 |
| Image: Wikipedia |
 |
| BLEVE at Constable Hook - July 1900 |
 |
| December 1960 |
In the 20th Century, the North Jersey waterfront at Bayonne was a gasoline alley prone to fires and explosions aboard ships, at piers and tank farms.
In 1872, John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil set up shop at the city's Constable Hook and expanded over the decades, adding to catastrophic risk.
After a 1911 blast, Fire and Water magazine, predecessor to Fire Engineering, noted "explosions at Constable Point are of frequent occurance, although every known precaution is taken to prevent such a disaster."
In other words, industrial progress comes at a cost.
In one of the deadliest accidents, two tankers collided and burst into flames under the Bayonne Bridge along the Kill Van Kull waterway on June 16, 1966, ultimately claiming 33 lives from the ships as well as two tugs.
One of the vessels, the Alva Cape carrying 4.2 million gallons of the volatile petroleum product, suffered a breach. The New York City fire boat Alfred E. Smith moved in close and smothered gushing "lava-like naptha" with foam, averting a greater disaster, New York Mayor John Lindsey said.
Here's a sampling of other incidents:
On July 5, 1900, lightning struck the Standard Oil tanks at Constable Hook with flames roaring to "a height of 100 feet in immense bubbles that burst with a noise like that of wind-drive surf,'' the Democrat and Chronicle of Rochester, New York, reported. Today, firefighters refer to such fiery bubbles as a BLEVE - boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion. Workers dug trenches to contain spills threatening homes.
On Aug. 9, 1929, an explosion aboard the William Rockefeller moored at Standard Oil's Pier 6 took one life and spewed burning oil across Kill Van Kull toward Staten Island, according to the United Press. "Lines were placed aboard the William Rockefeller and it was towed into midstream, where fireboats poured water into it," UP reported.
On May 8, 1930, at Pier 1 of the Gulf Refining Co., a tanker backing into Kill Van Kull backfired after taking on 800 gallons of gasoline. Flames spread ashore, setting off a fiery chain reaction. "Drums of gasoline piled two high exploded and in some instances were hurled a hundred feet in the air," Fire Engineering said. Tugs and fire boats - including New York's John Purroy Mitchell, Zophar Mills and William J. Gaynor - joined land forces from the Bayonne Fire Department and plant brigades.
An estimated 316,000 pounds of foam powder was shipped to Bayonne to fight the 1930 inferno and replenish supplies.
In 1945, Fire Engineering reported fumes from a 100,000 oil tank at Standard Oil's Bayonne Terminal ignited, and the top of the tank caved in "scattering burning oil over a 100-foot area," injuring firefighters and plant workers. Bayonne firefighter James Farrell, 54, suffered third-degree burns to his neck and shoulders, the magazine said.
On Dec. 28, 1960, a liquid propane tank exploded at the Sun Gas Products Corp. at Constable Hook. Firefighters turned back flames that spread within 50 feet of a huge oil tank, according to the Associated Press. "Police evacuated everybody from within a five-block radius of the explosion scene and cordoned it off," AP reported.
