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1970 Crescent City, Illinois fire disaster...
1970 Crescent City, Illinois fire disaster...
Item # 724080
June 22, 1970
THE RALEIGH TIMES, N.C. June 22, 1970
* Crescent City, Iroquois Co. Illinois disaster
* Train derailment wreck & fireball explosions
Near the bottom of the front page is a six column heading: "Illinois Town Engulfed in Holocaust" with photo. (see images)
Complete with 32 pages, a few binding holes, nice condition.
background: On June 21, 1970 (Father’s Day morning), a catastrophic freight train derailment and fire devastated Crescent City, Illinois, when a Toledo, Peoria & Western Railroad train derailed in the center of town around 6:30 a.m., puncturing several tank cars carrying liquefied petroleum gas (propane). The escaping gas ignited almost immediately, producing an intense fire that burned for more than two days and triggered a series of terrifying BLEVE explosions as overheated tanks violently ruptured, sending fireballs and metal debris hundreds of feet through the air. Much of the town’s business district was destroyed, along with roughly two dozen homes and numerous commercial buildings, leaving Crescent City largely in ruins. Despite the scale of the destruction and about 60–70 injuries, there were no fatalities, a result widely credited to rapid evacuation and the courage of local volunteer firefighters and responding crews from surrounding communities. The disaster became a landmark case in U.S. emergency-response training and hazardous-materials rail safety, often cited as a sobering example of the dangers posed by transporting flammable gases through populated areas.
Category: The 20th Century
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$52.00
