The deadliest industrial disaster in U.S. history occurred on April 16, 1947, in Texas City, Texas. When the French ship SS Grandcamp exploded, a thousand buildings were destroyed and hundreds of people were killed. Among the dead were the firefighters in the Texas City Fire Department. All of their firefighting equipment was destroyed, too, which made the city more vulnerable to the damage of the second explosion. Read the story in an article I wrote for mental_floss.
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My parents were first year med students at UT Galveston when this happened. They told me about hearing the explosion and then working at the hospital as victims came in. They recalled patients lining the halls as they went through taking vital signs as that was all they could really do for anyone with their nascent medical education. It sounded like a horrific scene. I can't imagine what is was like to see such destruction of human beings.
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