East Ohio Gas Company

Some accidents can be attributed to structural failures. On October 20, 1944, one of the four liquid gas tanks at tlie East Ohio Gas Company in Cleveland began to leak. The plant converted natural gas to tlie liquid form, which was stored for emergency use in holding tanks. If needed, tlie liquefied product could be reconverted to its gaseous state tuid fed into the city distribution lines. The tanks were constructed in 1941 and luid a capacity of more tlian 400,000 cubic feet of liquid. 

Fig. 55. Remains of spherical and cylindrical LNG storage tanks following the 1944 East Ohio Gas Company fire.

M. A. Elliott, D. W. Seibel, F. W. Brown, R. T. Artz, and L. B. Berger, Report on the Investigation of the Fire at the Liquefaction, Storage and Regasification Plant of the East Ohio Gas Company, Cleveland, Ohio, October 20, 1944, Bureau of Mines, U.S. Department of the Interior, Report of Investigations 3867, Pittsburgh, 1946, pp. 1-44. 

A poorly designed liquefied natural gas tank belonging to the East Ohio Gas Company developed structural weakness, resulting in a massive explosion. The ensuing blast and fire claimed some 131 lives. 

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