At 12:02 a.m., c.d.t., on August 4, 1978, propane that had vaporized and spread widely from a ruptured 8-inch liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) pipeline owned by the Mid-America Pipeline System (MAPCO) was ignited by an unknown source in a rural area near Donnellson, Iowa. The intense fire killed two persons and critically burned three others as they fled their homes; one of the critically burned persons later died. A farmhouse and six outbuildings were destroyed, and two adjacent homes were damaged. Before the fire burned out at 3:30 a.m., 3,750 barrels (157,500 gallons) burned and 75 acres of cornfields and woods were damaged. The National Transportation Safety Board determines that the probable cause of the accident was the failure of an 8-inch propane pipeline due to the combined stresses that were exerted on the pipeline when it was lowered 3 months before the accident and to a dent and gouge which had weakened the pipe. The dent and gouge had been incurred before the pipeline had been completed in 1962.
Pipeline Accident Report: Mid-America Pipeline System Liquefied Petroleum Gas Pipeline Rupture and Fire, Donnellson, Iowa, August 4, 1978
1979
44 pages
Report
No indication
English