CSB Safety Video: Half an Hour to Tragedy

Four people were killed and five others were seriously injured when propane vapors from a storage tank ignited and exploded at the Little General convenience store and gas station in Ghent, West Virginia. Propane was used as fuel inside the building, which was completely destroyed.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• CSB
• USCSB
• West
• Virginia
• Ghent
• Propane
• Explosion
• Chemical
• Safety
• Video

[Firekatmeow]

Very tragic, on any gas leak you evacuate people right away, you don't act like it's no big deal that your in standing around in a major amount of propane... They should have yelled at them from a distance and got out of there and set up command at a safe distance.

[chancepokes]

This is so sad...thank you CSB for posting these videos so us student engineers can learn from the mistakes of others and remember them so that they are never repeated.

[spotlightman1234]

dumb!!

[GopherMPH]

Beyond anything else, I cannot understand why the employees in the store didn't leave/evacuate.

[sctrep]

i drove by this place every day. hard to believe. it happened

[xtronec]

no doubt. that is a A violation, and you are as much responsible as anyone who was there that day.

[xtronec]

this is 100% the fault of the service guy that didnt realise the liquid withdrawl valve was not working, if it was me i would have used my boom truck to pick that thing up and put it in the middle of a field if i couldnt get it stopped, if that ever happens to you, sue your pump hose with the valve open to let pressure out while you attah the hose, then close it.

[h3llfr0st]

lol tyty was right is saw the shit right after it happened and the dam blue icecream machine dint fuckin budge an ambulance was torn in half but the mr.freeze had only scratches....wtf

[mpwelk]

Man, cigs are cheap in WV - $3.15!

[Penazzi]

Incredible how this tragedy unfolded from a small act into a catastrophe. It just goes to show that with all those people around and some with specialist training in saving lives that common sense doesn't always prevail and that there was plenty of time to save those that were killed...if only someone had of realised sooner to order an evacuation.