Shockwaves: The 1947 Texas City Explosion - Part 2

Episode 111

As Texas City struggles to respond to one of the deadliest industrial disasters in American history, chaos spreads across the burning waterfront. With the entire volunteer fire department wiped out in the first blast, civilians, medical workers, military personnel, and rescue crews are forced to improvise a disaster response in real time while rumors, chemical fires, and mass casualties overwhelm the city. But sitting just yards from the wreckage of the Grandcamp is another ship loaded with ammonium nitrate fertilizer: the High Flyer. In Part 2 of Shockwaves: The 1947 Texas City Explosion, we follow the fragmented and increasingly desperate efforts to understand the danger still lurking in the harbor—and the catastrophic failures, misunderstandings, and expert reassurances that would lead Texas City toward a second devastating explosion.

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Eternal gratitude to our Inner Sanctum patrons, Melanie Curtis, Jenny Mercer, Laura Pisciotta, and Jason Wolfe for helping us bring light to the stories others would rather leave in the ashes.

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SOURCES:

Stephens, Hugh W. The Texas City Disaster, 1947. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1997.

Minutaglio, Bill. City on Fire: The Explosion That Devastated a Texas Town and Ignited a Historic Legal Battle. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2003.

International Association of Fire Chiefs. The Texas City Disaster. National Hazardous Materials Fusion Center Hazmat History. https://www.iafc.org/docs/default-source/1haz/hazmat_history_texas_city_disaster.pdf

Fire Prevention and Engineering Bureau of Texas and National Board of Fire Underwriters. Texas City, Texas Disaster Report. https://www.local1259iaff.org/report.htm

Havel, Gregory. “Texas City Disaster.” Fire Engineering, October 6, 2008. https://dam.clarionengage.com/downloads.pennnet.com/fe/misc/20081006havel_texascity.pdf

Ross, Cheryl Lauersdorf. “The 1947 Texas City Disaster: Changing Lives in a Heartbeat.” Houston History Magazine, vol. 15, no. 1. https://houstonhistorymagazine.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Texas-City-Disaster.pdf