Oil Disasters Disasters
Seventy firefighters were called, but they could not get within several blocks of the fire for four hours, officials said. The heat could be felt a quarter of a mile away.
On June 24, 2005, fire swept through thousands of flammable gas cylinders at the Praxair gas repackaging plant in St. Louis, Missouri. Dozens of exploding cylinders were launched into the surrounding community and struck nearby homes, buildings, and cars, causing extensive damage and several small fires.
"Incredibly, no one needed to be transported to a hospital," Kim Bacon, public information officer for the St. Louis Fire Department, said Friday evening.
Ms. Bacon said it was 7 p.m. before the flammable and combustible gases consumed themselves and the firefighters were able to enter the yard at Praxair, where fire broke out at about 3:15 p.m. The cause had not been determined.
Susan Szita Gore, a spokeswoman for Praxair, said that all 70 plant employees were accounted for and that the extent of the damage was not known.
Praxair, founded in 1907, manufacturers and packages liquid and compressed gases in cylinders for industrial and hospital use, and distributes them to 40 countries. The products include specialty gases for electronic chip production and acetylene, oxygen and propane. More details
