equal to 11 kilotons of TNT
force. The initial explosion of 30,000 pounds would have been a seven kiloton explosion.
Bill Skeet, Dave Stewart/KANSAN
City reacts to effects of explosion, deaths Firefighters somber over losing peer
Firefighters somber over losing peers
By Barbara Joseph
Kansan staff writer
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — About 4 a.m. yesterday. George and Lisa Tyler awoke to a crack and a flash.
and a tash.
They didn't know it was the first explosion of ammonium nitrate at a Kansas City, Mo. highway construction site about a mile away. Nor did they know that the blast had just killed six firemen.
"We didn't know if it was war, a gas leak or a thunderstorm." said George Tyler, 250E. E838 St. , Apt. 2, South. "It was a big solid crack that echoed."
method:
Tyler went across the street to Dodson Sudries, 2511 E. 85th St., where he called his landlord from an outside phone booth. Minutes into the conversation, another blast hit, shattering the plate glass window next to him.
I yelled. I didn't know what happened." Tyler said. "It kind of bleed me back, I said, 'I gotta go check my wife and kid.' When I walked in, my wife was picking our 18-month-old son off the floor. The blast had thrown him several feet."
Authorities said the ammonium nitrate was stored at the site for use in clearing rock in highway construction.
For Dale Horner, owner of Dodson Sundries, the blast meant paying for two large plate glass windows and several small ones. While Horner entertained a steady stream of customers who talked about the blast, he waited for the window repair company.
"It's gotta be in before I go home tonight," he said.
Blocks away at the John Deere Co., 3210 E. 83th St., Dan Louden, personnel manager, talked with a repairman in an office where window blinds blew back and forth in the open
"I'll work through the night so we can be in operation tomorrow," Louden said.
Louden said almost every window in front was blown out. The sales office had been remodeled only a year ago. In the lobby, workers repaired a ceiling that had just been remodeled Monday.
remodeled Monday.
"We were one of the closest and hardest hit," Louden said. "When I first walked in here, it was a mess. I just about wanted to cry."
Firemen at the two stations that dispatched the six firemen were solemn. They watched television for updates and talked among themselves.
At fire station 41, 5700 E. Bannist Road, the flag was at half-staff. Tony Dovark, fire truck
George Tyler Kansas City, Mo. resident
w,
'We didn't know if it was war, a gas leak or a thunderstorm. It was a big solid crack that echoed.'
driver, was on the C shift that would have relieved the three firemen at 7 a.m. He had known the men about 20 years.
"It could have happened on A, B or C shift," he said. "It's unfortunate it happened to them. This is a real dangerous job, but you never expect something like this to happen to you or the people you know."
At station 30, 7534 Prospect Ave., a large window was shattered, another was cracked and the Plexiglas enacending the watch office had separated. The men were reflecting on the family-like relationships that develop among firemen and feeling grateful their lives had been spared.
Fire truck driver Errol Ballance anticipated his wife would want him to retire because of the accident. Ballance, who was filling in from another station, has 25 years on the force. That's enough to retire, but he wants to work five more.
"My wife came unglued this morning when she heard the firemen got killed," he said. "It makes me think about quitting, believe it. It don't take but one run and it's all over."
At the command center, 71 Highway and Bannister Road, the Salvation Army had set up an emergency service canteen, and three Red Cross trucks stood by. No one but investigators was allowed at the explosion site, less than two miles away.
John Germann, 107th battalion chief, said the incident would put some firemen on edge when they received calls of a similar nature. The firemen had responded to a truck-on-fire call, only to be faced by explosives. They had no time to think.
"It will take awhile to get over this," Germann said. "We won't go crazy because we'll talk about it. We call it post-mortem. We learned that after the Hyatt Regency Hotel collapsed."
BLAST
Continued from p. 1
Firefighters were already at the construction site when the explosions rocked the area about a 4 m.2 security guards at the site had called them when they noticed a pickup truck on fire, Knabe said.
Investigators said they suspected the fires were arson, but had no clear motive. They said the fires did not appear to be professionally set.
Labor union officials and contractors said there had been no problems at the site, where demolition is occurring to clear a path for a highway.
Security guards reported seeing someone and went to investigate. Knabe said. When it returned, he heard their piece trucks burning and called firemen.
Three firefighters arrived with a pumper truck at 3:45 a.m. Knabe said they noticed another fire in the construction trailer and called for more help.
By the time the second pumper with three more firefighters arrived, the pickup was out and both trucks went to the other fire.
Germany was about to order the firefighters to pull back when the first blast occurred, Mills said.
Germann estimated the firefighters were about 30 to 40 feet from the burning trailer.
"He saw a strange burning pattern," said Mills. "He was just in the process of ordering his firefighters out when the explosion hit."
Investigators said they suspected the fires were arson, but had no clear motive. They said the fires did not appear to be professionally set. Labor union officials and contractors said there had been no problems at the site, where demolition is occurring to clear a path for a highway.
ine explosions occurred at a construction site on the southern edge of Kansas City, about $ _{1/2} $ miles northwest of Bannister Mall, one of the area's busiest shopping malls. Several quarries are located adjacent to the highway construction site.
Construction workers had been blasting in the area to clear rocks for a freeway project.
The dead firefighters were identified as Capt. Gerald C. Halleran, 57; Capt. James Kliverton Jr., 54; firefighters Thomas M. Fry, 41; Luther E. Hurd, 31; and Michael R. Oldham, 32; and Robert D. McKarinn, 42, a fire apparatus operator.
The accident was the worst in the fire department's history. Five firefighters were killed in a 1959 gasoline storage tank explosion.
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