There is a fire event called a BLEVE (boiling liquid, expanding gas explosion) and the first time it was used to describe a fire event was for a 1959 fire on Southwest Boulevard in Kansas City, Mo just a few blocks off state line. It was a monster fire and when the gas cloud exploded it killed the most fire fighters in KC history.
It was few blocks from my Dad’s office and I remember it vividly as I was watching it on live TV when it blew up. A decade later I built a new building right on the site and it still had boiled down asphalt underground.
Wow, very interesting. I may have to look that up.
Digging down for the new foundation, you found the melted asphalt huh.