12/13/2025
Good historical information on some anhydrous ammonia incidents by Bill Hand of Houston FD. There has been several discussions about Anhydrous Ammonia recently. Capt Beck and Capt Hauck are long time freinds. We taught a lot of Hazmat classes over the years. This is Royce’s eye witness account of an incident that could have caused multiple injuries or fatalities. Even though this incident and Dixie Cold Storage happened years ago, we still need to continue to share these lessons.
Looking back 42 years ago today!
Sunday morning breakfast was almost ready to eat. It was December 11, 1983. Gary Pick, our cook was stirring the gravy for the last time. He was preparing one of his classic breakfast favorites that I called, “The Unbreakfast”, because there were no eggs. It consisted of fried pork chops, country fried potatoes, “Cat head” biscuits, and “Saw mill” gravy. (“Cat head” biscuits are homemade drop biscuits that when cooked, look like a cats face.) We were all so hungry that we were standing around sneaking bits of potatoes from the platter and Gary was fighting us off with his spatula.
It was a quiet day with not much traffic on the fire radio around town. We were thinking of that wonderful breakfast and a nice quite day watching football on the ‘Tube”, when suddenly the alarm sounded; “BOOP, BOOP - An ammonia leak at Borden’s Ice Cream, Milam at Calhoun. Engine 8, Engine 7, Engine 1, Ladder 7, Snorkel 8, HM 17, and District 7 respond. Box 3155, 0846 hours KKE498.” We slid the pole and loaded up and out the door we went.
The corner of the building used to be an ice cream shop where we used to go to get our desserts. We had responded to Borden’s many times, and every time before, it had been a small leak, with not much effort from us. If the leak was wafting over the neighborhood we would set up smoke ejectors inside and a fog-stream of water to hit the v***r cloud as it came out of the building to try to make a liquid out of it. We would use our fire gear and a Self Contained Breathing Apparatus, which was alright for a short time. In a little while the ammonia would work it’s way through the closures of our gear. Then we would try to assist the workers in tightening a valve or patching a pipe; then the emergency was over.
I was hoping that it was a very small leak so that I could go back in service on the ladder truck and leave an engine to take care of the problem. Then we could return to that delicious breakfast before it got cold. I was the Engine Captain, but since Chief Franklin’s death in January, I had been acting Senior Captain and Ed Hauck had been acting District Chief.
When we turned left off of Travis onto Calhoun we could hardly see the intersection of Milam and Calhoun for the v***rs. We drove past the building to a clear place near the Louisiana intersection that the north wind had cleared. We parked to set up the Command Post. There were nine of us suited up ready to go in from Engine 8, Ladder 7 and District 7. A man walked up and said that he was a Borden’s Building Maintenance Engineer, who we later learned, was Mr. Melvin Machart. He said that the security guard who patrols the buildings in the area had called him and told him of the leak. He came and opened the side door and could tell what area that the leak was coming from. He saw that it was too dangerous and too large of a leak for him to repair by himself; so he called 911.
He offered to go in with us to show us the unit that was leaking and the valve to block in. He said that it was located in the basement but we could enter through the side entry door. Although it was against normal procedures, we gave him the SCBA from Engine 8’s Chauffeur’s compartment. He also borrowed a fire coat and put it and the SCBA on and acted like he knew how to use it. We gave him a short class anyway, and then off we went toward the door. About fifty feet before we got to the building Mr. Machart turned around tugging at his mask and gasping for air.
The SCBA’s back then had “Demand regulators.” Unlike the more modern version that have “Positive pressure demand regulators.” The new type hold pressure in the mask at all times and will rush a flow of air out if the mask seal is broken. This keeps contaminated air out of the mask. The old type causes the wearer to have to draw the air out of the bottle instead of the air rushing into the mask on its own. If you have a bad seal with the old ones you can draw in bad air instead of air from the bottle. The first breath from the old type units has to be a strong deep breath. Mr. Machart didn’t know that, so he thought something was wrong with the unit. We had him breathe deeply and get the airflow started and reassured him that the SCBA was fully functional. Then we all started back for the door.
Traveling east from the Command Post we were about thirty feet from the entrance, when suddenly - BOOM…
…the whole building exploded in front of us with a loud rumble. Bricks, plaster, and glass; followed by cartons, boxes, and popsicle sticks showered over us. We all hit the ground, shielding our faces. The Chauffeur of Engine 1 said later that popsicle sticks had covered his engine. They were also showered all over the neighborhood.
I had all my gear and my facepiece on, but did not have my regulator snapped in because I was conserving my air. When we got near the door, and I couldn’t breath very well, I was going to snap it in. After the blast I ended up facing away from the building, down on all fours, looking at one of the stripes in Calhoun Street. I looked back over my shoulder in time to see a large piece of metal flipping through the air about second floor level, and watched it fall onto a car across the street. Someone said that it was a manhole cover. I thought that it was a large metal door.
We all got up and ran across Calhoun and I heard Ed ask the dispatcher for a second alarm. We ran east on the sidewalk across the street to Milam, and then north on that sidewalk for about a hundred feet.
Deputy Chief Crowder was there shortly and ordered all the officers to gather around so we could make a plan. When sudden events happen like an explosion, the Incident Command System and any plans you had seem to vanish. His back was toward the incident and we all were facing it. He said, “Men the threat is over. There will be no more fire. When ammonia explodes there is a flash and then no more fire.” One of the acting Captains said “Chief, if that’s the case, what is that column of black smoke coming from the back side of the building?”
The flash of fire had sent a fireball through the plant and reached the carton storage warehouse in the rear of the building. We had a large attached warehouse fire, in addition to our ammonia problem.
Chief Crowder then pulled 2 Taps. Companies were ordered to lay lines to the south side of the building to attack the warehouse fire. Engine 7 laid a line and set up a deck gun on the ammonia v***rs coming out of the north side near the Command Post.
The Sector Chief, on the south side (Sector 3) commanding the fire control on the warehouse portion of the building, was Chief Thompson, District 1. Ed Hauck, District 7 and Chief Crowder #6 were in the Command Post on the north side (Sector 1). We spent the whole day getting orders from the south side to get in there and put out the fire; then getting orders from the north side to get out for the fear that it might explode again, because the ammonia was still leaking.
Hotel guests from the Holiday Inn across Calhoun had a bird’s eye view of the emergency. Several pictures were taken by them and then passed on to the Houston Chronicle for publication.
The explosion blew a hole from the basement where the ammonia leak was located through both concrete floors and through the roof. The hole was large enough to drop a pickup truck through.
When we cleared out all the burned debris from the carton storage warehouse, you could see the frost formed by the leaking ammonia coating the walls, as it oozed out of the damaged piping. It took several days for it to all leak out.
Before this incident we didn’t consider ammonia flammable. The National Fire Protection Association Handbook, which is the book of authority on fire behavior, only showed a small amount of information about the possibility of fire with ammonia leaks. Its flammability range is relatively narrow, and the gas rises so ignition is only possible in confined areas, and with perfect conditions. Before our explosion there were no known prior major incidents like it.
To be totally protected from ammonia you would have to wear Chemical Protective Clothing, although it would not protect you from fire conditions. It is very irritating, corrosive and toxic. We would enter an ammonia atmosphere, for a short time in our fire gear, for rescue and investigation. It would attack the moist areas of unprotected skin fairly quickly.
The cause of the explosion was thought to be, that the leak caused very cold temperatures to break a 150 watt light bulb that was hanging over the ammonia unit. Conditions were perfect for the spark from the bulb, in the small confined room, to cause the ignition for the explosion.
My picture from Borden’s made the front page of our Local’s monthly magazine, in February of 1984.
Looking back, we have to ask the question: Why did the explosion take place just before our entry and not when we were on the inside stairs going down into the “Hot Zone?” Suppose Mr. Machart had not had trouble with his SCBA. We would have surely been inside and nine Firefighters and a civilian would have perished.
My wife Barbara was at church and had a feeling of urgency to pray for me that morning. I’m so glad that she listened to the “Nudge” to pray.
Back in the eighties, we had no plan in place to pass on information to other firefighters around the country about incidents that caused us unexpected hazards. Publicizing our unknowns and surprises so that fire crews would not make the same mistakes, or so they could take precautions to anticipate hazards, could have prevented unnecessary injury and death. Nowadays we have the internet. It is full of all kinds of emergency information and near-miss incident stories to help emergency responders to be more knowledgeable and safer.
If information could have been passed on, it would possibly have prevented an incident that happened a year later. The Dixie Cold Storage Warehouse in Shreveport, Louisiana was a similar incident. Firefighters were called to an ammonia leak and decided to enter with Chemical Protective Clothing that was not fire resistant. They took a fork lift in to raise a Firefighter to the ceiling level to close a valve to block in a leak. Again, conditions were perfect, and the fork lift struck a metal object that caused a spark to ignite the ammonia. The explosion that ensued killed the Firefighter on the forks and severely burned the one driving the fork lift, essentially shrink wrapping their rubber suits to their bodies. The surviving Firefighter found an overhead door nearby that had been blown partially open, and was able to squeeze through an opening about 24” wide. He was a large man with an air pack under his bulky suit so it was amazing that he would fit through the narrow space. After a year of hospital care he went to work for the Ammonia Institute as an instructor, teaching the dangers of handling ammonia. His injuries prevented him from returning to the fire service.
No one was injured in the explosion at Borden’s that day and I thank God that He protected all of us.
Royce G. Beck retired Captain HFD
