— 10 Bugbee. “Fire Protection Developments in 1962.” NFPA Quarterly, 56/3, Jan 1963, p. 197.

— 10 Khan & Abbasi. “Major Accidents in Process Industries…,” LPPI Journal, Vol. 12, 1999.

— 10 NFPA. “Multiple-Death Fires of 1962. Quarterly, Vol. 56, No. 4, April 1963, pp. 295-296.

— 10 NFPA. Spreadsheet on Large Loss of Life Fires (as of Feb 2003).

— 10 NFPA. “The Toledo Chemical Explosion. Quarterly, Vol. 56, No. 3, January 1963, p. 249.

— 10 The Blade, Toledo, OH. “Ex-Toledoan gains sweet vindication.” 1-16-2011.

Narrative Information

NFPA: “On Thursday afternoon, May 10, 1962, an explosion of chemical vapors occurred at the Maumee Chemical. Company in Toledo, Ohio. The blast killed 10 employees, injured 46 persons, caused a loss estimated in excess of $850,000, and broke glass up to a half mile away. Before the explosion, the employees had been warned of danger by an evacuation alarm system, but five of those who had gathered at the assigned rally point were killed when a distillation column fell on the building they were in.

“The Maumee Chemical Company is located in a mainly mercantile and residential section of Toledo, directly across the Maumee River from the main downtown area of the city. The plant occupies four 50-year-old buildings that were once a brewery. The main plant is a 10,600-square-foot 2-, 2-, and 4-story brick, reinforced concrete and brick arch on exposed steel building. The other three smaller 2-story structures are a 9,900-square-foot brick, wood-joist storage and drying building, a 2,300-square-foot brick, wood-joist pilot plant, and a 1,100-square-foot brick, wood-joist office building…

“….At the time of the explosion, a glazing compound was being manufactured on the second and third floors of the southern part of the 3-story section of the main building….

“About 3:20 p.m., the process operator noticed that excessive temperatures were developing in the reactor…cooling water was turned on in an effort to reduce the temperature. The cooling water had no effect and the plant evacuation alarm was operated. The alarm signaled an evacuation procedure similar to a fire drill. This procedure had been practiced on regular occasions. Plant employees filed out of the building and assembled in a lunch room located on the first floor of the storage and drying building to the rear of the main plant.

“The last time the foreman observed the temperature of the reactor, it was 140⁰F and rising rapidly. The contents of the reactor boiled, and vapors spread outdoors through the 2-inch scrubber opening. A ‘blowing off’ sound was noted by several of the survivors a few minutes before the first explosion. Several all-glass connections had broken, and the vapors were spreading through the building.

“As the employees assembled, the fireman gathered three men and returned to the building to ventilate it and do whatever else was necessary to prevent further trouble. At the time of the explosion, 16 employees were in the lunch room, two were in the plant yard on their way to the lunch room, two were still in the plant, and the foreman and his three men had re-entered the main building. It was reported that a fog-like atmosphere existed inside the building. It is thought that this ‘fog’ was primarily ethyl acrylate vapors….

“[The] initial blast raised the roof of the main plant and then was followed shortly by a second more violent explosion which knocked down much of the main building and about half of the pilot plant building. The distillation column on the rear of the main building was dislodged and fell rearward into the 2-story storage and drying building hitting directly over the lunch room.

“Seven occupants of the lunch room were covered in an avalanche of bricks, flooring, and debris (two of these survived and were later rescued, but the other five were killed). The nine others in the lunch room were protected from the falling debris by beams and overhead piping and staggered into the yard. The two men in the yard were killed instantly by the violent shower of bricks and equipment. Of the six men in the main building, three were killed and three escaped, one without injury. The 45 injured included plant employees and persons nearby, including…three customers in…[a] grocery store. One man who was reportedly five blocks from the plant was thrown down and injured. The blast caused two minor automobile accidents….

“The ignition source for the explosion has never been located. Electrical equipment in the room where the explosion occurred was suitable for use in Class I, Division 1, Group C location. The equipment had not, however, been tested for suitability of use in atmospheres of ethyl acrylate. It is thought that the first explosion occurred in a very rich mixture. When the roof was lifted by this initial explosion, air rushed into the area and evidently created a learn mixture nearer the center of the explosive range that exploded more violently.” (NFPA. “The Toledo Chemical Explosion. Quarterly, Vol. 56, No. 3, January 1963, p. 249.)

Newspapers

May 10: “Toledo, Ohio (AP)–A chemical plant exploded with devastating force near downtown Toledo Thursday, killing at least nine persons and spewing wreckage over a five-block area. The explosion and subsequent fire injured 46 persons and left one employee of the Maumee chemical co. unaccounted for. Firemen discovered five of the dead as they dug through the charred debris of the three-story plant Thursday night.

“Great clouds of multi-colored smoke — at one point it was a brilliant orange – rolled over the city as chemicals in the plant burned.

“Streets were littered with glass from windows shattered by the force of the explosion….

“The plant was located on the east bank of the Maumee River. The downtown area is on the west bank, less than a quarter mile away….

“The cause of the blast? “It could have been caused by a lot of things….We may never know,” said R. H. Baldwin, company chief engineer….

“A building across the street sagged under the force of the explosion. Homes were jolted, cracking plaster, floors and ceilings. Police and firemen evacuated families from the area when fumes and the possibility of additional explosions threatened the area.

“William Cowell was knocked flat as he walked several blocks from the plant. He was reported in serious condition at St. Charles Hospital….

“Among the dead was Gerald W. Hickey, who had gone to work for the company only a few months ago, moving here from Providence, R.I. Other dead included Carl Griesenger, 25; Winfield Bowman, 51; Harry Mc-Cord, 65; James Fincher, B. A. Pedigo and W. T. Hamilton, all

employes.” (Sandusky Register, OH. “Toledo Plant Blast Claims Nine Lives.” 5-11-1962, 1, 10.)

May 11: “Toledo, Ohio (AP) – The explosion which wrecked the Maumee Chemical Co. and resulted in death to nine persons and injuries to 46 others apparently was caused by vapor leaking from a 750-gallon kettle of a chemical compound used in plastics (acrylic polymer). Frank Joyce, vice president in charge of the company’s manufacturing operations, gave that opinion Friday night in explaining the Thursday blast which caused damage estimated at more than $1 million. Joyce said he did not know what caused the leak.

“Toledo fire officials said they would confer with company officials early next week to pin down a definite cause. Fire Chief Arnold Papenhagen, who made the preliminary damage estimate, said he will recommend against letting the firm reconstruct its plant even if it wishes to do so. Papenhagen said he believes chemical plants of this type should not be located in residential areas under any circumstances. The chief said Maumee Chemical, about a quarter-mile from downtown across the Maumee River, was the most carefully inspected of all industrial plants in the city.” (Sandusky Register. “Toledo Chemical Plant May Have to Relocate.” 5-12-1962, p. 2.)

Jan 1, 2011: “….The Maumee Chemical plant was destroyed on May 10, 1962, in what remains the second deadliest industrial fire in Toledo history. Clouds of multicolored smoke rolled across the city as the plant’s chemicals burned. Ten people were killed and 46 were injured. The production of saccharin and the firm’s other chemical products was soon moved to a plant in suburban Cincinnati….

“Maumee Chemical continued to grow despite a series of small industrial explosions in the 1950s. The firm produced a range of substances beyond saccharin, including chemicals for pharmaceuticals, tranquilizers, and diuretics. A 1960 article in Chemical and Engineering News noted the company’s strong sales and facilities running at “120 percent” capacity to keep up with demand.

“Then came the deadly explosion of 1962. The blast destroyed two-thirds of the main plant building and sent the entire three-story end of it cascading into the street. Houses shook and windows broke miles away. A man walking on Platt Street, 10 blocks away, was injured when the concussion heaved him into the air and slammed him to the pavement.

“Maumee Chemical then moved all Toledo production to its new plant in St. Bernard, a Cincinnati suburb, and kept just research and corporate headquarters in the city. Fire investigators never ruled on the cause of the May 10 explosion, at least publicly. But Mr. Senn^[1] purportedly knew what had happened.

“According to his son-in-law, Mr. Senn was told that a veteran plant foreman had mistakenly removed the lid of a ball mill, a type of grinder that contained hundreds of ball bearings used for grinding material into fine powder. Mr. Senn knew the foreman, who was killed instantly. The ball mill was unrelated to saccharin production. “It went off like a bomb,” Mr. Pitt^[2] said.”
(The Blade, Toledo, OH (J. C. Reindl). “Ex-Toledoan gains sweet vindication.” 1-16-2011.)

Sources

Bugbee, Percy (NFPA General Manager). “Fire Protection Developments in 1962.” Quarterly of the National Fire Protection Association, vol. 56, No. 3, January 1963, p. 197.

Khan, Faisal I. and S.A. Abbasi. “Major Accidents in Process Industries and an Analysis of Causes and Consequences.” Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries, Vol. 12, 1999, pp. 361-378. At: http://74.125.47.132/search?q=cache:http://202.38.89.99/Loss_prevention/99503.pdf

National Fire Protection Association. “Multiple-Death Fires of 1962. Quarterly of the National Fire Protection Association, Vol. 56, No. 4, April 1963, pp. 295-317.

National Fire Protection Association. “The Toledo Chemical Explosion.” Quarterly of the National Fire Protection Association, Vol. 56, No. 3, January 1963, p. 249-252.

National Fire Protection Association. Spreadsheet on Large Loss of Life Fires (as of Feb 2003). (Email attachment to B. W. Blanchard from Jacob Ratliff, NFPA Archivist/Taxonomy Librarian, 7-8-2013.)

Sandusky Register, OH. “Toledo Chemical Plant May Have to Relocate.” 5-12-1962, p. 2. At: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=134829004&sterm=maumee+toledo

Sandusky Register, OH. “Toledo Plant Blast Claims Nine Lives.” 5-11-1962, pp. 1 & 10. At: http://newspaperarchive.com/fullpagepdfviewer?img=150419545&sterm=maumee+toledo

The Blade, Toledo, OH (J. C. Reindl, staff writer). “Ex-Toledoan gains sweet vindication.” 1-16-2011. Accessed 11-7-2014 at: http://www.toledoblade.com/local/2011/01/16/Ex-Toledoan-gains-sweet-vindication.html

[1] Oliver F. Senn, developer of saccharin, who worked at the Maumee plant.

[2] Son-in-law of Oliver Senn.

1962 — May 10, Chemical vapor explosions / fire, Maumee Chemical Plant, Toledo, OH–10