You know... the non-STEM world defines the word explosion as "a violent and destructive shattering or blowing apart of something" - Oxford Dictionary.

Thank you,

Yaritza Brinker
260.827.5402

-----Original Message-----
From: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety On Behalf Of Debra M Decker
Sent: Friday, August 21, 2020 2:56 PM
To: DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU
Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Chemical Safety headlines (19 articles)

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As to this tidbit:

https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.firehouse.com%2Frescue%2Fhazardous-materials%2Fnews%2F21150920%2Flarge-underground-explosion-creates-ma-hazmat-incident&data=02%7C01%7C%7Cda6a313b4e7d42a101d108d8466bcb31%7C994c3e8bb42845fb8640593ef0303f7f%7C0%7C0%7C637336776083939002&sdata=fQPE0U4HTv%2BNvtTgka3aaXRHCvILisLq67lgvBtC9Xo%3D&reserved=0
Tags: us_MA, industrial, explosion, response, carbon_dioxide

An explosion beneath a fire equipment company in Ashland that forced multiple people to evacuate their homes Tuesday evening was caused by a carbon dioxide leak, officials said.

Authorities responded around 6:20 p.m. to ‰??numerous 9-1-1 calls‰?? about a large explosion at Kidde Fenwal, a business on Main Street, according to the town‰??s police department.

‰??Firefighters immediately checked for injured workers, began searches of adjacent buildings and conducted air monitoring to avoid a secondary explosion. A Tier-1 Hazardous Materials incident was declared,‰?? the department said in a Facebook post.

Carbon dioxide was leaking from a ruptured supply line at the company, which prompted the blast and subsequent hazmat response, the Ashland Fire Department said.>

Y'all know my bias about the willy-nilly use of the term "explosion." This really doesn't make any sense to me at all. Was the risk of additional catastrophic failure of the compressed gas system the reason for the level of response? Was there a risk to other compressed gas systems which are hazardous (carbon dioxide is a simple asphyxiant)? Other issues?

Debbie

Debbie M. Decker, ACS Fellow
Division Councilor
Programming Co-Chair
Retired Chemistry Dept. Safety Manager
dmdecker**At_Symbol_Here**ucdavis.edu
(916)616-7548

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