| Steve Meyer |
The Troubling Hazards of Military Ordnance
Part One
The Troubling Hazards...
Part Two
| Chief Steve Meyer has been a member of the Garrison Volunteer Fire department since 1981, serving as Chief since 1985. He served four years as President of the Iowa Fire Chiefs Association and three years as President of the Central Iowa Training Association. Chief Meyer instructs firefighting and fire officer-related courses Kirkwood Community College, and is an Adjunct Instructor for the National Fire Academy. |
This article can be found on
page 54 of the Mar/Apr 1997
issue of 9-1-1 Magazine.
The page tones of the alarm raised your adrenaline level a bit. It sounded no different than other calls you've responded to many times before: a passenger vehicle and a semi truck collision. You respond with the required complement of rescue, fire, and emergency medical equipment. Playing it safe, and knowing that the semi trailer could contain hazardous materials, you respond from an upwind position and stop one half mile away to survey the scene. Your assessment reveals a pickup truck which has obviously run an intersection and slammed into the side of the trailer. A little smoke or steam is coming from where the engine compartment of the pickup lies imbedded underneath the trailer, which has been torn open from the impact. An orange diamond shaped placard on the side of the trailer reads EXPLOSIVES, and has the number 1.2 displayed in the bottom corner. You see a person who appears to be the driver of the semi truck standing outside, motioning frantically for you to come to the assistance of victims in the vehicle. Other passerby's are starting to stop, several people are prying feverishly at the door of the pickup trying to get the door open. What will you do?
Similar incidents have happened on United States roadways, and no doubt this exact scenario will someday occur. What you have just responded to is an incident involving a relatively unknown, but not uncommon hazard: military ordnancein this case projectiles. Not every semi trailer displaying an EXPLOSIVES 1.2 placard carries ordnance, but many do. Unrealized by the general public, and perhaps most of the United States fire service, is the fact that a good share of our military's ammunition is transported over U.S. highways and railroads. And, most of it is not transported in drab green military vehicles, but is transported by commercial carriers. The only time that a military vehicle will have ordnance in its cargo is when it is going to be used. Even then, the military vehicle must comply with the same Department Of Transportation (DOT) regulations that apply to commercial vehicles. If ordnance is in a military convoy it will be contained in a vehicle placarded in accordance with DOT regulations.
Statistics show that in 1980, over twenty three thousand shipments of military ordnance were made by commercial carriers in the United States, and that by 1987 this number had doubled to over forty seven thousand. (More contemporary statistics cannot be obtained.). With that number of shipments traveling up and down U.S. roads, the possibility of encountering an incident involving military ordnance is just as real as that of any other hazardous materiala possibility that any U.S. fire and emergency service department could find themselves faced with!
Some dramatic circumstances involving military ordnance transported over highways include:
On August 1, 1984, a tractor-semi-trailer transporting Navy torpedoes overturned at the intersection of two major interstate highways near downtown Denver, Colorado. After arriving at the accident scene, the fire department stopped a leak in the vehicle's fuel tank. A National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation and report found that while no fire resulted during the accident, a sufficient volume of diesel fuel was present to have produced temperatures necessary for deflagration (a very rapid fire or low order detonation) of the warheads.
On May 10, 1985, a truck-trailer transporting munitions struck a parked vehicle on Interstate 65 near Bonneville, Kentucky, resulting in a fiery accident. A fuel tank on the truck was torn open and some 30 gallons of gasoline poured onto the ground and ignited. C-4 plastic explosives transported in a dromedary on the truck ignited and burned intensely. Although the trailer contained additional Class A and B explosive munitions, the fire department chose to deluge it with water rather than withdraw. Fortunately for them, the munitions on the trailer did not explode.
A collision between a tractor-semi-trailer transporting bombs and an automobile resulted in fire and explosions in Checotah, Oklahoma, on August 4, 1985. Both the truck driver and both occupants of the car survived the accident, though a passenger in the car had to be rescued by the two drivers. A police officer dispatched to the scene reported that when he arrived flames were already high above the vehicles, and he assumed the fuel tank of the semi was involved. The all volunteer Checotah Fire Department was immediately dispatched along with Checotah Ambulance and the Oklahoma Highway Patrol. When firefighters identified the Class A explosives placard on the semi, the chief ordered all three fire trucks on scene to withdraw from their positions on Interstate 40. Before this could be accomplished, an explosion occurred which sent a mushroom cloud into the air and sent shrapnel and debris flying in all directions. A second explosion occurred fifteen minutes later, and the third and most violent explosion occurred shortly thereafter. This explosion completely destroyed what remained of the semi trailer and car wreckage, knocked people down, and blew a crater in the interstate that was 27 feet deep and 35 feet wide. It shook Muskogee, Oklahoma, 20 miles away, and caused minor injuries to two firefighters.
The driver of the truck had reported to OHP authorities on scene that he was transporting ten2,000 pound bombs, but this information was not relayed to the fire chief until after the third explosion. The fire chief was managing the incident in accordance with the 1980 DOT Emergency Response Guidebook. Subsequent to the third explosion, evacuation of residential and commercial areas adjacent to the incident were begun, and various other state and military agencies became involved in the incident. In addition to the potential for explosion, another concern was toxic smoke. Members of the U.S. Army 61st Ordnance Detachment, Explosives Ordnance Disposal, entered the site after deeming it safe due to the absence of fire and presence of only thin wisps of smoke. Of the ten bombs that were on the truck, only one was found to be perfectly intact and unexploded. Total property, damage which resulted from the explosions was estimated at $5 million, including $2,200,000 to residences.
The NTSB investigation and report which followed this incident resulted in several recommendations for improving the safety of military ordnance while it is in transit.
[In our next issue, Chief Meyer will document additional military ordnance incidents and identify how agencies should prepare for them.]
