COMMERCE CITY - 1978

Photos: Denver Public Library

On Oct. 3, 1978, an explosion ripped through the Continental Oil Co. refinery in Commerce City, sending skyward a fireball visible for miles.

The blast, which registered 1.5 on the Richter scale at the U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, killed three people and injured 11 others.

"More than 40 businesses and homes reported damage, some several miles away," according to the Denver Public Library.

The blast was concentrated near a gasoline processing unit installed about two weeks earlier, the library said.

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Commerce City, Colo. (UPI) -- The night shift was in its final hours at the Continental Oil Co. refinery and Gary Thomas glanced at his watch, noting the time was 6:33 a.m. MDT.

Then the explosion came, louder than anything Thomas ever had heard.

Flames and black smoke billowed into the sky. Two workers at the plant were dead beneath the debris, a third was left dying and another nine were injured.

Thomas reacted with his only purpose to get away from the refinery.

"I started running," Thomas said. "There was one massive explosion."

Flames shot 60 feet above blackened refinery stacks. Gas fumes leaking from newly installed equipment had ignited in a ball of fire, shattering windows in the industrial suburb north of Denver and shaking homes many miles away.

Tuesday's explosion registered 3.5 on the Richter scale at the Regis College seismological observatory in Denver, and 1.5 at the U.S. Geological Survey in Golden.

Three Conoco employees -- STEVE FRENCH, 24, DAVID HOBBS, 32, and RON DeHERRERA -- died in the explosion, said Thomas, the plant personnel manager. Nine other men suffered injuries: six remained at Denver hospitals today in conditions varying from serious to satisfactory.

Hundreds of firefighters from throughout the Denver area, arriving before the 6:56 a.m. sunrise brought the fire under control in three hours.

Police received an anonymous telephone call that the explosion was caused by a bomb, but a search found no device and police discounted the report.

Plant manager Robert Alexander said the explosion occurred in a polymerization unit at the refinery that had been in operation only two weeks. He said the plant was 25 percent destroyed and estimated damage at up to $5 million.

Employees in the unit, which converts petroleum into gasoline, propane and butane, had reported mechanical trouble during the night and had called in a company fire engine as a precaution. Thirteen men were at the plant when the explosion occurred, Alexander said.

"There was a release of hydrocarbon vapor, a propane and butane mixture, in the unit and it ignited," said Alexander. "What ignited the vapor, I don't know."

SMOKEY BEAR - 1950

A bear cub sought refuge in a tree during a forest fire in the mountains of New Mexico in 1950 and the firefighters who found the cub and named him Smokey.

LARAMIE - 1948

On April 14, 1948, fire leveled a downtown block in Laramie, Wyoming, and at the height of the blaze the flames were visible for miles.

 
Here's how the Associated Press covered it:

A fast spreading fire crackled through an entire business block early today in the downtown section of Laramie, site of the University of Wyoming.

Fifteen of 30 structures were unofficially reported destroyed by flames.

Discovered about 2 o'clock (MST) this morning, the flames were reported under control but not out three hours after they were discovered in the four-story brick W. H. Holliday Building.

Fire departments sped to Laramie from Cheyenne, Rawlins and Fort Francis E. Warren, in Wyoming, and Fort Collins, Colo., to help overwhelmed Laramie firemen and volunteers battle the blaze.

Troops from Fort Warren, 50 miles east of here at Cheyenne, National Guard members and Wyoming University ROTC students were pressed into service to prevent looting.

There were no early reports of casualties. Fifteen or 20 families lived in hotels in the flaming area. The Red Cross arranged to house them in a university. 

CONTINENTAL 1713

Photo: photosourcewest

On Nov. 15, 1987, Continental Airlines Flight 1713 crashed as it departed Denver's Stapleton International Airport in a snowstorm, killing 28 people and injuring 54 others.

It was Stapleton's deadliest accident.

Airport fire stations No. 1 and No. 2 were alerted to the crash by the control tower at 2:16 p.m. and responded with five crash trucks and 12 firefighters,  according to the National Transportation Safety Board report on the accident.

A full first alarm for city stations was transmitted at 2:21 p.m., followed by a second alarm at 2:33 p.m. and a third alarm at 3 p.m, the NTSB said, with Aurora, Sable Altura, Glendale and Thornton providing mutual aid.

``The plane skidded out of control for about a quarter of a mile before sliding off the runway northeast of the main terminal'' and ''flipped onto its back and broke into three pieces,'' The New York Times reported. 

``The whole fuselage twisted like a chicken whose neck was wrung,'' said Richard Boulware, an airport official quoted by the Los Angeles Times.

Firefighters worked for 2 1/2 hours to free survivors from the wreckage of the DC-9 jetliner after extinguishing several fires.

"They were digging them out row by row," said Joe Cipri, a firefighter quoted by the Associated Press. "Some were screaming, but most people were real calm - just waiting their turns to get out." One victim yelled "Get me out of here" but was dead by the time firefighters reached him, Cipri said.

The NTSB said rescuers worked to reach 18-20 victims near the broken left wing and used wooden cribbing and a forklift  to support the intact right wing, which as full of fuel. Firefighter Rory Moore said it was "a horrible feeling - a helpless feeling" trying to reach so many people.

Investigators concluded icing and crew error contributed to the crash of Flight 1713, which was bound for Boise, Idaho. The pilot and co-pilot were among the dead and it wasn't clear if the aircraft left the ground. "If it got off, it was not far enough for it to be detected by radar," said Fred Farrar, a spokesman for the Federal Aviation Administration. 

Survivor  Robert Linck told People Magazine:

``Everything was smooth until we lifted off, then the plane started shaking violently. There was an explosion, and a ball of fire shot up through the floor, sheer white heat, enveloping the two rows ahead of me. I said, ‘I think we’ve had it.’ I tried to stand up, get away from the flames. That’s how I got the [second-degree] burns on my hands. I heard three explosions, then the lights went out and people started screaming. First the right wing dropped, and then the left wing dropped. I think the pilot over-corrected to the left. The plane flipped.

``In that last blinding second before we hit, I only thought one thing: I couldn’t believe this was happening to me. We smacked the ground with an impact so severe—I’ve been hit hard playing football but never like that. In the minutes after, there was not a single sound. It was utterly silent and totally black. That, believe me, was frightening. I was lying flat on my chest and I couldn’t see a thing. I wondered if that fireball had set the plane on fire, if I’d be burned to death. Then somebody, a passenger or a ground crewman, came through and said not to panic, there was no fire.''

Another survivor  recalled the impact.

``The metal was starting to tear apart. I thought about a crash in Reno where some kid survived because he was thrown from the plane still in his seat,'' said Douglas Self , quoted by the Los Angeles Times. ``The next thing I remember, I was in the field. I was in my chair. There were two chairs intact. I was sort of on my side, and the man in the other chair was over my shoulder.

``When I went to move him, I realized he was too light - that all of him wasn't there anymore. He was pretty torn up. Dead,'' Self said. ``Then I took off running. But the fog and the snow were so bad, I couldn't see the lights to the runway. Then I heard a sound and saw a blond girl about 13 or 14 years old. I just tried to keep her calm. She kept asking: 'Where are we?' ''

Other major incidents:

On Nov. 1, 1955, a bomb blast tore through United Airlines Flight 629, bound for Portland  from Stapleton. The DC-6 aircraft crashed near Longmont,  killing all 44 aboard.

On July 11, 1961, United Airlines Flight 85 veered off a runway on landing and burst into flames. Seventeen of the 122 aboard died. The driver of a vehicle struck by the DC-8 also died.

On Oct. 31, 1969, a hijacker commandeered TWA Flight 85 from Los Angeles to San Francisco and the aircraft landed in Denver where all the passengers and three flight attendants were released. The flight continued onto Rome by way of New York, Bangor and Shannon, Ireland.

On Aug. 7, 1975, windshear caused Continental Airlines Flight 426, a Boeing 727 bound for Wichita, to crash after climbing to 100 feet. There were no deaths.

On Nov. 16, 1976, a Texas International DC-9 bound for Houston crashed on takeoff . Of the 81 passengers and 5 crew, 14 were injured. There were no fatalities.