Compiled by Wayne Blanchard; last edit 12-28-2024 for upload to: http://www.usdeadlyevents.com/

–20 Assoc. Press. “Oil Refinery Blast Kills 20.” The Bakersfield Californian. 6-2-1933, p. 1.

–10 NFPA. “Fires in Which There Was Loss of Life.” NFPA Quarterly, V27, 1, Jul 1933, 87.

–10 UP. “Oil Fire Ruins Searched for Victims; Ten Dead…” Oakland Tribune. 6-3-1933, p. 1.

— 8 Davis. Signal Hill. Signal Hill Historical Society, 2006, p. 82

Narrative Information

Davis: “A blast of fumes at the Richfield Meandor Plant near Lime Avenue and Twenty-seventh Street on June 2, 1933, resulted in eight deaths…The explosion and fire caused damage to a number of nearby residential structures and destroyed several nearby derricks.” (Davis 2006, p. 82.)

Newspapers

June 2, AP: “Long Beach, June 2. – A terrific explosion swept the Richfield refinery at 1:59 today, causing death and destruction, the toll of life being estimated at 20. The blast broke windows two miles away in the downtown section of Long Beach and created intense excitement throughout the city which was struck by an earthquake last March. Flames in great sheets shot high into the air and before fire apparatus could reach the scene a crowd of some 15,000 people blocked the streets and delayed the fire apparatus. The refinery is located at Twenty-seventh and Lime streets.

“The first identified dead was Thomas Collins, an employee of the refinery. It was reported that among those who perished were a woman and a baby.

“It was the greatest disaster that ever swept the famous Signal Hill district, one of the big oil producing fields of southern California, located on the northeast border of Long Beach.

“Vast clouds of black smoke belched from the flaming structures, the havoc appearing to have spread over several acres of he plant. Half an hour after the blast the flames were raging beyond all control. Damage running into hundreds of thousands of dollars was caused by the blast.

“Terrified residents rushed from homes in all parts of the city when the blast shattered windows miles from the scene.

“The compression plant with 10 compressors and 8 1000-barrel tanks were burning fiercely at 2:30 p.m. The damage to the plant is estimated by workmen at over a million dollars.

“Derrick houses on practically all wooden rigs in the Signal Hill section were demolished and many wells damaged.

“All available fire apparatus has been rushed to the scene but the flames were so hot firemen could not get near the center of the blast.

“Witnesses said the houses were crumpled worse than in the recent earthquakes. Sides of buildings caved in and furniture was blown into the streets.” (Associated Press. “Oil Refinery Blast Kills 20.” The Bakersfield Californian. 6-2-1933, p. 1.)

June 3, UP: “Long Beach, Calif., June 3. – (U.P.) – A smoking, blackened ten-block square section of Signal Hill, one of the world’s richest oil fields was searched for bodies today as authorities sought the toll of the explosion and fire that turned the district into a holocaust late yesterday. They known dead stood at ten today, but a number of persons are missing and some officials expected the total death list may be increased.

“The bodies of Robert Bennett and Carl Robinson, both of Long Beach, were the latest found in the wreckage of the D’Angelo Oil Company plant, which adjoined the Richfield Oil Company refinery, scene of the blast. Another body in the morgue at Long Beach, where the dead were taken, was still unidentified. The corrected list of dead: [9]

Robert Bennett, Long Beach.

Charles J. Brown, Whittier.

Mrs. Lottie Carlyon, Signal Hill.

Marylin, 8, daughter of Mrs. Carlyon.

Charles N. Cope, Long Beach.

Duke Gaughan, Bellflower.

Carl Robinson, Long Beach.

L. Shumway, Bellflower.

Ed Wyler, Anaheim.

“Injured numbered 50, most of whom were expected to recover.

“The property damage was placed in excess of $1,000,000 with estimates ranging as high as $2,500,000. Damaged were a score of homes, adjacent to the field. Some were demolished. The homeless were cared for by appropriation of $25,000 from the Red Cross established to aid victims of he major earthquake that shook this section March 10.

Huge Blast Set Off By Minor Explosion

“The blast, followed immediately by fire, came in the middle of a quite afternoon while Signal Hill was pouring out its daily quota of black gold.

“A few seconds before 2 p.m. there was a slight detonation at the absorption plant of the Richfield Oil Company in the southwest of the field. Those who knew what caused that minor blast did not live to tell what happened, but it was presumed that a valve from a pressure tank blew out.

“A few workmen ran to aid those already in the absorption plant for all knew that it was important to shut off valves. It was too late. Sheets of casing head gasoline, highly volatile, went flying through the air and then came a terrific blast.

“The concussion was so great it was heard in Hollywood and Pasadena points nearly 20 miles away. It broke windows in San Pedro, seven miles distant.

“Sheets of flame flew in all directions and within a few seconds 10 of the Richfield storage tanks, each holding 1000 barrels of oil, were aflame. Oil pools in the immediate district were set afire as were derricks and office buildings….” (UP. “Oil Fire Ruins Searched for Victims; Ten Dead…” Oakland Tribune. 6-3-1933, pp. 1 and 3.)

Sources

Associated Press. “Oil Refinery Blast Kills 20.” The Bakersfield Californian. 6-2-1933, p. 1. Accessed 12-28-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/bakersfield-californian-jun-02-1933-p-1/

Davis, Ken. Signal Hill. Signal Hill Historical Society, 2006. Partially Digitized by Google. Accessed 12-28-2024 at: http://books.google.com/books?id=SykklGpE29AC&pg=PA82&dq=Explosion,+Oil+Refinery,+Long+Beach,+CA+1933+June+2

National Fire Protection Association. “Fires in Which There Was Loss of Life.” Quarterly of the National Fire Protection Association, Vol. 27, No. 1, July 1933, p. 87.

United Press. “Oil Fire Ruins Searched for Victims; Ten Dead…” Oakland Tribune. 6-3-1933, p. 1. Accessed 12-28-2024 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/oakland-tribune-jun-03-1933-p-1/

1933 – June 2, fumes explosion/fire, Richfield Meandor Oil Refinery, Long Beach, CA– 10