1971 — Feb 3, Thiokol Chemical Plant Fire, Trip Flares Explosion, Woodbine, GA — 29

— 34 Our Georgia History. “Thiokol Chemical Explosion near Woodbine, Georgia.” [See Kerr]
— 29 Kerr. “A Look Back: Huge blast in ’71 obliterated Woodbine…plant.” 10-18-2020.
— 29 National Fire Protection Association. Key Dates in Fire History. 1996.
–~25 Ferrara, Grace M. The Disaster File: The 1970’s. New York: Facts on File, 1979, p. 102.
— 25 NFPA. “Multiple-Death Fires, 1971,” Fire Journal, Vol. 66, No. 3, May 1972, p. 63.
— 25 National Fire Protection Association. The Fire Almanac 1984. 1983, p. 139.

Narrative Information

Kerr: “….At 10:53 a.m. on Wednesday, Feb. 3, 1971, there was a devastating blast that leveled a magnesium flare assembly building at the Thiokol Chemical Corp.’s Woodbine plant. The immediate toll was 24 lives lost. Some of the victims were dismembered, which accounted for an erroneous first count of 35 dead at the scene. Another five would die of their injuries in the coming days. More than 50 workers were injured, some losing limbs. Many spent many months hospitalized….

“The munitions plant, constructed in 1964, was filling contracts for three Army agencies – the Picatinny Arsenal in Dover, N.J., the Edgewood Arsenal in Maryland and the Army Ammunition Procurement Agency at Joliet, Ill., when the blast occurred. The Army immediately sent in teams of investigators to determine the cause of the blast….
“Thiokol won a government contract in 1969 to manufacture more than 750,000 trip flares for Army use in Vietnam. The illuminant material used in the flares was dangerous and explosive, but in 1967 the Army had downgraded the material from Class 7 – the highest hazard ranking except for items such as nuclear warheads – to Class 2, considered a fire hazard only. Thanks to the Army bureaucratic maze, an Oct. 29, 1970, order directing the material to again be classified as Class 7 was pigeonholed. The Woodbine plant received the Army’s reclassification order on Feb. 25 – 22 days after the blast….” (Kerr, Jessie-Lynne. “A Look Back: Huge blast in ’71 obliterated Woodbine chemical plant.” Jacksonville.com, FL. 10-18-2020.)
NFPA: “One large-loss-of-life industrial fire occurred, on February 3. The plant, located at Woodbine, Georgia, manufactured flares for use in Vietnam. A flash fire set off an explosion, which spread fire to several surround¬ing buildings and caused most of the 25 deaths and 60 injuries. The cause of the explosion is a mystery, as all the products in the area were thought to be flammable rather than explosive.” (NFPA. “Multiple-Death Fires, 1971,” Fire Journal, Vol. 66, No. 3, May 1972, p. 63.)

Our Georgia History: “The Thiokol Chemical Plant, a sprawling complex of 36 buildings…was working on a U. S. Army contract for trip flares (flares that are ignited by an external trigger, normally an enemy soldier approaching a camp’s perimeter). Suddenly an explosion leveled one building and damaged three others. As a result of the explosion a forest fire, which would eventually destroy 200 acres of timber near the facility, was also set. Since the flares contained magnesium, many of the injured were severe burn victims, with second and third degree burns over more than 25% of their bodies.” (Our Georgia History. “Thiokol Chemical Explosion near Woodbine, Georgia.”)

Sources:

Ferrara, Grace M. The Disaster File: The 1970’s. New York: Facts on File, 1979.

Kerr, Jessie-Lynne. “A Look Back: Huge blast in ’71 obliterated Woodbine chemical plant.” Jacksonville.com, FL. 10-18-2020. Accessed 3-3-2022 at: https://www.jacksonville.com/story/news/2010/10/18/look-back-huge-blast-71-obliterated-woodbine-chemical-plant/15928186007/

Our Georgia History. “Thiokol Chemical Explosion near Woodbine, Georgia.” 3-13-2009. Accessed at: http://ourgeorgiahistory.com/ogh/Thiokol_Chemical_Explosion_near_Woodbine,_Georgia

National Fire Protection Association. Key Dates in Fire History. 1996. Accessed 2010 at: http://www.nfpa.org/itemDetail.asp?categoryID=1352&itemID=30955&URL=Research%20&%20Reports/Fire%20statistics/Key%20dates%20in%20fire%20history&cookie%5Ftest=1

National Fire Protection Association. “Multiple-Death Fires, 1971,” Fire Journal, Vol. 66, No. 3, May 1972, pp. 63-65.

National Fire Protection Association. The 1984 Fire Almanac. Quincy, MA: NFPA, 1983.