- Author
-
Federal Emergency Management Agency
- Title
- Urban Search and Rescue in San Bernardino, California, Following a Major Train Derailment in a Residential Neighborhood.
- Coporate
- Federal Emergency Management Agency, Washington, DC
- Report
-
FA-125,
November 1992,
29 p.
- Contract
- EMW-91-C-3679
- Keywords
-
railroad accidents
|
resuce
|
rescue operations
|
residnetial buildings
|
hazardous materials
|
explosions
|
death
|
injuries
- Identifiers
- diesel fuel; derailment
- Abstract
- The City of San Bernardino was struck by two disasters in the same neighborhood during the month of May 1989. These happened just 13 days apart. The first occurred on May 12 at 7:41 a.m. when a runaway Southern Pacific train traveling at over 100 miles per hour careened off a track causing six locomotives and 69 hopper cars to land on a row of residential houses at the bottom of a 25-foot embankment. Over 6,900 tons of powdered potash being carried in the cars spilled out onto the homes worsening an already disastrous situation. On May 25 at 8:05 a.m., the second disaster occurred at the exact location of the previous one. A 14-inch high-pressure gasoline pipeline buried underground alongside the train tracks rrptured sending the hazardous liquid 200 to 300 feet in the air. A source of ignition was found and an explosion followed with a ball of flame enveloping a section of the already severely damaged neighborhood. Both times, Duffy Street was the hardest hit thus the two incidents became known as the "Duffy Street Disasters." As this case study is directed toward Urban Search and Rescue, the train derailment will be addressed.