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At 4:45 p.m., central standard time, Aprif 1fi, 1980, gasoline at the Williams Pipe Line <br />Company's Minneapolis terminal in Roseville, Minnesota, sprayed from the fractured <br />cast-iron base of a station booster pump at 72 psig pressure, vaporized, and exploded <br />after it was ignited by the arcing of an electric switch in the mainline pump control room <br />50 feet downwind of the booster pump. The resulting fire bumed for 2 days, fueled by <br />gaso[ine and fuel oil leaking from ma�y burned-out flange gaskets, f�om drainage from <br />hundreds of feet of pipe connecting 37 tanks, and from the receiving and loading <br />manifolds. <br />The explosion killed one person. The fire injured three persons and destroyed the <br />receiving manifold piping and valves, pumping equipment, and four vehicles. About <br />3,500 barreis (147,000 gallons) of petrofeum products bumed and property damage <br />was estimated at $3 million. <br />The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the probable cause of the <br />accident was fhe fracture of the base of a 30-year-old cas#-iron pump which had not <br />been hydrostatically tested at its new instaflation. The failure ailowed gasoline under <br />pressure to spray, vaporize, and enter an electric switchgear building 50 feet away. <br />Ignition occurred from an efectfic arc produced by opening a switch. Contributing to <br />#he accident was the failure of the company to (1) use expfosson-proof equipment in a <br />potentially hazardous vapor area, and {2) fiEl the gap between the pump and its <br />foundation with grout. <br />ln Mounds View (from NTSB Repo�t NTSBIPAR-87J02): <br />About 4:20 a.m., on July 8, 1986, line 2N, an 8-inch products pipeline at Mounds View, <br />Minnesota, operated by Williams Pipe Line Company ruptured. Unleaded gasoline <br />under a pressure of i, 434 psig spewed from a 7-1/2 foot-long opening along the <br />longitudinal seam of the pipe. Vaporized gasoline, combined with air and liquid <br />gasoline, flowed along neighborhood streets. About 20 minutes later, ihe gasoline <br />vapor was ignited when an automobile entered the area. Following an expiosion-like <br />noise, fire spread rapidly along the path of the liquid gasoline. Two persons were <br />burned severely and later died, and one person suffered serious burns_ There was <br />substantial property damage and soi! and water pollution. <br />The National Transportation Safety Board determined that the probable cause of the <br />rupture at Mounds View, Minnesota, was the faiture of Williams Pipe Line Company to <br />correct known deficiencies in the cathodic protection appEied to the firsi 10 miles of line <br />2N. Contributing to the failure of the pipeline was the susceptibility of the low <br />frequency, electric resistance welded pipe to weld seam corrosion and the Department <br />of Transportation's ineffective inspection and enforcement program. Contributing to the <br />extent of the damages was the failure of the pipeline company to provide adequate <br />direction, through its procedures and training, for its employees to respond effectively <br />2-4 <br />