Fires and explosions

Citation

(2000), "Fires and explosions", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 9 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2000.07309eac.003

Fires and explosions

Fires and explosions

12 January 2000 – Xiangtan, China

A fire at a hotel in central China killed 12 people and left 18 others hospitalised with injuries, a state newspaper said yesterday. The fire broke out on Sunday evening (January 9) in a third-floor beauty parlour at the Golden Spring Hotel in Xiangtan, a city in Hunan province, and spread through the three floors above, the Liberation Daily newspaper said. It took 800 firefighters with 20 trucks more than an hour to put out the blaze, the newspaper said.

21 January 2000 – Flint, Michigan, USA

Hundreds were evacuated from their homes when a propane train car caught fire early today near several other tankers in a CSX rail yard in Flint, Michigan, raising fears of an explosion. There were no immediate reports of injuries. Witnesses described flames shooting out of a valve on the tanker, much like a massive wood stove. The tanker contained about 33,000 gallons of liquid propane. The tanker began leaking propane and started to burn about 0345 hrs. Officials said it was linked to 54 other cars carrying about a half-million gallons of propane. Crews managed to separate all of the cars attached to the burning car by 0930 hrs. Police said they evacuated hundreds of homes adjacent to the industrial area. The fire also forced two Flint schools and the entire nearby Beecher school district to close for the day. A two-mile stretch of Interstate 475 also was closed. Officials said they were waiting for crews skilled in fighting such fires to arrive from Jacksonville, Florida, and Houston. Wiggins said it could be 24 hours until the propane safely burns off. Investigators did not immediately know the cause of the fire.

23 January 2000 – A fire inside a propane-filled train car burned out today, ending a tense 24 hours in which scores of homes were evacuated, two schools were closed and an interstate was shut down. No injuries were reported. Flames were spotted spewing from a valve in the tanker at the CSX rail yard Friday morning (January 21). Fire officials, fearing it would ignite half a million gallons of propane in 54 other cars, or explode, ordered 600 people from their homes and shut down nearby Interstate 475. Early yesterday, firefighters started a "vent and burn" procedure – explosives were used to blow holes in the top and bottom of the car to release pressure and gas – that allowed the fire to burn out more rapidly, Fire Chief Theron Wiggins said. Residents were allowed back into neighbourhoods near the rail yard at about 0230 hrs.

9 February 2000 – Ogwe, Nigeria

A youth set fire to an oil pipeline during a dispute, killing 17 people in eastern Nigeria, news reports said today. Witnesses said a group of people were standing in a pit Monday (February 7) in the village of Ogwe, siphoning off fuel from the pipeline, when a young man asked to join, the Lagos Concord reported. When the group refused to make room, he lit a match that triggered a large explosion, the paper said. Fire filled the pit and spread for more than 500 yards; 15 people were killed right away and two more died on the way to hospital, the paper said. More than 20 others were injured, many of them seriously. The fire had burned out by yesterday. There were no immediate arrests.

9 February 2000 – Jilin Province, China

A gas explosion in a Chinese coal pit has killed five miners and 11 are missing, state media reported today. The accident happened in the north-eastern province of Jilin on Wednesday (February 9) as miners were attempting to extinguish a fire in the Tong'an coal mine, the China Daily said. Rescue attempts had been thwarted by fires still raging in the pit.

15 February 2000 – North London, UK

About 20 people were missing after an explosion wrecked half of a four-storey block of flats in north London today, the fire brigade said. At least 60 firefighters were fighting a blaze which started shortly after 2000, a spokeswoman said.

BBC television said the block of flats was near a British Territorial Army base. Early media reports said the explosion was believed to have been caused by a gas leak. A London Fire Brigade spokeswoman said about 60 firefighters were fighting a blaze at the scene. The explosion occurred shortly after 2000, UTC, she said. "About 20 persons in the flats are involved" the spokeswoman said.

She said no other details were immediately available. The block of flats is in the north London district of Holloway.

22 February 2000 – Dacheng County, Hebei Province, China

Firecracker peddlers caused an explosion that destroyed a northern Chinese town market and killed 11 people, an official newspaper said today. The blast on Thursday (February’17) in Dacheng County, of the Hebei Province, destroyed 11 vehicles after most of the firecracker stalls in the market caught fire, the China Daily said. Most of those killed were shoppers and pedestrians, and 30 people were injured, it said, but did not give details.