User-agent: Mediapartners-Google* Disallow: Trucks World News: Accident * USA - Such trucks usually safe, experts say
Google
 
Loading

May 2, 2007

Accident * USA - Such trucks usually safe, experts say

Tanker trunks like the one that caused the collapse of a highway overpass in Oakland on Sunday are usually "very safe vehicles," according to experts.


Vallejo,CA,USA -The Vallejo Times-Herald, by Tom Lochner -30 April 2007: -- "Typically, they are very well-designed, sturdy pieces of equipment; usually, there are several compartments and baffles" to minimize disasters, said Tony Semenza, executive director of Contra Costa Community Awareness and Emergency Response, a nonprofit consortium of emergency response agencies and oil and chemical companies... The cause of Sunday's accident, which he considers an extraordinary event, cannot be traced to the truck's design, assuming it conforms to stringent federal Department of Transportation guidelines, Semenza said... Gasoline that escaped from the truck in Sunday's crash could have been ignited by sparks produced by metal scraping on the pavement, said Kuehne. Or else vapors could have been ignited by the heat of the engine or a spark or even by the friction produced by the crash, Semenza said... The tanks of tanker trucks are built of aluminum. Part of the reason, Kuehne said, is because aluminum tanks are sturdy enough to withstand moderate impacts and are much lighter than steel tanks, which are tougher. Steel tanks are also more prone to explode in a fire because tremendous pressure could build up inside due to the heat before the tanks would rupture with violent force.
The aluminum tanks on tanker trucks, on the other hand, "are specifically engineered and designed not to explode," said Contra Costa fire Capt. Dave George... (Photo by Associated Press: A FIREFIGHTER sprays water on a steaming section of the collapsed highway Sunday morning after a tanker carrying gasoline overturned and exploded)

Labels:

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home