Gas tanks ...Danger

[Falcon]

Hazmat Highway to Hell with High Pressure Gas Cylinders

Ever seen those rack trucks driving down the highway full of big gas cylinders filled with stuff for welders, medical supply, and other industrial applications? Ever wondered what would happen if one of those trucks was ever involved in a serious accident and burst into flames? Wonder no more because we have video that gives a first hand account of the horror that ensues. Right from jump street, this video goes off the rails.


The first thing you’ll see is the offending truck pass the camera car. We’re not sure if the truck driver is a maniac, if the brakes are out, if the throttle is stuck, but the driver plows headlong into another truck. The trucks are instantly destroyed, the gas tanks rupture and it is fire city. The camera car sits behind the truck for a moment and then the film cuts and we’re relocated to the other side of the highway looking at the truck from a still very unsafe distance and all hell starts breaking loose as the cylinders start exploding…one by one.


For the next three minutes there’s massive explosion after explosion, gas cylinders flying through the air, shrapnel landing within seeming arm’s reach of the camera, and people videotaping the whole thing. At one point a police car gets way up close to the truck and then reconsiders its position when the explosions start coming hot and heavy. It is incredible to watch the huge cylinders launch like rockets. Pay attention to the lunatic who is wandering around the scene on his freaking cell phone! Hey pal, you’ll get reception on the other side of the concrete wall.


We’ve seen the photos of how badly a little nitrous bottle exploding can mangle a car or a trailer and those things are juice boxes as compared to these big boys. There’s a mushroom cloud every time one of the cylinders blows up. We’re kind of amazed that the chunks of exploding bottle aren’t blasting out the windows of these people’s cars and stuff. The whole thing is totally surreal and we’re going to make sure we give every gas cylinder truck a wide berth on the highway from now on. And I won't be sitting there taking pictures.....


PRESS AND THEN DUCK! THIS IS EXPLODING INSANITY -


http://www.youtube.com/embed/FG1LGKieTxY?feature=player_detailpage

 

[kcvet]

I knew it was cook off time from the get go

 

[Ina]

Falcon, that is scary. The VA sent 1 large bottle of oxygen, plus 8 medium sized, plus 8 small bottle, 4 backpack sizes, and an electrical oxygen generator to our home after Michael's surgery in August of 2012. Michael has never needed nor has he used any of the equipment. They said he had COPD, and he would need it eventually. I've had COPD FOR the last 15 years, and I still don't need anything like that. When I asked, I was told it belonged to us. So now I have nightmares of a great explosion, such as on your video. :hide:

 

[Capt Lightning]

Worry not. Oxygen is not flamable or explosive per se, but it is necessary to support combustion, so I wouldn't want it leaking (remember the fire on Apollo 1).

 

[rkunsaw]

We used oxygen, acetylene, and other gases at work. We had safety movies about such things every now and then. It doesn't matter if the gas is combustible or inert It's under high pressure and getting the tank damaged or exposed to high heat can cause an explosion or propel the tank like a rocket.

 

[Pappy]

And yet, when I work summers filling propane tanks, people get upset with me when I tell them I can't fill their tanks while a cigarette is dangling out of their mouth. Darwin at its best.