Little General Store Propane Explosion - US Chemical Safety and ...

Little General Store September 2008
3.2 Recent Propane Incidents
Since the explosion in Ghent, several similar propane release incidents have occurred in the United States.
The CSB researched five incidents similar to the Little General incident (see Appendix C).
Three incidents involved only propane releases and two involved releases and flash fires. In the three
release-only incidents, both firefighters and propane service technicians responded. A propane service
technician secured one of the incident tanks, and firefighters trained in hazardous materials response
secured the other two. No injuries occurred in these incidents.
The two incidents involving releases and flash fires both occurred at sites where propane service
technicians were involved in tank-to-tank transfers of liquid propane. In these cases, fire departments
responded, and in both incidents destroyed the structures located nearest the propane tanks. One flash fire
injured a person onsite. The other killed one propane service technician and severely injured two others.
Firefighters, propane service technicians, or both regularly respond to propane release incidents. The
successful mitigation of a release depends on the training and experience of both groups.
Additionally, shortly before the Ghent incident, a liquid propane release and explosion occurred at the
Falk Corporation facility in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on December 6, 2006. Employees discovered a pool
of liquid propane near a propane pipeline. Most employees began evacuating; three remained to attempt
to repair the leak. About 10 minutes after the pool of propane had been discovered, it ignited, killing the
three employees and injuring over 40 others. OSHA cited Falk and its piping contractor for failing to
prepare employees for emergencies involving liquid propane.
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