The PEPCON Explosion

AP was also stored in 250-pound capacity steel drums, 2400 pound capacity reinforced polypropylene bags, and 550 pound capacity polyethylene drums.
             Unique Opportunity in Fire Investigation.
             On the day of the disaster, there was a television tower maintenance crew atop a nearby mountain, in the early stages of the fire, they managed to start recording the event. This presented a rare opportunity, with investigators having the ability to see exactly how the fire developed. Engineers were able to use the video footage, along with blueprints, and CAD renderings of the building to have a very accurate map of where the fire started, and how it spread.
             What Happened?.
             Possible Causes.
             On May 4th, 1988 workers were doing welding work on the buildings steel reinforced fiberglass paneling, on the batch dryer house (see appendix A). The location of the repair was only about 60 feet away from open barrels of possibly contaminated AP. The wind was also quite strong that day, at 18 miles per hour, blowing northeast, directly towards the contaminated AP. A lofted particle of welders slag only needed to stay hot for a few seconds, in order to make the journey to the contaminated AP (Mniszewski, 1995). Workers have stated that fires have been caused due to welders slag before. In fact, welding and cutting activities have caused almost one fire per year. There were many sightings of fire around this area, further providing evidence for this theory of ignition. One worker reported fire in the storage drums in front of the batch house, where the welders slag was theorized to drift towards. .
             There were some other causes theorized to start the fire at PEPCON, although most of them have been proven false for various reasons. After the PEPCON explosions, PEPCON tried to deny that they were at fault for the disaster, and tried to blame the cause of the fire on a leak in a natural gas pipeline that ran underneath the facility.