When I started to watch this, I was anticipating a chronology of hidden dangers that no one detected and caught everyone by surprise. I was *not* anticipating people voluntarily standing around in an obvious danger for half an hour.
Their supervisor had probably set some stupid rule, meaning they would be fired without compensation, or at least lost wages, if they left the premises.
people will evacuate for a busted gas line, but small leaks get more casual treatment. It never occurred to these people that the leak was that critical. Or maybe it's that there just isn't much tribal knowledge in some areas around big leaks. I say 'tribal' to imply the people living in an area, not necessarily referring to First Nations people. I'd similarly use 'tribal lack of knowledge' to refer to people in Toronto talking about Division II NCAA lacrosse in the South--I personally can name one such team, but only because my sister got a scholarship to the school in question for soccer and lacrosse, and the vast majority of Torontonians would be surprised to find out there ARE NCAA lacrosse teams.
@Phoenix In Europe we have mandatory power line cutter mounted on outside wall of commercial building, no needs to call electricians. In case of fire is simple no time. Cutting power activates battery powered lights and evacuation signs.
@@daviddaves1544 He had a cell phone; almost as good. Plus several running vehicles rushing up to the source. Lots of ignition sources brought by the very SAFETY GUYS in charge.......uh......and the video doesn't identify the ignition source, but we can guess.
That was not a “junior” tech, he was a new, untrained employee left by the senior tech. The senior tech should not have left. They stood in a cloud of propane for half an hour? Honestly......that is very hard to understand.
I'm thinking the junior was a con artist, and got the job by saying all the right things but actually knowing nothing. The senior tech's behavior is far more serious. He clearly thought this new guy could do the job, or he was distracted somehow. Either way the culture of the company was at fault for allowing the senior tech to behave the way he did. This comes down to management.
@@wiretamer5710 Because there isn't enough trained personnel. Given the PROFITS FOR THE PROFITS GOD style insanity that most stockholders have these days, there isn't enough staff to give a sort of 'safety buffer' for the unexpected. I used to work at Walmart and the non-management departments are conically understaffed, with Cart Retrieval Technicians and Maintenance the worst of it.
@@biggsterbiggs5890 you should teach everyone about the dangers of all types of gas... everyone I know recognizes the smell of propane, everyone i know knows propane is extremely explosive, everyone I know that smells propane leaves the area, I understand a young person not leaving the area for a couple of minutes but 7 or 8 adults, and not a single one having a clue. Then getting blown to pieces because they don't know what propane is, and hanging around for 1/2 hour, waiting to see what will happen, smelling that hideous gas, come on.... I ain't buying this story. Do you blame me?
@Scumfuck McDoucheface yeah, it's a silly term. I had the title of Sanitation Engineer for 6 months.. I cleaned toilets. There's this idea that adding a fancy title to a job description makes the job more desirable. Management is really big on this sort of thing. think about how many companies have 'customer service managers' who were essentially front-line information desk or help line. We KNOW it's a joke, but management is always willing to try to sucker some naive schmuck, and that's one way.
joracer1 I think you’re thinking of CNG (Compressed Natural Gas). The utility adds an oderant to the gas, which has no odor naturally. CNG is lighter than air, and propane is heavier.
I was a Manager at Home Depot years ago, we had a 300 gallon tank that some vandal broke the lock and opened the valve wide open. I arrived at work at 4am and walked around the back side of the building to find a 3 foot solid fog behind the building (between a 3 foot wall and the building). The valve was completely covered in ice and was no longer releasing gas. I ran away and called 911. The FD evacuated a HUGE area and allowed the fog to dissipate. They stated the amount of propane would have leveled the Home Depot and everything within 2500 feet. So scary
I work at (store that now sells tools for craft men). My propane tank replacement training consisted of "Take the old one off and put a new one on". I was told last week it was alright to change the tank on a forklift INSIDE the store. Conveniently, I watch these videos in my spare time, and know what I'm doing.
As many techs in different industries as I've interacted with in my life, I am not at all surprised that he called tech support. I am appalled that the tech support line didn't advise immediate evacuation and to notify 911 AFTER getting everyone away. The poor person that removed that valve without any training or supervision is not at fault here at all. The employee who knew the procedures and left without even asking if the junior tech new what he was doing is squarely to blame as the proximate cause of this explosion. The valve and tank installation were the ultimate causes of course, but no safety system should ever be trusted as the one sole protection for a system. The faulty valve should not have caused this explosion. Had the tank been installed properly, had the tech been trained to recognize the danger, had the firefighters evacuated the area immediately, nobody would have died from this.
he should have called 9-1-1 first. not that it would have helped maybe but IDK the chief seemed to grasp the situation before the explosion happened. They might have had some concern about the guy who had frost bite, but still that was a clue right there.
"The lead technician then departed for another jobsite, leaving an inexperienced junior technician to prepare for the transfer of propane, unsupervised." The first of many redflags...
I can imagine the employees were too scared by the potential of losing their jobs if they ever left the building. These low end employers can be the most extreme. Obviously the guy left to do the transfer did not have a clue. The primary lesson learned is to run away if you smell gas! The rest is just follow the rules and training requirements.
I love this channel. As a person who worked In the oil and gas industry for most my life, I started to take a liking to safety and over the years my love for it grew. God has been good to me. I’ve had many near misses and prevented many accidents from happening as well. Great work CSB
I skimmed a bit, but I don't think it's mentioned in the video. Methyl mercapatan (the odorant in propane and natural gas) smells awful at really low concentrations, but at high concentrations it can completely overwhelm the senses and effectively have no odor at all. I'm sure the initially smelled it, but the concentration was likely so high that their senses acclimated to the extreme concentration and they no longer smelled anything, so they probably thought the danger had passed.
The army didn't train much for events like this, but they did have one catch all rule that I think works well: if you see some nasty stuff like this, get away to a distance you think is safe, then keep going two times that distance. Observe from up wind, up hill, and with binoculars til you can get someone who actually is trained and equipped to deal with the problem.
It's pretty good advice in general. Get yourself well out of harm's way, get and keep everyone ELSE out of harm's way, call in the issue while getting, and keep watch until an Incident Commander shows up or you're given specific instruction.
This is annoying... "Store closed due to gas leak" and you are still inside the store?? What kind of management is that?? Sickening... They ought to have left, no matter what the management says. Life is much more important than pizza, magazines and selling gasoline...
The manager probably thought they would reopen after a few minutes. The danger is only apparent to us because we know there was a devastating explosion. Famous last words heard inside the store: "Hey, who wants pizza?"
I am absolutely baffled by the sheer size of the blind spot towards safety with regards to such a dangerous and ubiquitous chemical. Absolutely unacceptable!
The untrained technician probably mentally checked out under the trifecta of 1.Getting frustrated when the difficult transfer started going astray. 2. When he received frost bite burns from trying to fix the issue 3. When he realized he had screwed up bad and had likely lost his job... Those around him, seeing him as the expert, didn't realize he was mentally checked out and fell into their normalcy bias. But wow. Btw the general rule of thumb is if you can smell something, even vehicle exhaust...the ppm is high enough to cause danger and you should immediately exit or avoid that area. There are some poisonous gases you cannot smell before they over come you so be aware, especially in a confined space. Even lakes and underground spaces can expel poisonous gases.
natural propane doesn't have a smell. it's manufactured to have that smell of rotten egg so that we can notice it. honestly, the smell alone, propane or not, would make me want to get away.
@Wiley M Well as the CSB in this video stated, even one of the firefighters hadn't had hazardous materials training in 9 years. Being rural, there probably hadn't been any explosions in the 9 years since he did the training, and the FD probably hadn't viewed a refresher course as important or were too busy to consider it as an option. Due to no refresher course, remembering propane safety and guidelines just took too long to remember before he ordered everyone out. But the fact that neither propane technician thought of pulling everyone to safety sufficiently before the danger occured is their company's fault, because that means that the company did not take safety too seriously.
WTF, what kind of information vacuum had these people lived in, firing propane ovens, servicing propane tanks, all unaware that propane can do that explody thing?
4 years late, but I bet you the propane guys died thinking "if I just get a better wrench I can probably close the tank and the day won't be a total disaster"
The thing is, OSHA and other governing safety/occupational/industry agencies _DO_ require training. You are also required to have training in order to drive a propane truck or any other HAZMAT vehicle, let alone a commercial vehicle. This is something that many people get confused with, they look at the US and are like "wtf?" but they really don't know how things operate here, the organization is different. Why the people did not evacuate the store, I have no clue. You'd think it'd be common sense, but as I like to say, in this day and age, where we are bubble-wrapped to hell, "common sense" isn't very common!!! At 19:30 they refer to guide cards for propane being non-existent. However, if one has any slight amount of "common sense" (yeah, right lol), you would certainly be alarmed and ask more questions upon being notified of a flammable gas leak. The only thing I can surmise here is that the 911 operator _assumed_ the propane technician was _qualified_ and thus had it under control... most often, incidents like this are caused by a "perfect storm" of missteps.
@@Luckingsworth Could not agree more. People think training will over come stupidity and lack of common sense. One last thing. I have never seen a propane tank near a building. Normally they are as far away as possible while still being on the property.. Shit happens.
I have a feeling it was actually one of the employees inside that lit a cigarette. It would explain why the employees were severely burned and the technicians and firemen around the tanks were killed by flying debris. If the explosion had occurred at the tanks, it would've burned those around them and likely killed the store employees with debris. EDIT: Of course, the other even more likely possibility would be the flame pilots in the pizza ovens.
Assuming that wasn't a joke*, weren't the fire department already there when the explosion happened? (* If it is, I'll take my whooshing with a side of humble pie of course!)
@thedemolitionmuniciple The only one that is mad about anything is you. You seem to get irritated easily. Are you under a lot of stress? You might want to talk to a mental health professional.
This is really incredible. I remember my Dad, a farmer and construction worker, exposing me to a whiff of natural gas when I was 6 or 7 and telling me that if I ever smelled it I was to get everyone away from the building. Neither nat gas nor propane has any smell when raw - it is odorless and invisible once it evaporates; it's not even noxious, you can breathe it as long as oxygen is also present (and boy, isn't that a mixed blessing?). The gas companies add a really obnoxious odor, similar to but different from a skunk's smell. There was no excuse that the workmen were near to the tank, let alone the clerks remaining in the store. When I installed tanks near my farm in eastern Colorado, 30 feet minimum (10 meters) was the standard. The gas company refused to fill them otherwise; one employee actually used a tape measure. This was a sad, sad accident.
Chances are, the reason the clerks were still in the store is because of the company's policies. That combined with the firefighter delaying the evacuation order for no good reason meant that no one overrode the company's policy in time. I place some fault for the clerks' injuries on the convenience store management, at a 50/45/5 split between the propane company, the store, and the clerks (5% for the clerks because they should've had the wherewithal to get tf out of there despite management's stupid policies).
I heard an interview with a security guard company owner who guards celebrities, politicians and wealthy clients. In the interview he said something that struck me. People die in survival situations because they rarely acknowledge they are in a survival situation.
From what I understood when this happened, the reason why the store employees stayed inside the building and did not leave is because management told them to stay. I knew the firefighters and EMT that were killed, they were good friends, and this was very sad. This happened to some very good people and should have never happened to begin with, no lives should have ended that day.
I hate to say it this way, but I called it up higher in the comments that management said 'stay'. Thank you for providing a local voice on this mess, sir.
This is why I like the CSB's approach: the responders made poor decisions, but not on purpose or just "because they were stupid". They were trying to keep everyone safe, and we need to improve regulations and training to support the responders to the next propane incident that happens.
I saw 10" hp natural gas line get cut by a concrete sawing operation in the road. Everybody immediately ran like hell. Why the fire dept personnel did not get everybody away is unbelievable.
there was a video of a car setting off propane that had settled in a low point of a road near Tucson, AZ. the blew the car's front end into the air and caught it on fire, but the people survived by running away.. it set off a fire. There was a propane line that had a crack in it that was leaking.
@@peterf.229 You are talking about accidental firearm suicides. Do you have a number, or just a vague assumption? $1,000 says you have no idea what you are talking about.
Yeah you'd think common sense would prevail, especially in those volunteer firefighters who drove up and didn't think of doing that! But yeah, picture the scene where you have raw gas coming into the store and you are stupid enough to lock yourself inside with it!!!
@Donald Trump's Space Force "Samuel Walworth i work in the chemical industry if we evacuated an area everytime flammable liquid spilled wed evacuate every hour." If your job has you standing right beside a gushing propane leak for half an hour and not think 'maybe i should move' or think its fine then perhaps your industry's in need of serious help
Oh, they know that lack of regulations leads to people dying, but it's poor people that they don't care about dying. Because they don't care about the deaths, naturally they view regulations as a waste of money. Watching it won't convince them.
There's comments actually BLAMING regulation under every incident on the channel though - or at least, all the ones I've watched so far (and that's most!😳)
This is unbelievable! Back in the early 80s, we had the local fire department come to our grade schools for assembly's! They taught us about what to do in emergencies, simple things like when & how to call 911! Also, what to do, if you smelled smoke, gas, had a kitchen fire, when & how to check smoke detectors, bedroom window decals, to let emergency workers know where people are in the building, stop drop & roll, & many other valuable pieces of information! They did these assemblies every year, during fire prevention week! Mainly for the 3rd through 5th grade kids, but the teachers brought all students! They even had a small construction trailer, that had a small amount of smoke in it, to teach children how to escape a building! All the kids did it, with no questions, because they wanted to learn from their childhood hero's! They were not afraid, because they were learning from a confident person! So, this stuff all sounds like common sense to me! But why didn't their firefighters, & gas company people say or do anything? Not that this has anything to do with the explosion, we also were invited to the local farms, every year! To see where our food & milk came from! This is all very simple common-sense stuff, that every child should know! But it seems like we have gotten into this lazy, lets sue everyone, I don't care generation! Which is horrible for our country! It's sad to think that our farmers & firefighters, thought more of the kids in the next generation than their own parents! This is not even about being trained for a job, it is about NOT being trained for life! There are some things worth doing for the good of all!
dear lord, yes. the sugar plant video, this one, the fireworks destruction failure video.. also such events as the Sunrise Propane blast in Toronto some years back and a host of others. You just need an aerosolizable fuel source, an oxidizer, and an ignition source to get an explosion.
@@theshermantanker7043 Flammable dust suspended in air can be highly explosive. That includes a number of things you might not think about, like sugar or grain dust.
"I needs me a smoke!" "Here, borrow my Bic!" "Nah, here, I got one'a them blue torch lighters!" "Nah, I gots me a flamethrower!" "Ah, smoke'em if ya got'em, boys!"
The number of sequential errors required to cause this incident was simply staggering. There were so many opportunities to mitigate the damage. So many missed chances. Honestly it was like they were waiting to be incinerated on purpose.
yes, they could have evacuated the building, the fire captain could have gone gee this looks bad, lets evacuate. a building is after all a building. if it exploded well you have insurance and lawsuits etc. but no lets stand around for 30 minutes like dumb asses. at least hte captain grasped but too late the situation.
@@ursodermatt8809 after the coal companies collapsed, WV experienced a major 'brain drain' as all the experienced (and thus those with plenty of money) left for greener pastures. What is left is essentially the guys who can't leave and, well, less educated.
This is just amazing!! I'm kind of mind boggled. They said that there was still approximately 350 gallons left in the first 500 gallon tank. Every single person involved in this incident acted like they had never even heard of propane before. Amazing! Not one of the professionals seemed like they could even answer the question as to the difference between ng and lp. There wasn't one person involved who didn't make incredibly foolish decisions. Were they related? Is something in the water? If even one of the people involved had made an intelligent decision then they probably all would have lived. Just amazing.
Having worked with propane before, the gas really is colorless. You can see waves in heavy concentrations, but if it sat, it might likely be invisible. You can "see" propane as it escapes from a spit valve or other high volume leak because it's under a minimum of 300PSI, so it becomes so cold it instantly freezes the humidity in the atmosphere upon release. This condensation will quickly return to normal. Propane is heavier than air, so it can settle places, like inside of buildings. Other than the smell added to the gas, people inside likely would have been basically clueless.
I was a volunteer firefighter for several years back in the 1990s & I cannot fathom being THAT close to a leaky propane tank & NOT being told to evacuate!! This was just such a criminal loss of life! My condolences to the families...
dieseldave71 is a minimum wage gas station job worth your life? I earn more than they did and if I observe an unsafe situation, you can bet I’m either neutralizing it, or leaving.
@white zebra Because I am employed in the rhetorical industry. I sell and arrange rhetoric. And let me tell you, these are booming times for my industry!
The Firefighter that was walking around to the front of the building when it exploded died of the related injuries 3 years later. Such a damned shame...
It's amazing to see the amounts of faults at place in our nation's safety regulations. I'm very appreciative for the work that the CSB conducts. I also really enjoy learning about the investigative process and further analyses that help strength our understanding and application of safe protocols. I'd like to say a "thank you" to the men and women hard at work at the CSB determining better ways for chemical industry workers to stay safe.
I have massive amounts of flammable gas escaping, forming an explosive mix with the air. Gee mister, whatever should I do? This is so unbelievably strange. Who would lock themselves in a building that is clearly filled with a flammable gas? How come these people did not run to a save distance in total panic?
could be several reasons. 'Oh, the gas is mostly outside, we'll be safe in here', 'the boss will fire us if we leave', and 'they're all just standing around back there, how bad can it be?' None of these are GOOD reasons, but they ARE reasons, and let's be honest, it's West Virginia. Most of WV is brain drain country and the people who stay don't always make good decisions. Considering other brain drain regions of the US have a certain amount of oil and gas refining, if this happened anywhere, WV is where I'd find it most likely. I'm not saying brain drain regions are full of stupid people, I'm saying many chose not to leave for various reasons, and many never got a chance to leave (often because 'book learning is expensive'). It's an ongoing vicious circle.
It is so hard for me to understand how that tech didn't realize that you do not want to hear a hiss when undoing that bolt. There's so much negligence here it's astounding.
@@jquest43 he wasn't trained. He didn't know what he was doing. I mean, he apparently tried to jam the cap back in and got frostbite for it--the EMTs treated him for the frostbite injury. but like the video stated, there was negligence and lack or training and guidance all the way around on this one.
@@tashkiira7838 Maybe is missed it, but isn't this why you do things slow and just turn it the other way when it starts to leak? I probably missed something, tho.
@@windsofmarchjourneyperrytr2823 I'm guessing he was rushing/ being careless. I have no training with propane, but if I turned a knob on a propane tank and saw some leaking out I'd have the sense to call a higher-up
Unbelievable..... How do you NOT know that leaking propane is EXTREMELY DANGEROUS?!?! And why would you have a propane tank of that size that close to an occupied building?? I'm no propane technician but I was trained in how to handle propane because I drove a propane forklift for about 13 years. I knew the dangers and how to minimize the possibility of a release. 4 lives needlessly loss... So sad.
I have NO training whatsoever in propane gas (or ANY kind of gas) or the tanks they are kept in... but even I cannot fathom the reason why it seemed such a good idea TO CONTINUE to remove a plug that at the time was shooting out a volatile gas and not stopping! Common sense should tell you, or anyone with half a brain, that if a small leak is coming out as you are removing a plug/screw, when you are done removing it completely it will be worse!!! That's like if you are pumping gasoline in your car and you notice a small hole in the hose, you can see quite a bit of gasoline coming out so you reason that if you take your knife and completely cut the hose in half that will some how STOP the leak completely! And then the morons that stayed in the building full of explosive gas... Was this the incest capital of the state!? I doubt normal people couldn't pretend to be this stupid if they tried.
Its hard to imagine anyone could be that ignorant of the danger. How many TV drama's have dealt with the danger's of gas leaks over the years? Surely the guy could put two and two together. Trouble is, we simply don't know what happened because all the key people a dead. Something happened when help came along, that distracted them from the obvious dangers. Maybe this junior tech lost it. Maybe he was behaving in such a way that the emergency workers wasted precious seconds dealing with him.
@@dsandoval9396 WV is a major brain drain zone and a very large part of the state is undereducated. Plus people sort of understand gasoline and diesel fuel, but not propane. 'It's a liquid, it's a gas, what?' also, common sense is NOT common, unfortunately. It's taught by people seeing a fuckup and saying 'let's not do that.' If there hadn't been an issue in the area in a long time, and the technicians were undertrained at best, common sense might not come into play.
@@wiretamer5710 yeah, but 'gas leaks' aren't from a tank in dramas on TV, it's 'always' a burst pipeline. And this is WV, where most of the state is a brain drain zone, and a state where meth and opioid addictions run rampant. It's easy to put 2+2 together and get 4, but these guys were undertrained (no surprise) and I bet there hadn't been a sizable tank explosion in decades. they're looking for 2 and 2 to put together and they found 162/81 and II and didn't manage to put them together in time.
@@tashkiira7838 It's been described as a "culture hostile to education". That part of WV is also close to the brain drain zone of Virginia (southwest Virginia).
People need a verbal command to leave. People will stay in a burning building with a fire alarm blaring unless told to leave. The dispatch could have commanded the junior to evacuate to a safe distance just as the emergency personal could have done also.
implying common sense is common. but yeah, if the place had been evacuated, this would have been a much better scenario. Safety codes are written in blood. The CSB's job is to tell the people who write those codes what the blood's saying this time.
Oh my. Everything went wrong with that. The company that built that tank and did not check the function of a safety valve. The company that put a tank to close to a building. The company that did not trained their technicians. A senior technician that left the untrained junior technician alone. The technician that opened a leaky valve fully. The manager who told people to stay inside. The people who stayed inside. The fire fighters that did not evacuate the area. The explosion.
And yet, the LAWSUITS named EVERYONE from the land owner to the store, the pizza franchise in the store and all the rest- claiming the store etc did not provide a safe workplace by maintaining hte propane tank! So how the hell is the store supposed to or even responsible to maintain a propane tank that doesn't even belong to them in the first place because it's leased from the gas supplier that owns it?? The valve was defective from the factory, the idiot propane guy couldn't figure out on his own that losening up a plug that is starting to let out liquid propane under pressure and takes a wrench to do it- is NOT a good thing to keep unscrewing! The other idiot propane guy left a 21 year old kid to do a man's job on a dangerous tank, he's also at fault- so their employer was responsible for them and their actions since it was their employees and their tank the gas was transferring to from another tank. The people in the store should have taken SOME responsibility for themselves, you smell gas GET OUT, you shouldn't need a firefighter TELLING you to get out, it's common sense! The lawsuit, filed by Beckley attorney Benny Jones, claims five companies, including Little General and Godfather's Pizza, were negligent by not providing a safe workplace and by not maintaining the propane tank.
Simply unbelievable, But some people just don’t know anything about anything, But you had gas company personnel, You had fireman, You had EMTs, you had other people, how come none of them had commonsense that day?
The "training" that needed to take place was with the maintenance (vendors) that were servicing the tank. With proper training of the person causing the incident, everything else could have been avoided. First, the lead service technician should not have left the scene. Second, proper training of the apprentice tech should have happened before allowing him onsite. A complete evacuation of the building and surrounding area should have taken place the moment the gas was released.
I am flabbergasted by this incident; I mean, 7 grown-ass adults are standing in a cloud of fking propane and thinking "welp that's probably OK". Unbelievable. this is why you gotta have training though
I'm dumbfounded by the lack of training AND the lack of common sense for all the parties involved: the propane technicians, the firefighters, EMT, the store employees. It's just sad...
the wall of the building likely absorbed most of the impact/sharpnel and so they survived with wounds. its also possible the explosion was outside while they were inside, but not sure.
from what they showed, the blast happened inside the store. the employees would have been safe from building debris and 'only' had to deal with furnishings and merchandise.
I know where Epstein Is SMH. Nothing worse than an individual being arrogant about something they are totally ignorant about. And yes, that would be YOU!
Im surprise they didnt mention the tech used lite matches to inspect the tanks. After watching the video i was sure he would have had no problems doing that as part of his inspection and installing practice.
Okay…as someone who works at a gas station myself, if I know that someone is working on a propane tank, I smell propane, AND a fire captain ordered me to close the store then I’ll shut the pumps down, block the entrances, and then I’m outta there. There’s not a single thing in that store worth my life.
It's certainly not recommended.. but no one in this fiasco was properly trained, so it wouldn't have helped. Even the EMTs aren't the sort to be trained in explosion procedures--wrong first responder type, you know?
This is horrifying. I've watched a few of these CSB videos, and a lot more safety videos in my time in the Navy and security companies and fire department, but this video strikes me as particularly asinine. It's like the gasoline fight scene in "Zoolander." Unfortunately, I can imagine all too well how it happened, and what would have happened if I had been there to nag the people involved. Some of the more experienced or professional might have listened. The regular guys wouldn't.
sadly I have worked for several businesses in my life, where I had to work with highly dangerous stuff, who didn't do shit in proper training. A few even were all too happy to throw us 'newbies' into what they called 'sink or swim' situations where we were grossly under trained for the takat hand just to see how well we 'learn on the job' ourselves. W..T.. F??? Shitty training by management/ senior members, who also don't give a shit due to cost/personal inconvenience, is dangerously common nationwide.
It's shocking to think the junior technician and the fire responders didn't have the wits to clear the building and area. Granted, improved training is needed but come on people, this was a large propane leak!
Geez, that junior employee was still an idiot, and if he was on the job for a month and a half he had SOME training not "no training" but even then, you'd think he would be smart enough to figure out on his own while turning the plug that escaping liquid or gas under high pressure is NOT a good thing, and that taking the plug will let it ALL out rapidly, but he didn't even figure that much out! And then people remaining in the store, and 2 firemen coming up on the scene of a pronane leak not immediately evacuating the area and the store of civilians etc was another huge mistake! The lead guy should have immediately returned to the scene, and then called 911 not dallied around on the phone and telling the guy there to call, another huge mistake along with the one of not leaving him to do this work by himself. Amazing how the valve was defective from 20 years prior, and it sat there in the tank for 20 years until some fool and it collided in the worst way.
Victorian Sculptures Reads as though it is an unusual procedure that he had not come across before. If he did not know to check the vent, by the time he unscrewed the valve far enough to realise it was already venting too strongly to return the valve. Really they should ban this procedure except in emergencies - just let the tank run out via normal usage and then connect the new one.
@@ianmoseley9910 Run it dry with the other tank standing by. A good technician knows to within a couple percent how much gas is in the tank, and within a couple of days to when the tank will run out. The use of "Darwin training mode" was not necessary.
I wonder if he used an impact (or other cordless) tool to remove the plug. It may have spun so fast that the plug was out before he could have stopped it.
@@manuelschneider1105 It's possible to-day, but good grief- you'd not want to use any kind of power tool or even a battery driven drill/driver around flammable gas because they do produce sparks! run one in the dark, you'll see it. I dont think they had the range of lithium battery operated tools we do today, it would have been a plug-in AC tool if any, I believe he just used a wrench and I think a wrench was shown in the animation which would have been based on the actual findings.
@@HobbyOrganist I wouldn't use around flammable gases either... I know some guys have small air compressors on their trucks to run pneumatic tools in the field. I merely thought that would be a possible reason as to why the plug was removed entirely. By hand, he would have to keep going while it squirts out ice cold liquid propane... ... which seems dumb to me. But, the story is filled to the brim with questionable choices, so maybe he did exactly that
Did they? I don’t know how they would survive something as catastrophic as this, but then again I only see 4 crosses at the memorial. The two firefighters and the two workers from the gas company. Crazy…
@@Crazyjn 0:36 The four store employees were seriously injured but survived. I'd guess the difference between the dead and the injured was a combination of (1) being further from the center of the explosion and (2) being less burned since there was less propane near them.
Very tragic, on any gas leak you evacuate people right away, you don't act like it's no big deal that your in standing around in a major amount of propane... They should have yelled at them from a distance and got out of there and set up command at a safe distance.
The fact that the inexperienced technician kept cracking open that plug even after seeing propane escaping from the tell tale hole blows my mind. Why didn't he close the plug? Even if you don't to know a thing about propane ,you would still know not remove that plug.
I presume he thought that it would leak only while he removed and that once fully removed that it wouldn't leak. But after removing it he could not put it back due to the pressure on the tank. Probably why he got frost bite.
When I started to watch this, I was anticipating a chronology of hidden dangers that no one detected and caught everyone by surprise. I was *not* anticipating people voluntarily standing around in an obvious danger for half an hour.
@Sun Tzu II it'd rare sense. When I run into someone that shows they have common/rare sense I say to myself finally.
Small town folks who were trained and weren’t warned or instructed to leave.
Stupid is as stupid does.
You can educate people out of ignorance, you cannot cure stupidity.
And the firemen not having a sense of danger
It's W Virginia
Imagine standing in a gas cloud for 30 minutes and not thinking about leaving
It wouldn´t surprise me, if it was ignited due to someone trying to bake a pizza to kill time.
Well, yes, but one factor might be location, location, location.
I wonder do they think it is healthy to breath propane in?
Their supervisor had probably set some stupid rule, meaning they would be fired without compensation, or at least lost wages, if they left the premises.
people will evacuate for a busted gas line, but small leaks get more casual treatment. It never occurred to these people that the leak was that critical. Or maybe it's that there just isn't much tribal knowledge in some areas around big leaks.
I say 'tribal' to imply the people living in an area, not necessarily referring to First Nations people. I'd similarly use 'tribal lack of knowledge' to refer to people in Toronto talking about Division II NCAA lacrosse in the South--I personally can name one such team, but only because my sister got a scholarship to the school in question for soccer and lacrosse, and the vast majority of Torontonians would be surprised to find out there ARE NCAA lacrosse teams.
The moral of the story is don't stand around a bomb with your hands in your pockets and say "Well, will you look at that?"
Pretty much yeah 🤣
Or any body got a lite?
@@daviddaves1544 Smoking kills.... sometimes instantly.
@Phoenix In Europe we have mandatory power line cutter mounted on outside wall of commercial building, no needs to call electricians. In case of fire is simple no time. Cutting power activates battery powered lights and evacuation signs.
@@daviddaves1544 He had a cell phone; almost as good. Plus several running vehicles rushing up to the source. Lots of ignition sources brought by the very SAFETY GUYS in charge.......uh......and the video doesn't identify the ignition source, but we can guess.
No matter how many times i watch this specific incident, it absolutely breaks my heart. The fact that no one was evacuated is shocking.
First time watching this. 8:05 make sure everybody's out, out? He immediately knew it.
I understand the gas station employees not knowing the danger, but the fire department and the gas company should have definitely known to step away.
I can't believe 4 people were inside that store when it exploded and ALL of them lived... That is truly a miracle
We have different definitions of miracle.
i guess it depends what your IQ is... REALLY!
You really think if there was a god he'd want Dummies like that living!???
West Virginia has a very low IQ.
Well there wasn't any debris to hit them, they were at center of explosion.
That was not a “junior” tech, he was a new, untrained employee left by the senior tech. The senior tech should not have left. They stood in a cloud of propane for half an hour? Honestly......that is very hard to understand.
I'm thinking the junior was a con artist, and got the job by saying all the right things but actually knowing nothing.
The senior tech's behavior is far more serious. He clearly thought this new guy could do the job, or he was distracted somehow. Either way the culture of the company was at fault for allowing the senior tech to behave the way he did. This comes down to management.
@@wiretamer5710 Because there isn't enough trained personnel. Given the PROFITS FOR THE PROFITS GOD style insanity that most stockholders have these days, there isn't enough staff to give a sort of 'safety buffer' for the unexpected. I used to work at Walmart and the non-management departments are conically understaffed, with Cart Retrieval Technicians and Maintenance the worst of it.
@@biggsterbiggs5890 you should teach everyone about the dangers of all types of gas... everyone I know recognizes the smell of propane, everyone i know knows propane is extremely explosive, everyone I know that smells propane leaves the area, I understand a young person not leaving the area for a couple of minutes but 7 or 8 adults, and not a single one having a clue. Then getting blown to pieces because they don't know what propane is, and hanging around for 1/2 hour, waiting to see what will happen, smelling that hideous gas, come on.... I ain't buying this story. Do you blame me?
@Scumfuck McDoucheface yeah, it's a silly term. I had the title of Sanitation Engineer for 6 months.. I cleaned toilets.
There's this idea that adding a fancy title to a job description makes the job more desirable. Management is really big on this sort of thing. think about how many companies have 'customer service managers' who were essentially front-line information desk or help line. We KNOW it's a joke, but management is always willing to try to sucker some naive schmuck, and that's one way.
joracer1 I think you’re thinking of CNG (Compressed Natural Gas). The utility adds an oderant to the gas, which has no odor naturally. CNG is lighter than air, and propane is heavier.
I was a Manager at Home Depot years ago, we had a 300 gallon tank that some vandal broke the lock and opened the valve wide open. I arrived at work at 4am and walked around the back side of the building to find a 3 foot solid fog behind the building (between a 3 foot wall and the building). The valve was completely covered in ice and was no longer releasing gas. I ran away and called 911. The FD evacuated a HUGE area and allowed the fog to dissipate. They stated the amount of propane would have leveled the Home Depot and everything within 2500 feet. So scary
You escaped with your life, if somone had been smoking outside... BOOM!
Homefront not a 300 gallon tank.not 2500 feet. Maby a 5000 gallon tank.
However it might have wrecked most of home Depot.
Homefront be glad you didn't happen to be smoking when you came around that corner.
I work at (store that now sells tools for craft men). My propane tank replacement training consisted of "Take the old one off and put a new one on".
I was told last week it was alright to change the tank on a forklift INSIDE the store.
Conveniently, I watch these videos in my spare time, and know what I'm doing.
You dodged a massive bullet that night
I can't believe the lead technician called technical support
Once that cap was removed and he couldn't put it back on, I guess he was hoping for a solution. Its a shame he didn't smell the danger.
Noah Bolanowski lol I didn’t even think about that.
As many techs in different industries as I've interacted with in my life, I am not at all surprised that he called tech support. I am appalled that the tech support line didn't advise immediate evacuation and to notify 911 AFTER getting everyone away.
The poor person that removed that valve without any training or supervision is not at fault here at all. The employee who knew the procedures and left without even asking if the junior tech new what he was doing is squarely to blame as the proximate cause of this explosion. The valve and tank installation were the ultimate causes of course, but no safety system should ever be trusted as the one sole protection for a system. The faulty valve should not have caused this explosion. Had the tank been installed properly, had the tech been trained to recognize the danger, had the firefighters evacuated the area immediately, nobody would have died from this.
Yeah lol and tech support was like CALL 911 DUMBASS WHY ARE YOU CALLING ME?
he should have called 9-1-1 first. not that it would have helped maybe but IDK the chief seemed to grasp the situation before the explosion happened. They might have had some concern about the guy who had frost bite, but still that was a clue right there.
"The lead technician then departed for another jobsite, leaving an inexperienced junior technician to prepare for the transfer of propane, unsupervised."
The first of many redflags...
I am hooked on binge watching this channel's videos and I can't pull away. I have no regrets though... these videos are beyond educational.
"There is a gas leak here, we better stay put." -Every one there.
XD
"Let's have a meeting next to the leaking propane tank"
West Virginia....
@@ccserfas4629 This ranks right up there with using an acetylene torch to check for flammable vapors in an enclosed tank.
If you don't move, the explosion won't see you. The brain is so small it's sight is based on movement.
I can't help but imagine a bunch of people standing around in a thick-ass fog of propane wondering what to do.
Trent Green defies belief. They waited inside.
i know right? why no one actually left is really odd.
You can't see propane gas.
I can't imagine people thinking "that stuff stinks!". And just stand around in it.
I was thinking the same thing. It doesn’t take an expert to know to move out of the way because this is the gas used to cook.
It was cold outside.
"The employees turned off the gasoline pumps, locked the door, and remained inside."
..................
Safer in there - unless there is an explosion
...and lit a cigarette to calm down..
What if they evacuate and somebody steals some Doritos?
Out of everything. That shit shocked me. Just unbelievable stupid.
I can imagine the employees were too scared by the potential of losing their jobs if they ever left the building. These low end employers can be the most extreme. Obviously the guy left to do the transfer did not have a clue. The primary lesson learned is to run away if you smell gas!
The rest is just follow the rules and training requirements.
This is a superb video from the masters of explaining complex events clearly. The surprising thing is that their more recent videos are even better.
I love this channel. As a person who worked In the oil and gas industry for most my life, I started to take a liking to safety and over the years my love for it grew. God has been good to me. I’ve had many near misses and prevented many accidents from happening as well. Great work CSB
Also likely a classic example of herd mentality. "Everyone else is calm, I'm probably wrong, I won't cause a fuss."
I’m not sure how someone can be this stupid. And more and more people keep showing up???? Firefighters, EMT, more propane technicians? Like really???
There's your lesson
If you smell propane somewhere you should
Run like hell and scream out
GET THE F*** OUTTA THERE YA MORONS!
Not a Mensa member among them, I’d still be running away.
Cus sheep stick with the herd and don't think for themselves like retards.
I skimmed a bit, but I don't think it's mentioned in the video. Methyl mercapatan (the odorant in propane and natural gas) smells awful at really low concentrations, but at high concentrations it can completely overwhelm the senses and effectively have no odor at all. I'm sure the initially smelled it, but the concentration was likely so high that their senses acclimated to the extreme concentration and they no longer smelled anything, so they probably thought the danger had passed.
The army didn't train much for events like this, but they did have one catch all rule that I think works well: if you see some nasty stuff like this, get away to a distance you think is safe, then keep going two times that distance. Observe from up wind, up hill, and with binoculars til you can get someone who actually is trained and equipped to deal with the problem.
no wonder our armed forces are so bad of late. seriously.
@@peterf.229 Yeah they should have shot the gas so it can't kill anyone right? Try this "thinking" stuff bud. It works wonders.
I like that
Uhh, you smell that? That's napalm son! God I love me the smell of napalm in the mornin'.
It's pretty good advice in general. Get yourself well out of harm's way, get and keep everyone ELSE out of harm's way, call in the issue while getting, and keep watch until an Incident Commander shows up or you're given specific instruction.
This is annoying... "Store closed due to gas leak" and you are still inside the store??
What kind of management is that?? Sickening... They ought to have left, no matter what the management says. Life is much more important than pizza, magazines and selling gasoline...
The manager probably thought they would reopen after a few minutes. The danger is only apparent to us because we know there was a devastating explosion. Famous last words heard inside the store: "Hey, who wants pizza?"
I agree. Only one guy had enough sense to get an evacuation going, too late though.
Amen
West Virginia, how does it work?
"Employees inside due to stupidity" 7:06
I am absolutely baffled by the sheer size of the blind spot towards safety with regards to such a dangerous and ubiquitous chemical. Absolutely unacceptable!
Absolutely unreal. All of those lives and injuries could have been saved many times over!
The untrained technician probably mentally checked out under the trifecta of
1.Getting frustrated when the difficult transfer started going astray.
2. When he received frost bite burns from trying to fix the issue
3. When he realized he had screwed up bad and had likely lost his job...
Those around him, seeing him as the expert, didn't realize he was mentally checked out and fell into their normalcy bias.
But wow.
Btw the general rule of thumb is if you can smell something, even vehicle exhaust...the ppm is high enough to cause danger and you should immediately exit or avoid that area.
There are some poisonous gases you cannot smell before they over come you so be aware, especially in a confined space.
Even lakes and underground spaces can expel poisonous gases.
sorry but I dont think thi sis why it happened. and the inexperienced guy made a mistake , that really wasnt on him, it was on his superiors.
@Wiley M Shut up. Just because West Virginia is an impoverished state doesn't mean the people there are stupid.
natural propane doesn't have a smell. it's manufactured to have that smell of rotten egg so that we can notice it. honestly, the smell alone, propane or not, would make me want to get away.
@Wiley M Well as the CSB in this video stated, even one of the firefighters hadn't had hazardous materials training in 9 years. Being rural, there probably hadn't been any explosions in the 9 years since he did the training, and the FD probably hadn't viewed a refresher course as important or were too busy to consider it as an option. Due to no refresher course, remembering propane safety and guidelines just took too long to remember before he ordered everyone out. But the fact that neither propane technician thought of pulling everyone to safety sufficiently before the danger occured is their company's fault, because that means that the company did not take safety too seriously.
*(in reference to the last sentence)*
Yeah, that happened at Lake Nyos in Cameroon back in the 80s.
WTF, what kind of information vacuum had these people lived in, firing propane ovens, servicing propane tanks, all unaware that propane can do that explody thing?
Uldis Barbans dah telishvizon don't sey NuTtin bout dat FOOL!!
...and that vacuum of information they lived in would be called...West Virginia.
That vacuum is called Appalachia…
4 years late, but I bet you the propane guys died thinking "if I just get a better wrench I can probably close the tank and the day won't be a total disaster"
More than half of states require no formal training for handling highly flammable materials? That's insane!
The thing is, OSHA and other governing safety/occupational/industry agencies _DO_ require training. You are also required to have training in order to drive a propane truck or any other HAZMAT vehicle, let alone a commercial vehicle.
This is something that many people get confused with, they look at the US and are like "wtf?" but they really don't know how things operate here, the organization is different.
Why the people did not evacuate the store, I have no clue. You'd think it'd be common sense, but as I like to say, in this day and age, where we are bubble-wrapped to hell, "common sense" isn't very common!!!
At 19:30 they refer to guide cards for propane being non-existent. However, if one has any slight amount of "common sense" (yeah, right lol), you would certainly be alarmed and ask more questions upon being notified of a flammable gas leak. The only thing I can surmise here is that the 911 operator _assumed_ the propane technician was _qualified_ and thus had it under control... most often, incidents like this are caused by a "perfect storm" of missteps.
That's what you get with 'small government', deregulation, and idiots screaming 'freedom' at the drop of a hat.
Also doesn't require common sense.
WireTamer Yea, but I don’t think many conservatives take that kind of extreme view, that’s more of a libertarian stance
@@Luckingsworth Could not agree more. People think training will over come stupidity and lack of common sense. One last thing. I have never seen a propane tank near a building. Normally they are as far away as possible while still being on the property.. Shit happens.
Man credit to CSB. The quality of these productions has become top notch. More entertaining and informative then history channel.
"A spark from an unidentified source ignited the propane." The junior technician probably lit up a cigarette while waiting for the fire department.
I have a feeling it was actually one of the employees inside that lit a cigarette. It would explain why the employees were severely burned and the technicians and firemen around the tanks were killed by flying debris. If the explosion had occurred at the tanks, it would've burned those around them and likely killed the store employees with debris.
EDIT: Of course, the other even more likely possibility would be the flame pilots in the pizza ovens.
Assuming that wasn't a joke*, weren't the fire department already there when the explosion happened?
(* If it is, I'll take my whooshing with a side of humble pie of course!)
"I made up the scenario in my head to get mad about"
What part of "undetermined ignition source" did you not get?
@thedemolitionmuniciple The only one that is mad about anything is you. You seem to get irritated easily. Are you under a lot of stress? You might want to talk to a mental health professional.
That would be me. Hey y'all, while we wait I hope y'all don't mind if I have a KABOOOM!!!!
This is really incredible. I remember my Dad, a farmer and construction worker, exposing me to a whiff of natural gas when I was 6 or 7 and telling me that if I ever smelled it I was to get everyone away from the building. Neither nat gas nor propane has any smell when raw - it is odorless and invisible once it evaporates; it's not even noxious, you can breathe it as long as oxygen is also present (and boy, isn't that a mixed blessing?). The gas companies add a really obnoxious odor, similar to but different from a skunk's smell. There was no excuse that the workmen were near to the tank, let alone the clerks remaining in the store.
When I installed tanks near my farm in eastern Colorado, 30 feet minimum (10 meters) was the standard. The gas company refused to fill them otherwise; one employee actually used a tape measure. This was a sad, sad accident.
Oh sh@t! People don't know this? How do people not know this?
Mercaptan is the smelly additive…
A good gas company you had right there.
@@PanduPoluan I presume that all NG distributors do that. It's the most basic of precautions.
Chances are, the reason the clerks were still in the store is because of the company's policies. That combined with the firefighter delaying the evacuation order for no good reason meant that no one overrode the company's policy in time. I place some fault for the clerks' injuries on the convenience store management, at a 50/45/5 split between the propane company, the store, and the clerks (5% for the clerks because they should've had the wherewithal to get tf out of there despite management's stupid policies).
"hey uh there's a propane leak" yeah, lets lock ourselves INSIDE the building with the gas leak!
That's because, they knew the gastank was outside and tried to lock the door, to keep gas out, or some wierd stupid stuff😂
Mehrunes86 no they smelled the gas coming inside and locked the doors to trap and subdue the gas, subsequent to arrest.
let's light a match to see where the leak is coming from.
Stayed inside to prevent thieft..
What can I say? Propane’s a hell of a drug...
@15:40, well technically the tank DID get relocated later. In fact it was moved 50 ft from the store if I recall correctly.
I was 7 when this happened. Almost 21. Crazy how time flies. Rip to the victims of the accident
They knew there was a load of gas and just stayed put. I'd say it's natural selection.
I heard an interview with a security guard company owner who guards celebrities, politicians and wealthy clients. In the interview he said something that struck me. People die in survival situations because they rarely acknowledge they are in a survival situation.
Hank Hill sheds a single tear in solidarity.
"That valve aint right."
He'll bring the propain to the person who caused it.
At least it wasn't one of those bastard gases...
I sell propane and propane acceBOOM
@Klaa2 Don't you mean "Bwaaaaaahhhhhh!!!"?
Gas leak? Better lock the doors, and stay inside. We will be safe.
well, they lived so
With serious injuries. Yeah I woulda gotten out.
Hey Archer...Danger Zone!
@Ga Wizard Lived with I'll bet serious complications to their lives that will cause them to live a very short life.
From what I understood when this happened, the reason why the store employees stayed inside the building and did not leave is because management told them to stay. I knew the firefighters and EMT that were killed, they were good friends, and this was very sad. This happened to some very good people and should have never happened to begin with, no lives should have ended that day.
Yea i knew the the jr technician he was a good guy
Ignorance is bliss !! Good old boys standing around doing stupid things!!!
I hate to say it this way, but I called it up higher in the comments that management said 'stay'. Thank you for providing a local voice on this mess, sir.
This is why I like the CSB's approach: the responders made poor decisions, but not on purpose or just "because they were stupid". They were trying to keep everyone safe, and we need to improve regulations and training to support the responders to the next propane incident that happens.
Doesnt matter if a manager/boss tell you to stay, im not gonna stand near a bomb
Title of this video should be: Understanding the failure of Humanity in under 30 minutes
Wow! Horrible accident. Excellent presentation! Simple, well narrated, concise, great graphics!
I saw 10" hp natural gas line get cut by a concrete sawing operation in the road. Everybody immediately ran like hell. Why the fire dept personnel did not get everybody away is unbelievable.
Incidents like this are one of the rare times natural selection gets a chance to act on 1st world humans.
there was a video of a car setting off propane that had settled in a low point of a road near Tucson, AZ. the blew the car's front end into the air and caught it on fire, but the people survived by running away.. it set off a fire. There was a propane line that had a crack in it that was leaking.
@@HarryBalzak uh you must miss all the morons with guns that darwin award themselves nearly daily.
@@peterf.229 You are talking about accidental firearm suicides. Do you have a number, or just a vague assumption?
$1,000 says you have no idea what you are talking about.
@@HarryBalzak how can a suicide be "accidental" you are a fucking moron go play with yourself in a dark room and leave the adults to converse.
Seriously, isnt it common sense to evacuate the area whenever there is any Flammable Liquid or Gas leak?
Yeah you'd think common sense would prevail, especially in those volunteer firefighters who drove up and didn't think of doing that! But yeah, picture the scene where you have raw gas coming into the store and you are stupid enough to lock yourself inside with it!!!
but that's in your workplace
@Donald Trump's Space Force "Samuel Walworth i work in the chemical industry if we evacuated an area everytime flammable liquid spilled wed evacuate every hour." If your job has you standing right beside a gushing propane leak for half an hour and not think 'maybe i should move' or think its fine then perhaps your industry's in need of serious help
@@HobbyOrganist "Common Sense" is more rare than moon rocks!
@@DanafoxyVixen Same here!
7:54 .... I had to stop watching as it was hurting my brain from stupidity..... 5 people standing around a massively leaking tank.
L H if you start watching TV it will alleviate your headache and soon you will not notice the stupidity.
@@jquest43 lmao
Ana's Homestead 😀
I made it to 7:37. Even the fire fighter didn’t immediately evacuate the area?
Klaa2 What? Corporate greed caused the EMS to not evacuate the area??? Seriously? SMH
Every politician and business leader that says "we have too many regulations" should be forced to watch this video. Over and over again, if necessary.
Oh, they know that lack of regulations leads to people dying, but it's poor people that they don't care about dying. Because they don't care about the deaths, naturally they view regulations as a waste of money. Watching it won't convince them.
no
There's comments actually BLAMING regulation under every incident on the channel though - or at least, all the ones I've watched so far (and that's most!😳)
Regulations are only as effective as they can be enforced and followed.
This is unbelievable! Back in the early 80s, we had the local fire department come to our grade schools for assembly's! They taught us about what to do in emergencies, simple things like when & how to call 911! Also, what to do, if you smelled smoke, gas, had a kitchen fire, when & how to check smoke detectors, bedroom window decals, to let emergency workers know where people are in the building, stop drop & roll, & many other valuable pieces of information! They did these assemblies every year, during fire prevention week! Mainly for the 3rd through 5th grade kids, but the teachers brought all students! They even had a small construction trailer, that had a small amount of smoke in it, to teach children how to escape a building! All the kids did it, with no questions, because they wanted to learn from their childhood hero's! They were not afraid, because they were learning from a confident person! So, this stuff all sounds like common sense to me! But why didn't their firefighters, & gas company people say or do anything? Not that this has anything to do with the explosion, we also were invited to the local farms, every year! To see where our food & milk came from! This is all very simple common-sense stuff, that every child should know! But it seems like we have gotten into this lazy, lets sue everyone, I don't care generation! Which is horrible for our country! It's sad to think that our farmers & firefighters, thought more of the kids in the next generation than their own parents! This is not even about being trained for a job, it is about NOT being trained for life! There are some things worth doing for the good of all!
If there is anything I've learned from these CSB videos, is how quickly an improvised thermobaric bomb can assembled and touched off by complacency.
dear lord, yes. the sugar plant video, this one, the fireworks destruction failure video..
also such events as the Sunrise Propane blast in Toronto some years back and a host of others. You just need an aerosolizable fuel source, an oxidizer, and an ignition source to get an explosion.
@Waxel Punkt. the OKC blast was intentional. cbmira was referring to people screwing up.
@@tashkiira7838 Did I hear you correctly or did a fucking sugar refinery explode? Like, table sugar?
@@theshermantanker7043 yes. there's a CSB video about it too. (it's not unique, either, there have been others)
@@theshermantanker7043 Flammable dust suspended in air can be highly explosive. That includes a number of things you might not think about, like sugar or grain dust.
Undetermined ignition source = "Pizza is done!"
"I needs me a smoke!"
"Here, borrow my Bic!"
"Nah, here, I got one'a them blue torch lighters!"
"Nah, I gots me a flamethrower!"
"Ah, smoke'em if ya got'em, boys!"
any spark in the building. Why there were people in the building a half hour after smelling a gas leak? "I'm not paid to think; I'm paid by the hour!"
Likely it was a thermostat that ignited the blast. Looks like this was in the winter time, so I’m assuming after awhile it turned on and ignited.
The number of sequential errors required to cause this incident was simply staggering.
There were so many opportunities to mitigate the damage. So many missed chances.
Honestly it was like they were waiting to be incinerated on purpose.
yes, they could have evacuated the building, the fire captain could have gone gee this looks bad, lets evacuate. a building is after all a building. if it exploded well you have insurance and lawsuits etc. but no lets stand around for 30 minutes like dumb asses. at least hte captain grasped but too late the situation.
maybe it is a west Virginian thing
You should never check out the three mile island. ruclips.net/video/1xQeXOz0Ncs/видео.html
@@ursodermatt8809 after the coal companies collapsed, WV experienced a major 'brain drain' as all the experienced (and thus those with plenty of money) left for greener pastures. What is left is essentially the guys who can't leave and, well, less educated.
@@TheTrueAdept The remaining are probably brain damaged from the Dupont contamination
This is just amazing!! I'm kind of mind boggled. They said that there was still approximately 350 gallons left in the first 500 gallon tank. Every single person involved in this incident acted like they had never even heard of propane before. Amazing! Not one of the professionals seemed like they could even answer the question as to the difference between ng and lp. There wasn't one person involved who didn't make incredibly foolish decisions. Were they related? Is something in the water? If even one of the people involved had made an intelligent decision then they probably all would have lived. Just amazing.
Thanks for posting these. The information is invaluable
If you crack that plug and propane begins to leak, why open it further? Training or no, that's common sense.
Odin Valknir he's a tv watcher
Odin Valknir problem is there's a severe lack of common sense in West Virginia
Well you can't see it, he was untrained so he may well have not even noticed at all
The narrator said “it’s grey vapor here but it is unseen to the naked eye” or whatever he said, he couldn’t see it spraying out like that
Depending on the flow rate, it may have been audible. The smell would have been almost immediate.
They really botched that up. Our department's procedure is evacuate, secure and run like hell. The EMT was on the right track.
Thank you CSB for making and sharing these tragic accidents, they are almost like a refresher course.
Having worked with propane before, the gas really is colorless. You can see waves in heavy concentrations, but if it sat, it might likely be invisible. You can "see" propane as it escapes from a spit valve or other high volume leak because it's under a minimum of 300PSI, so it becomes so cold it instantly freezes the humidity in the atmosphere upon release. This condensation will quickly return to normal. Propane is heavier than air, so it can settle places, like inside of buildings. Other than the smell added to the gas, people inside likely would have been basically clueless.
Crazy how this happened. Every time the narrator went, "... and everyone continued to wait inside." I couldn't help shaking my head.
I was a volunteer firefighter for several years back in the 1990s & I cannot fathom being THAT close to a leaky propane tank & NOT being told to evacuate!! This was just such a criminal loss of life!
My condolences to the families...
Who died? Nobody.
@@theenzoferrari458Dude, 4 people died
@@theenzoferrari4584 people. You clearly didn't watch the video all or even part way through
*5:03** they noted the spreading odor associated with propane*
THE EMPLOYEES SMELLED THE GAS !!! FOR THIRTY MINUTES AND STILL WORKED???
Gotta make them pizzas and old-people coffee, mang
“West Virginia”
Can't leave your job, might get fired
Then the locked themselves inside a bomb!
dieseldave71 is a minimum wage gas station job worth your life? I earn more than they did and if I observe an unsafe situation, you can bet I’m either neutralizing it, or leaving.
under-qualified propane guys, under-qualified fireman, under-qualified 911 operator... whats the matter with west virginia??
country roads
That's a rhetorical question, isn't it?
It's cause of all that Fallout
@white zebra Because I am employed in the rhetorical industry. I sell and arrange rhetoric. And let me tell you, these are booming times for my industry!
DrunkenGuitarGuy meth and lack of genetic variants.
The Firefighter that was walking around to the front of the building when it exploded died of the related injuries 3 years later.
Such a damned shame...
By the end of the video I am convinced the "indeterminate source of ignition" was a much needed smoke break by one of the people involved.
More than likely the pizza ovens.
It's amazing to see the amounts of faults at place in our nation's safety regulations. I'm very appreciative for the work that the CSB conducts. I also really enjoy learning about the investigative process and further analyses that help strength our understanding and application of safe protocols. I'd like to say a "thank you" to the men and women hard at work at the CSB determining better ways for chemical industry workers to stay safe.
Some would say that regulations only cost money for businesses, and that the deaths of working people are an acceptable trade off.
I have massive amounts of flammable gas escaping, forming an explosive mix with the air. Gee mister, whatever should I do?
This is so unbelievably strange. Who would lock themselves in a building that is clearly filled with a flammable gas?
How come these people did not run to a save distance in total panic?
MainsOnTheOhmsRange Because it's in WV.
Gunshinzero I couldn't have said it better
MainsOnTheOhmsRange - goes to show you people stuck in normality bias - “this couldn’t happen to me”.
could be several reasons. 'Oh, the gas is mostly outside, we'll be safe in here', 'the boss will fire us if we leave', and 'they're all just standing around back there, how bad can it be?'
None of these are GOOD reasons, but they ARE reasons, and let's be honest, it's West Virginia. Most of WV is brain drain country and the people who stay don't always make good decisions. Considering other brain drain regions of the US have a certain amount of oil and gas refining, if this happened anywhere, WV is where I'd find it most likely.
I'm not saying brain drain regions are full of stupid people, I'm saying many chose not to leave for various reasons, and many never got a chance to leave (often because 'book learning is expensive'). It's an ongoing vicious circle.
Being afraid of being laid off, terminated by the owners - this is West Virginia and employee rights don't exist there.
It is so hard for me to understand how that tech didn't realize that you do not want to hear a hiss when undoing that bolt. There's so much negligence here it's astounding.
phuturephunk HE WUZZ MAH BRUDDER,ANNN YEW IZZ A POOPOOHEAD!!!?;!!!
he might have been stupid but any number of other peple could have stopped the problem and saved the 4 dead and 5 wounded.
@@jquest43 he wasn't trained. He didn't know what he was doing. I mean, he apparently tried to jam the cap back in and got frostbite for it--the EMTs treated him for the frostbite injury. but like the video stated, there was negligence and lack or training and guidance all the way around on this one.
@@tashkiira7838 Maybe is missed it, but isn't this why you do things slow and just turn it the other way when it starts to leak? I probably missed something, tho.
@@windsofmarchjourneyperrytr2823 I'm guessing he was rushing/ being careless. I have no training with propane, but if I turned a knob on a propane tank and saw some leaking out I'd have the sense to call a higher-up
i'll tell you what the 'guide card' for propane leak is - COMMON BLOODY SENSE!!
The People in the Store: Chilling like it's New Years Eve
The Putrid Stench filling up the building: "Am I a joke to you?"
Unbelievable..... How do you NOT know that leaking propane is EXTREMELY DANGEROUS?!?! And why would you have a propane tank of that size that close to an occupied building?? I'm no propane technician but I was trained in how to handle propane because I drove a propane forklift for about 13 years. I knew the dangers and how to minimize the possibility of a release. 4 lives needlessly loss... So sad.
I have NO training whatsoever in propane gas (or ANY kind of gas) or the tanks they are kept in... but even I cannot fathom the reason why it seemed such a good idea TO CONTINUE to remove a plug that at the time was shooting out a volatile gas and not stopping! Common sense should tell you, or anyone with half a brain, that if a small leak is coming out as you are removing a plug/screw, when you are done removing it completely it will be worse!!!
That's like if you are pumping gasoline in your car and you notice a small hole in the hose, you can see quite a bit of gasoline coming out so you reason that if you take your knife and completely cut the hose in half that will some how STOP the leak completely!
And then the morons that stayed in the building full of explosive gas...
Was this the incest capital of the state!? I doubt normal people couldn't pretend to be this stupid if they tried.
Its hard to imagine anyone could be that ignorant of the danger. How many TV drama's have dealt with the danger's of gas leaks over the years? Surely the guy could put two and two together.
Trouble is, we simply don't know what happened because all the key people a dead. Something happened when help came along, that distracted them from the obvious dangers. Maybe this junior tech lost it. Maybe he was behaving in such a way that the emergency workers wasted precious seconds dealing with him.
@@dsandoval9396 WV is a major brain drain zone and a very large part of the state is undereducated. Plus people sort of understand gasoline and diesel fuel, but not propane. 'It's a liquid, it's a gas, what?' also, common sense is NOT common, unfortunately. It's taught by people seeing a fuckup and saying 'let's not do that.' If there hadn't been an issue in the area in a long time, and the technicians were undertrained at best, common sense might not come into play.
@@wiretamer5710 yeah, but 'gas leaks' aren't from a tank in dramas on TV, it's 'always' a burst pipeline. And this is WV, where most of the state is a brain drain zone, and a state where meth and opioid addictions run rampant. It's easy to put 2+2 together and get 4, but these guys were undertrained (no surprise) and I bet there hadn't been a sizable tank explosion in decades. they're looking for 2 and 2 to put together and they found 162/81 and II and didn't manage to put them together in time.
@@tashkiira7838 It's been described as a "culture hostile to education". That part of WV is also close to the brain drain zone of Virginia (southwest Virginia).
Video: half an hour to tragedy.
Video: 23 mins long
Me: thank god
As soon as I heard "inexperienced technician" I'm like yep yep.
I love that someone took the time to model the inside of the shop as well, with a PIZZA sign! Hahaha
I can guarantee you the manager of those store employees told them they weren't allowed to leave...
Beyond anything else, I cannot understand why the employees in the store didn't leave/evacuate.
Because many people are actually really, really, really stupid and can't think to save their asses.
People need a verbal command to leave. People will stay in a burning building with a fire alarm blaring unless told to leave. The dispatch could have commanded the junior to evacuate to a safe distance just as the emergency personal could have done also.
If they smelled propane in the store, why didn't they evacuate?
I thought it was common sense that if you smell flammable gas, GET AWAY
implying common sense is common. but yeah, if the place had been evacuated, this would have been a much better scenario.
Safety codes are written in blood. The CSB's job is to tell the people who write those codes what the blood's saying this time.
Oh my. Everything went wrong with that.
The company that built that tank and did not check the function of a safety valve.
The company that put a tank to close to a building.
The company that did not trained their technicians.
A senior technician that left the untrained junior technician alone.
The technician that opened a leaky valve fully.
The manager who told people to stay inside.
The people who stayed inside.
The fire fighters that did not evacuate the area.
The explosion.
And yet, the LAWSUITS named EVERYONE from the land owner to the store, the pizza franchise in the store and all the rest- claiming the store etc did not provide a safe workplace by maintaining hte propane tank!
So how the hell is the store supposed to or even responsible to maintain a propane tank that doesn't even belong to them in the first place because it's leased from the gas supplier that owns it??
The valve was defective from the factory, the idiot propane guy couldn't figure out on his own that losening up a plug that is starting to let out liquid propane under pressure and takes a wrench to do it- is NOT a good thing to keep unscrewing!
The other idiot propane guy left a 21 year old kid to do a man's job on a dangerous tank, he's also at fault- so their employer was responsible for them and their actions since it was their employees and their tank the gas was transferring to from another tank.
The people in the store should have taken SOME responsibility for themselves, you smell gas GET OUT, you shouldn't need a firefighter TELLING you to get out, it's common sense!
The lawsuit, filed by Beckley attorney Benny Jones, claims five
companies, including Little General and Godfather's Pizza, were
negligent by not providing a safe workplace and by not maintaining the
propane tank.
Sounds to me like ordinary american production standards..
You prefer low costs and receive low quality.. Not that complicated 😒
@@OmmerSyssel that's capitalism baby
Simply unbelievable, But some people just don’t know anything about anything, But you had gas company personnel, You had fireman, You had EMTs, you had other people, how come none of them had commonsense that day?
@@shockingguythat's west virginia baby
Im high asf binge watching these. Im truly privileged
I almost cant beleive the idiocy and negligence on absolutely every single level, everyone, every human involved, this really shocks me
Potential Guinness Book entry for most Darwin awards in one incident. Hey Bubba I smell gas. Quick Virgil lock the door.
The "training" that needed to take place was with the maintenance (vendors) that were servicing the tank. With proper training of the person causing the incident, everything else could have been avoided.
First, the lead service technician should not have left the scene. Second, proper training of the apprentice tech should have happened before allowing him onsite.
A complete evacuation of the building and surrounding area should have taken place the moment the gas was released.
There's propane cloud leaking all around us. I know lets stand as close as possible to it. As a fire captain I expected him to know better.
I am flabbergasted by this incident; I mean, 7 grown-ass adults are standing in a cloud of fking propane and thinking "welp that's probably OK". Unbelievable.
this is why you gotta have training though
I'm dumbfounded by the lack of training AND the lack of common sense for all the parties involved: the propane technicians, the firefighters, EMT, the store employees. It's just sad...
And how the HELL did the four people inside survive???? Miracle..
They didn't
The shrapnel from the blast exploded outward and away from where the employees were.
the wall of the building likely absorbed most of the impact/sharpnel and so they survived with wounds. its also possible the explosion was outside while they were inside, but not sure.
from what they showed, the blast happened inside the store. the employees would have been safe from building debris and 'only' had to deal with furnishings and merchandise.
I know where Epstein Is SMH. Nothing worse than an individual being arrogant about something they are totally ignorant about. And yes, that would be YOU!
Group Darwin Award for sure!
Im surprise they didnt mention the tech used lite matches to inspect the tanks. After watching the video i was sure he would have had no problems doing that as part of his inspection and installing practice.
"Oh, it smells like gas. Let's just stay inside." - Seriously?
I love these vids because of their matter of factness and lack of clickbate emotional interviews. You actually learn from this
Okay…as someone who works at a gas station myself, if I know that someone is working on a propane tank, I smell propane, AND a fire captain ordered me to close the store then I’ll shut the pumps down, block the entrances, and then I’m outta there. There’s not a single thing in that store worth my life.
Seems like approaching a known gas leak in a vehicle propelled by an internal *combustion* engine should be prohibited, but I am no expert.
That was my thought, ummm, spark plugs
It's certainly not recommended.. but no one in this fiasco was properly trained, so it wouldn't have helped. Even the EMTs aren't the sort to be trained in explosion procedures--wrong first responder type, you know?
This is horrifying. I've watched a few of these CSB videos, and a lot more safety videos in my time in the Navy and security companies and fire department, but this video strikes me as particularly asinine. It's like the gasoline fight scene in "Zoolander." Unfortunately, I can imagine all too well how it happened, and what would have happened if I had been there to nag the people involved. Some of the more experienced or professional might have listened. The regular guys wouldn't.
Last words said inside the store. "Hey Cleetus, you gotta light?"
Hell yeah i do, bubba! Gimme a puff o that!
I'm not even sorry for anyone's death in this accident...
The amount of stupidity is just staggering
Don't be an ass
R.i.p to the lives that were lost in this tragedy
That building essentially turned into a fuel-air bomb.
The "swiss cheese" model for this one was more of a pasta tube
sadly I have worked for several businesses in my life, where I had to work with highly dangerous stuff, who didn't do shit in proper training.
A few even were all too happy to throw us 'newbies' into what they called 'sink or swim' situations where we were grossly under trained for the takat hand just to see how well we 'learn on the job' ourselves. W..T.. F???
Shitty training by management/ senior members, who also don't give a shit due to cost/personal inconvenience, is dangerously common nationwide.
It's shocking to think the junior technician and the fire responders didn't have the wits to clear the building and area. Granted, improved training is needed but come on people, this was a large propane leak!
They should've dealt with Strickland Propane. Hank would've never let this happen
Geez, that junior employee was still an idiot, and if he was on the job for a month and a half he had SOME training not "no training" but even then, you'd think he would be smart enough to figure out on his own while turning the plug that escaping liquid or gas under high pressure is NOT a good thing, and that taking the plug will let it ALL out rapidly, but he didn't even figure that much out!
And then people remaining in the store, and 2 firemen coming up on the scene of a pronane leak not immediately evacuating the area and the store of civilians etc was another huge mistake!
The lead guy should have immediately returned to the scene, and then called 911 not dallied around on the phone and telling the guy there to call, another huge mistake along with the one of not leaving him to do this work by himself.
Amazing how the valve was defective from 20 years prior, and it sat there in the tank for 20 years until some fool and it collided in the worst way.
Victorian Sculptures Reads as though it is an unusual procedure that he had not come across before. If he did not know to check the vent, by the time he unscrewed the valve far enough to realise it was already venting too strongly to return the valve.
Really they should ban this procedure except in emergencies - just let the tank run out via normal usage and then connect the new one.
@@ianmoseley9910 Run it dry with the other tank standing by. A good technician knows to within a couple percent how much gas is in the tank, and within a couple of days to when the tank will run out. The use of "Darwin training mode" was not necessary.
I wonder if he used an impact (or other cordless) tool to remove the plug. It may have spun so fast that the plug was out before he could have stopped it.
@@manuelschneider1105 It's possible to-day, but good grief- you'd not want to use any kind of power tool or even a battery driven drill/driver around flammable gas because they do produce sparks! run one in the dark, you'll see it.
I dont think they had the range of lithium battery operated tools we do today, it would have been a plug-in AC tool if any, I believe he just used a wrench and I think a wrench was shown in the animation which would have been based on the actual findings.
@@HobbyOrganist I wouldn't use around flammable gases either...
I know some guys have small air compressors on their trucks to run pneumatic tools in the field.
I merely thought that would be a possible reason as to why the plug was removed entirely. By hand, he would have to keep going while it squirts out ice cold liquid propane...
... which seems dumb to me. But, the story is filled to the brim with questionable choices, so maybe he did exactly that
I can't believe the people in the store lived
Did they? I don’t know how they would survive something as catastrophic as this, but then again I only see 4 crosses at the memorial. The two firefighters and the two workers from the gas company. Crazy…
@@Crazyjn 0:36 The four store employees were seriously injured but survived. I'd guess the difference between the dead and the injured was a combination of (1) being further from the center of the explosion and (2) being less burned since there was less propane near them.
Very tragic, on any gas leak you evacuate people right away, you don't act like it's no big deal that your in standing around in a major amount of propane... They should have yelled at them from a distance and got out of there and set up command at a safe distance.
This is why training is vital for any job. It can literally save lives, money, and time in the long run.
"Undetermined ignition source?" Given the sequence of decisions and events, I'm just going to assume that someone lit up a cigarette by the tank.
That explosion animation was extraordinary
The fact that the inexperienced technician kept cracking open that plug even after seeing propane escaping from the tell tale hole blows my mind. Why didn't he close the plug? Even if you don't to know a thing about propane ,you would still know not remove that plug.
Exactly, something is weird - call boss and ask what next.
I presume he thought that it would leak only while he removed and that once fully removed that it wouldn't leak. But after removing it he could not put it back due to the pressure on the tank. Probably why he got frost bite.
You have the best videos...very informative..thank you guys
I see so many businesses with stacks of propane tanks right by the building. Dont know if those are full but seems unwise.
That's a smooth, clean burning deadly explosion!