Interact View/Post Condolences
WINTERSET, Iowa -- A rusty fuel tank being cut apart caught fire before exploding and shooting debris at least 100 feet away. Two people were killed in the blast and nine others were injured.
AP World Wide Photos/Rodney White
A red rose sits on a cinder block as David Linkletter, left, with the Iowa State Fire Marshall's office inspects an exploded
fuel tank Saturday, April 8, 2000, in Winterset, Iowa. The tank exploded Friday morning killing two and injuring nine when it
was being cut for scrap metal.
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``It's an awful loss,'' said Jerry Lee Schwertfeger, mayor of the town of 4,200 people. ``This doesn't happen to a small community very often.''
A man was cutting apart one of two fuel tanks in a lot behind an automobile body repair shop Friday when the tank caught fire. After firefighters arrived around 11:15 a.m., the tank exploded.
A firefighter, identified as 25-year-old volunteer Jim Griffith, and one of the men cutting the tank were killed. Seven other firefighters were treated and released, Police Chief Clyde Klave said.
The tanks are about the size of a full-size van and supported on platforms about 10 feet off the ground. One tank was still standing Friday afternoon, the other had crumpled to the ground.
``It just shook the entire house and the entire area,'' said Shelli Manning, who lives about three blocks away.
Winterset is 25 miles southwest of Des Moines.
Funeral/Memorial Information
Memorial services for Firefighter Griffith will be held at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, April
11 at the Winterset Senior High School, 624 West Husky Drive in Winterset.
Funeral services will be held on Wednesday, April 12 at 10 a.m. at the United
Methodist Church, 405 Prairie Street in Guthrie Center, Iowa.
A memorial fund has been established in the name of Jim Griffith:
- Winterset Firefighter's Association
P.O. Box 144
Winterset, Iowa 50273
Related
Firefighter and Man Killed, Seven Other Bravest Injured in Iowa Tank Blast