|
Texas City business district in 1947.
|
Introduction
It was a whole different world in 1947. In the U.S., the economy grew since the Great Depression. World War II had ended just two years before. The G.I. Bill of Rights afforded returning servicemen the opportunity of higher education and home ownership. Marriages increased and with it came a boom of babies. A new house cost, on average, $6,600; a new car, $1,300; and a U.S. postage stamp was 3 cents. Optimism was high. The American Dream was alive and well.
Like the rest of the U.S., Texas City, Texas, also was booming—with shipping, oil, gas, and chemical industries. But today if we search the Internet for 1947, the list of remarkable events usually includes what some call the worst industrial accident in the 20th century.
Texas City was devastated by the April 16 explosion of ammonium nitrate on board the SS Grandcamp. The ship's cargo included ammonium nitrate (2600 tonnes), which had been used for explosives during the war and afterward was repurposed as fertilizer.
|
|
Ground zero.
|
Series of Events
The ammonium nitrate was mixed with clay, petrolatum, rosin, and paraffin to avoid caking, then was packaged in paper sacks. It was transported and stored at temperatures that increased its chemical activity—exothermic reaction, a chemical reaction that releases energy as heat and can lead to explosion. Longshoremen said the bags were warm to the touch as they were being loaded.
Around 8 AM April 16, smoke was seen in the ship's cargo hold and was not extinguishable with a gallon jug of drinking water nor the contents of two fire extinguishers. An hour later, the hold was closed and steamed to try to put out any fire but not destroy other cargo (ammunition for small arms, drilling equipment, peanuts, tobacco, cotton, and bales of sisal).
The compressed steam in the hold blew off hatch covers and beautiful orange smoke billowed out. The activity and smoke grew hundreds of spectators on the quay to within a few hundred feet from the ship. At least one person, a chemical company employee, suspected the orange color signaled nitrate--and danger.
Steaming the hold did not stop the runaway reaction, neither did closing the hold to limit oxygen (ammonium nitrate does not require oxygen to burn). Onlookers reported seeing the water of Galveston Bay boiling around the ship, and the cargo hold and deck bulged from the forces inside. A stream of water sprayed onto the deck immediately turned to steam.
Just after 9 AM, the initial explosion from the SS Grandcamp occurred and was heard 150 miles away. It was followed by two other explosions from the Grandcamp and those from other sources. Fires burned for a week.
|
|
Near the Texas City shoreline at the port.
|
Effects of the Disaster
The SS Grandcamp's initial explosion was felt in Galveston (10 miles away) where people were brought to their knees and plate glass windows shattered and in Houston (40 miles) where windows shattered. The blast registered as an earthquake in Colorado, and people in Louisiana (200 miles) felt the shock. Because industrial complexes in the area were connected by pipelines, fires and explosion quickly spread. Effects included:
- Almost 600 people died, including the city's entire volunteer fire fighting department; thousands were injured
- 500 homes were leveled
- The Grandcamp's two-ton anchor was thrown some 1.62 miles (2.61 km) and was found in a 10-foot (3-m) crater; another five-ton anchor flew a half mile (800 m) to the entrance of the Texas City Dike
- A tidal wave more than 15 feet high engulfed the immediate area 150 feet inland, pushing a large steel barge onshore and dragging some of the dead and injured into Galveston Bay
- Two small planes flying at 1,500 feet (460 m) were knocked out of the sky
- Pieces of shrapnel damaged nearby oil refineries, pipelines and tanks of flammable liquids; flaming debris (sisal and cotton) set fires, and a Monsanto chemical storage facility exploded, killing 235
- The SS High Flyer (loaded with 2000 tons of sulfur and 961 tons of ammonium nitrate) was torn from its moorings and soon exploded with more force than the Grandcamp, taking a nearby ship, the Wilson B Keene, with her
- Warehouse (Piers) "A" and "B" collapsed
- Industrial properties suffered $28 million in damage ($267+ million in 2009 valuation), which included Monsanto Chemical Co., Texas City Terminal Railway Co., Union Carbide, Sid Richardson Refining Co.
- "Other Losses" included dwellings and contents, city and school property, and cars totaled almost $33 million ($312+ million in 2009 valuation)
- The U.S. Congress granted compensation to 1,394 victims who received $17 million in 1955 (almost $135 million in 2009 valuation)
|
|
View from a rooftop in Galveston, Texas.
|
The Cause
The time of origin and the cause of the fire are classified as not known in the official, joint report of the Fire Prevention and Engineering Bureau of Texas and the National Board of Fire Underwriters. However, the report also says that:
- It is possible that a cigarette could have been dropped into the hold
- It is probable that the smoldering might have been extinguished if large amounts of water had been dumped into the hold when it was first noticed
Officially, cigarette smoking had been banned on the docks but continued to be a common practice among longshoremen.
|
|
|
Conclusions
The official report made several conclusions, including:
- Little was known about the hazards of ammonium nitrate by anyone in handling or storage
- False security was engendered by improper labeling of the paper bags; the bags had no printed instructions regarding handling the material nor that it was a hazardous chemical
- Smoking and open lights should be prohibited in piers or on docks regardless of the cargo
- Any port facility and city with large industrial operations should have a complete disaster plan that anticipates the worst possible disaster at any one location
- Port facilities that receive ships' manifests for hazardous cargo should immediately notify the chief of the fire department
- Recommendations were made for ammonium nitrate storage, handling, and fire-fighting operations.
|
|
Aerial view of the port area before the 1947 Texas City disaster
Aerial view of the port area after the 1947 Texas City disaster
|
Lessons Learned
Lessons learned from this unfortunate incident include:
-
Emergency response, all too often, too little is done too late
Our recommendation is to overreact--get the emergency fully under control and then evaluate further requirements. The accident was not understood in advance of it occurring, so teams were not prepared for the emergency. Emergency preparedness should be based on the worst credible accidents. Teams, emergency services, and communities should be involved in emergency preparedness, including emergency response exercises and drills.
-
Escalation was not understood
Therefore, the hazards of escalation were not addressed by land planning or emergency response. Escalation was a huge problem that affected the crowd of inquisitive spectators, other vessels (in the harbor and in the sky), and industrial facilities in the vicinity.
|
|
One positive result is that disaster response planning became widespread to provide organized and coordinated responses to emergencies.
The port was rebuilt to handle only oil and gas products. A memorial park was constructed in remembrance to all those who died, those who survived, and those who rendered aid.
The report referenced herein was dedicated to "the people of Texas City and their heroic firemen whose tragic disaster, we pray, will be a lesson to those who say 'it can't happen here.'"
1947 Texas City Disaster Memorial Wall. Moore Memorial Public Library. Digital image online at http://www.texascity-library.org/TCDisasterExhibit/tc1947p21.htm Accessed 29 April 2010.
|
References
Fertlizer explosion kills 581 in Texas. This Day in History. Online at http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/fertilizer-explosion-kills-581-in-texas Accessed 09 April 2010
Perry, David. (2002) The Texas City Explosion of 1947. essortment. Online at http://www.essortment.com/all/texascityexplo_rkvi.htm Accessed 08 April 2010
The Inflation Calculator. Online at http://www.westegg.com/inflation/ Accessed 28 April 2010
Texas City Disaster. Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Online at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_City_Disaster Accessed 08 April 2010.
The Texas City Disaster April 16, 1947. Online at http://www.local1259iaff.org/disaster.html Accessed 28 April 2010
The Texas City, Texas, Disaster April 16, 17, 1947. Report by the Fire Prevention and Engineering Bureau of Texas (Dallas, Texas) and the National Board of Fire Underwriters (New York). Online at http://www.local1259iaff.org/report.htm Accessed 28 April 2010
Photo Credits
Texas City business district in 1947. The 1947 Texas city Disaster, April 16 & 17, 1947. Moore Memorial Public Library. Digital photograph online at http://www.texascity-library.org/TCDisasterExhibit/tc1947p3.htm Accessed 29 April 2010.
Ground zero. The Texas City Disaster April 16, 1947. Texas City Fire Fighters Local 1259.
Online at http://www.local1259iaff.org/disaster.html Accessed 28 April 2010.
Near the Texas City shoreline at the port. Photograph, April 16, 1947; digital image, Creator unknown. University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History. Online at http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth11683 Accessed 28 April 2010.
View from a rooftop in Galveston, Texas. Photograph, April 16, 1947; digital image, Creator unknown. University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History. Online at http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth11803 Accessed 28 April 2010).
Aerial view of the port area before the 1947 Texas City disaster. Photograph April 15, 1947, Creator unknown. University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History. Digital image online at http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth11846 Accessed 29 April 2010.
Aerial view of the port area after the 1947 Texas City disaster. Creator unknown. University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History. Digital image online at http://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth11730/ Accessed 29 April 2010.
Videos
KHOU Television Houston. (n.d.) Texas City Explosion 2. Online at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8_KaWg5bI8&feature=related (3:47 min) Accessed 27 April 2010
KHOU Television Houston. (n.d.) Texas City Explosion. Online at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TworcINhDhQ&feature=related (3:28 min) Accessed 27 April 2010
Texas Department of Public Safety. (16 April 1947) Texas City Disaster Aftermath Part 1 1947. Online at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KM7zRSxt584&feature=related (9:03 min) Accessed 27 April 2010
Texas Department of Public Safety. (16 April 1947) Texas City Disaster Aftermath Part 2 1947. Online at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEaV0lx7XlA (6:53 min) Accessed 27 April 2010
The Day Texas city turned Into A Fiery Hell. Online at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cHIgFaxLys&feature=related (2:51 min) Accessed 27 April 2010
|
|
Contact IRC Risk and Safety, part of the ERM group and a global leader in consulting assessments of engineering design and operations safety for hazardous facilities. IRC conducts facility siting, consequence analysis, process hazard assessments, hazard identification, and a host of other safety and hazard analyses.
|