Posted on 03/25/2023 7:21:46 AM PDT by Carriage Hill
Sugar goes boom real good.
Sugar dust is explosive, as is sawdust in a mill.
No one called the gas company about the smell of gas? If true, they were more worried about production than the safety of their employees.
In the early 80’s I managed a convenience store in Towson, MD. The store opened at 6AM so I arrived at 5:30 AM to open the store.
As soon as I got out of my car on the far side of the parking lot, I smelled a very strong odor of natural gas and when I opened the front door of the store it was even stronger.
I decided not to switch the lights on or turn on anything electrical but did call 9-11.
I propped both the front and back doors to the store open to try to air it out but while I was waiting outside for the fire department and BGE to show up, a guy pulled up with a lit cigarette dangling from his mouth.
I yelled at him to put the cig out and not come any closer. I think he thought I was crazy. I also ran out and stopped any customers from coming in, telling them there was a gas leak and it was dangerous.
The long and short of it was a gas line in the store next door, a travel agency that had come disconnected. FWIW they were having renovations being done and evidently the gas had been leaking all night.
Both the fire Marshall and the guy from BGE told me that my quick thinking, not turning on lights, etc., probably prevented the whole place from blowing up.
But I got written up by company management for not opening the store on time.
“Many people visited West Reading for the Vanity Fair Outlet Stores..”
***
We went there regularly from the Bethlehem area.
That last line above caught me by surprise, but it shouldn't have. The company should've commended you - not reprimanded you.
Two gas explosions happened in my old neighborhood (see #55 above). One was triggered when someone switched on the lights.
If the explosion in this case was a gas leak, as is suspected, and everyone could smell the gas, then the company (or, at least, the bosses that report to their bosses) must've been more concerned about the production of candy for the Easter season than the employees.
The latest news for Palmer's is 4 dead and 3 still missing. Really sad...
They were one of our firm’s clients. Back in the 1970s they were really good. So were the other outlets.
As time passed, they became like all the other retail stores.
:-(
Borges said she and others had complained about a gas odor about 30 minutes before the factory blew up. She is angry Palmer didn't immediately evacuate. She said the deaths of her co-workers - including her close friend, Judith Lopez-Moran - could've been prevented.
At 4:30 p.m., Borges told the AP, she smelled natural gas. It was strong and nauseated her. Borges and her co-workers approached their supervisor, asking "what was going to be done, if we were going to be evacuated," she recalled.
Borges said the supervisor noted someone higher up would have to make that decision. So she got back to work.
. . . the two-story brick building exploded. Borges, who'd been on a ladder, was thrown to the ground. She heard screaming. There was fire everywhere, and the flames quickly overtook her. . . . She began to run. That's when the floor gave way, and she could feel herself falling - into a long, horizontal tank of chocolate in the factory's basement. At 4 feet, 10 inches tall, Borges landed on her feet in chest-high liquid. The chocolate extinguished the flames, but she believes her fall is what broke her feet.
The vat began filling with water from firefighters' hoses, eventually forcing Borges to climb out as it reached neck level. She sat on the lip of the tank, then jumped into a pool of water that had formed on the basement floor. Briefly submerged, Borges said she swallowed a mouthful of water before surfacing. She grabbed onto some plastic tubing.
And then she waited. "Help, help, please help!" she yelled, over and over, for hours. No one came. The pain grew more intense. The water was frigid. The main supply pipe for the building's fire suppression system had ruptured - and water was pouring into the basement. She lost track of time but thought she might be there for days. . . .
Finally, in the middle of the night, she saw a light and screamed anew for help. Search-and-rescue dogs had alerted their handlers that a survivor might be in the rubble. Now, as rescuers carefully worked their way down to the basement, they heard Borges's cries. Calling for quiet, the rescuers followed the sound of her voice. They found her in a tight space, in chest-deep water. She made her way to them and was placed in a litter.
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