A SERIES OF EXPLOSIONS FOLLOWED BY A LARGE FIRE wracked a Delaware County, Pennsylvania, welding supply firm Wednesday afternoon. The fire involved propane leaking from two large storage tanks (30,000-gal. and 18,000 gal.) that had vented and presented a large danger to the industrial park and neighborhood nearby. The fire began with a series of explosions shortly after noon that continued for about a half-hour.
The fire response soon reached six alarms as a 1,000-ft. perimeter for firefighters and 3,000-ft. evacuation zone was established by the fire command and master streams were used to keep the propane tanks cooled. The fire itself was extinguished at 6 pm, but units remained on the scene all night controlling the hot spots. All the evacuees were allowed to return to their homes at midnight. About 400 firefighters attended the blaze.
WTXF-TV Ch. 29 provided this aerial video taken from their helicopter:
So far there are five known injuries with one in critical but stable condition from burns. Three of the other four were treated and released.
The fire also had a tragic side effect for the fire/rescue community. Among the several nearby buildings in the industrial park that burned down from the exposure to the main fire, one was a storage building that housed several antique fire trucks owned by members of the Cradle of Liberty Antique Fire Apparatus Association. (Firegeezer recently reported on their annual muster HERE.) The owner of the building, George Kaiser owned most of them as well as a large personal collection of antique fire artifacts. This aerial view of the fire taken by WTXF-TV’s helicopter shows Kaiser’s building as the one with the blue roof on the left side of the image:
The loss as posted on the Cradle of Liberty AFAA’s WEBSITE is given as:
- 1974 International Pierce Mini-Pumper
- 1969 Hahn, 19?? Mack L-model 4 door pumper
- International Sqrt Industrial/Refinery truck
- A very rare 1929 Day-Elder firetruck
Currently it is believed, but not yet confirmed, that the fire began inside the welding supply depot when a forklife operator dropped four 100-lb propane tanks that broke and triggered the initial flash and started the fire. Over the course of the blaze, literally hundreds of compressed gas cylinders inside the building exploded. The investigators should be able to begin looking into the cause of the fire sometime today.
Local news Delco Daily Times has a good report HERE.
STATter911 has more plus additional videos HERE.
Philly Fire News has their always-good coverage HERE.
The Philadelphia Inquirer has MORE.
The Philadelphia Daily News has a REPORT.
There may be updates filed to this report. Check back later.
Also on FireGeezer…
- Do Not Drill Into the Propane Lines – August 19, 2011
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