List of pipeline accidents in the United States before 1900
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The following is not a complete list of natural gas and petroleum product accidents before 1900, which run into the thousands. The oil and gas industry was as yet unregulated, so leaks and explosions were not tracked in an organized fashion except by city fire departments. Many natural gas accidents were not recorded unless they occurred in population centers with newspapers to report them.[1]
In the twentieth century, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), a U.S. Department of Transportation agency, would be established to develop and enforce regulations for the safe and environmentally sound operation of the United States' pipelines, and to collect data on pipeline leaks, accidents, and explosions.[2]
1860
- A manufacturer was marketing a portable or domestic gas works to produce gas from coal for a household beyond the reach of city gas lines. The “gasometer” was about six feet in diameter and five or six feet deep, and worked something like a cook stove.[3] In March 1860, a "gasometer" exploded during a fire at New Orleans, Louisiana. Two men were burned to death, but the building was saved.[4]
1861
- April 18 – In Tidioute, Pennsylvania, benzene escaping from a newly drilled oil well rose 50 feet in the air and was ignited by the engine of another well 400 rods away. In a second the air was aflame with a roar like artillery. “As soon as the gas took fire, the head of the jet of oil was in a furious blaze, and falling like water from a fountain over a space 100 feet in diameter; each drop came down a blazing globe of boiling oil. Instantly the ground was aflame.” The men and boys working on the site were set on fire; 15 died and 34 were injured.[5] Another source says this occurred at Titusville, Warren County, Pennsylvania, and the drill pipe was 5½ inches in diameter.[6]
1862
- April 17 – In Eaton, Ohio, a supposed vandal left in charge of the “gas-o-meter” set off an explosion that damaged a local business.[7]
1863
- May 1 – Workmen remodeling a house in San Francisco, California accidentally broke a gas pipe. Not knowing where the meter was to turn off the gas, they plugged the open pipe with a piece of bottle cork, then held a candle close to see if the pipe was still leaking. It was. The resulting explosion burned a woman and three men, and shook the neighboring buildings, whose inhabitants thought they were having an earthquake.[8]
- November 22 – A gas explosion took place in a building occupied by the U.S. provost marshal at New Orleans, Louisiana. Workmen refitting the gas fixtures had neglected to shut off the gas completely so as soon as a match was lighted, the gas exploded with a noise like an earthquake and did great damage to the building. No one was seriously injured.[9]
1866
- January – In Covington, Kentucky, a fruit storage warehouse's gas line broke and the building filled with natural gas which exploded when a workman with a light in his hand entered the building. Property damage was estimated at $40,000.[10]
- March 23 – In Cincinnati, Ohio, an opera house and newspaper office were destroyed by an explosion thought to have been caused by a leaking gas pipe that ignited. The resulting fire spread, destroying several other buildings and their contents, for a total loss of $2 million in property damage.[11]
- April – A Baltimore, Maryland barber shop was destroyed and its occupants injured when a leaking gas pipe under the floor exploded, throwing them against the ceiling. An adjacent jewelry shop, cigar store and hotel were also damaged.[12]
1867
- June 1 – In Washington, D.C., two men searching the Clarendon Hotel with a lantern, looking for a gas leak, found it when it exploded, shattering walls and injuring the engineers and two watermen.[13]
- July 30 – In Gloucester, Massachusetts, three gas explosions occurred at a mansion house on the cove. By the time of the last explosion, at least 15 firemen and others had been badly burned; one died from his injuries.[14]
1868
- 1868 – The Detroit Gas Company, suffering from a serious leak in their main pipe, and having discovered the probable locality, began digging down to the pipe, building a fire to thaw the ground. An explosion ensued, but the workmen were not seriously injured.[15]
- December 5 – In Cleveland, Ohio, a gas explosion and subsequent fire destroyed a house and all its contents. The homeowner set it off when he carried a candle into a cellar where he noticed a faint smell of gas. All five family members escaped with minor burns.[16]
1869
- May 19 – A gas explosion blew a Brooklyn, New York woman out of her house through a window and onto a shed, where she landed unhurt. A gasfitter working in her apartment had set off the blast when escaping gas reached his lighted lamp.[17]
- May 27 – A large gas holder at the Cincinnati Gas Works holding 375,000 cubic feet of natural gas, exploded just after 20 workmen left the site. The explosion killed one painter still onsite, and broke glass nearly half a mile away. The cause was unknown.[18]
- December 7 – In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, while the Commercial Exchange Association building was being lit up in the evening, a large chandelier in the upper hallway fell, breaking the gas pipe that supplied it. The gas ignited and seconds later the building was on fire. The nearly new $250,000 building was gutted, but everyone escaped.[19]
1870s
1870
- November – In San Francisco, California, the wealthy Chinese doctor Li-Po-Tai and another man suffered severe flash burns and scorched lungs when an unsecured gas jet filled a room with natural gas that ignited when a match was lit. The elegant home was damaged and a third man was injured when he fell down the stairs trying to escape.[20]
- December 19 – In Cincinnati, Ohio, natural gas-holder number 5 exploded at the Cincinnati Gas Works, shaking the city. When it was destroyed, it was holding 450,000 cubic feet of gas valued at $75,000. The total loss was estimated at $100,000. There were no deaths in the explosion but one man was “slightly burned.” The gas-holder's predecessor was destroyed in similar fashion in May 1869.[21]
1871
- February 6 – The Brooklyn, New York gasworks were destroyed by an explosion that blew up one of the large natural gas tanks, knocked its supports onto a neighboring tenement, and killed three employees. Property damage was estimated at $150,000.[22]
- March – A fifteen-year-old boy playing on an unused gas-holder opened its hatch and threw in a match; the resulting explosion killed him and may have blown his companions into a nearby river.[23]
- December 23 – A natural gas leak or an open stop-cock at the purifying house of the New York Metropolitan Gas Company's works ignited and exploded, destroying the building and smashing windows in a nearby tenement. Further destruction was prevented by a quick-thinking employee who immediately shut down the gas mains. Property damage of $30,000.[24]
- December 26 – An oil well at Shrubgrass, Pennsylvania, caught fire from a gas explosion while drilling occurred, severely burning six men.[25]
1872
- November 9 – Downtown Boston, Massachusetts burned after a gas explosion on Summer Street started a fire which strong winds whipped across the business district. Nearly every building was consumed in 70 acres of Boston. Hundreds of men, women, and children were displaced from their homes, rushing away from the advancing fire with nothing but what they could carry and the clothes on their backs. The following day, fires broke out again due to gas explosions where pipes continued to leak because the gas company had not shut down the gas supply to what remained of the downtown. The fire burned into a third day before it was brought under control. Casualties included firefighters and soldiers burned fighting the fire and a woman injured when she jumped out of a second-story window to escape the flames. Property damage was estimated at $100 million.[26]
1873
- May 8 – In Brooklyn, New York, a careless plumber upgrading gas pipes in a residence left the gas leaking when he ended work for the day, and when it ignited, three children barely escaped the fire with their lives.[27]
1874
- January 20 – A knitting mill in Bennington, Vermont caught fire from a leaking gasoline pipe and exploded. The blast lifted the roof and burst out the walls so that the roof fell back, crushing the operatives trapped below as the debris caught fire, killing nine women and injuring seven employees badly.[28]
1875
- December 22 – The five-inch diameter gas main running under Federal Street and its bridge to South Boston exploded, tearing up the pavement for 175 feet. The street was thronged with people at the time and many were buried under the debris. Eyewitnesses reported a bright flash of light about midway across the causeway, followed by an explosion, with paving stones and gravel flying in all directions. Immediately thereafter the side of the causeway over the gas main collapsed into the river, carrying several people into the water. There were 16 known casualties and an unknown number of others missing; searchers were dragging the river for bodies.[29] On December 29, investigators determined that the natural gas explosion in South Boston was caused by a careless gas company employee leaving a drip-cock of the gas main open, allowing gas to escape until something ignited it.[30] On December 23, the death toll was estimated to be 5; one or two of the wounded had a doubtful prognosis.[31]
1876
- December 25 – A plumber left gas pipes insecure after repairing a gas meter in the basement of the American Exchange Bank at the corner of Broadway and Cedar Street in New York. When the night watchman later opened the door, the gas exploded, damaging neighboring buildings as well as the bank. Several fires ensued but firefighters put them out before they could spread. The night watchman was hospitalized for his injuries.[32]
1877
- August – The Brooklyn, New York fire marshal reported 35 fires in the city, two caused by gas explosions.[33]
1878
- April 29 – In Detroit, Michigan, the explosion of a gas main leading into the Detroit Free Press building set the building on fire and routing all the employees at 5:40 a.m. The burning gas, ascending through the stairways, ignited every floor of two four-story brick buildings, which were gutted by the fire at a loss of $40,000.[34]