The deadly secret behind the Lac-Mégantic inferno

[mahatmakanejeeves]

Last edited Wed Dec 4, 2013, 01:33 PM - Edit history (1)

Hat tip: Trainorders (author, "1&quot

Eastern Railroad Discussion > story about dakota crude being explosive
http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?2,3252461

The deadly secret behind the Lac-Mégantic inferno
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/energy-and-resources/the-hazardous-history-of-the-oil-that-levelled-lac-megantic/article15733700/?page=all

JACQUIE McNISH AND GRANT ROBERTSON
The Globe and Mail
Published Tuesday, Dec. 03 2013, 5:31 AM EST
Last updated Tuesday, Dec. 03 2013, 10:14 AM EST

Emergency crews ran for cover when they heard the noise, as they fought blasts of burning oil during the Lac-Mégantic rail disaster. The kettle-boil scream meant one thing: Oil vapours were shooting out of a derailed tank car and another fireball was about to rip from the broken train.

It wasn’t until four days after the July 6 derailment that the fires finally subsided. But even before the inferno was extinguished and the burned-out town counted its 47 dead, rescue workers and rail, petroleum and government officials were asking the same troubling question: Why was the oil so explosive?

The North Dakota crude that levelled Lac-Mégantic was classified as flammable, a long-standing practice for all oils moved by rail. Hazardous material experts and rail officials interviewed by The Globe and Mail say the risks of exploding crude were not scrutinized until the tragedy.

“The explosions and everything, I didn’t think crude oil did that,” said Ed Pritchard, a former accident investigator with the U.S. Federal Railroad Administration.
....

With a report from Justin Giovannetti in Lac-Mégantic and Jeff Jones in Calgary

[bvar22]

1. There is no mystery here.

The reason behind this death and destruction is that little people in Lac-Mégantic were in the way of Big Corporations.

They, and their mouth pieces in our respective governments, DO NOT CARE.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

2. Transportation Safety Board of Canada TSB Laboratory Report LP148/2013

Hat tip, a Google group about railroads in north America.

TSB Laboratory Report LP148/2013

4.0 Conclusion

4.6 The large quantities of spilled crude oil, the rapid rate of release, and the oil s high volatility and low viscosity were likely the major contributors to the large post-derailment fireball and pool fire.