An interesting tidbit: the Southern Pacific Railroad was instrumental in recovery from this disaster. The telegraph station that provided train operating orders at Surf (which is located very close to the disaster site) had a telephone line to SP dispatch office in Los Angeles, and when a worker at Surf heard about the disaster nearby both telephone and telegraph messages were sent to the Los Angeles office, and SP was quickly able to assemble a rescue train that came down from San Francisco to help the survivors.
So, when my East Coast USAF buddies in Tech School got orders with me, for VAFB, I suggested THIS was the “Surf City” of Beach Boys fame....
They were “a bit” disappointed when we drove down there, in Feb 1972.