ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a case study of a fire and two resulting explosions which occurred on November 29, 1988, in Kansas City, Missouri. In that event, six gallant Kansas City firemen were tragically killed by two large explosions at a construction site. When the explosions occurred, the firemen were trying to put out a fire which apparently had been set by vandals in two semi-trailers. The two semi-trailers were loaded with 25 tons of construction type explosives. The original purpose of the engineering analysis of this case was to determine the overpressure and ground vibration levels associated with the resulting explosions. The analysis of the data related to the November 29, 1988, accident then indicates that the air overpressure would not have exceeded 0.5 psig, the minimum level at which glass breakage occurs in a building, at distances more than 1,600 feet from the large blast crater.
