Little General Store Propane Explosion - US Chemical Safety and ...
Little General Store Propane Explosion - US Chemical Safety and ...
Little General Store Propane Explosion - US Chemical Safety and ...
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<strong>Little</strong> <strong>General</strong> <strong>Store</strong> September 2008<br />
2.0 Incident Description<br />
2.1 Events Preceding January 30, 2007 <strong>Explosion</strong><br />
Significant events preceding the January 30, 2007, explosion at the Ghent <strong>Little</strong> <strong>General</strong> <strong>Store</strong> include<br />
1. 1988 - Southern Sun buys the incident tank <strong>and</strong> places it in propane service.<br />
2. Late 1994 - Southern Sun relocates the incident tank from its original installation to the <strong>Little</strong> <strong>General</strong><br />
<strong>Store</strong> in Ghent <strong>and</strong> installs it against the store’s exterior back wall. 11<br />
3. 1996 - Ferrellgas buys the Southern Sun propane business <strong>and</strong> performs a pre-acquisition review of<br />
the business <strong>and</strong> operations, including an inspection of some of Southern Sun’s propane systems.<br />
4. 1996 to 2007 - Ferrellgas drivers fill the incident tank about 14 times per year conducting about 140<br />
pre-fill inspections.<br />
5. April <strong>and</strong> June 2000 – Ferrellgas employees perform two Installation Reviews (Appendix A) on the<br />
propane system at <strong>Little</strong> <strong>General</strong>.<br />
6. August 2005 – Thompson Gas <strong>and</strong> Electric Service, Inc. <strong>and</strong> Appalachian Heating form the business<br />
ThompsonGas <strong>Propane</strong> Partners, LLC.<br />
11 At the time of the installation, West Virginia <strong>and</strong> OSHA required 500-gallon propane tanks to be at least 10 feet<br />
from buildings; however, Raleigh County had no code enforcement mechanism at that time.<br />
13