This Day in Disasters, Shipwrecks & Survival — Nov 9: The Hanna Jr. Crew and HMS Britannia

Host 1: Welcome to this day in disasters shipwrecks and survival. On this day November 9th um we are diving into our sources to look at what happens when a single point of failure triggers just a massive compounding catastrophe.

Host 2: Yeah it is a pretty sobering deep dive today.

Host 1: It definitely is. So we are starting in 1872 with the great Boston fire. Right around 7 20 in the evening a fire sparked in a warehouse basement you know right at the corner of Summer and Kingston streets.

Host 2: And by the time the first responders even got there the flames had already consumed nearly the entire building.

Host 1: Right but here is where the situation just rapidly spirals out of control so Boston was actually dealing with a massive equine flu outbreak at the time.

Host 2: Oh right the horses.

Host 1: Yeah the city's fire horses were literally too sick to work I want you to put yourself in those firefighters boots for a second Imagine trying to drag a multi-ton-ton steam engine by hand through chaotic streets while a 65 acre fire rages how could they possibly contain it with old low pressure water mains?

Host 2: I mean they couldn't it was essentially an unwinnable situation from the jump.

Host 1: Wow

Host 2: because that low water pressure meant the hoses physically couldn't reach the upper floors of those burning buildings

Host 1: which is terrifying

Host 2: it really is but the mechanism of failure goes even deeper than that there were simply too few hydrants serving that entire densely packed business district you know

Host 1: oh i see

Host 2: yeah the water infrastructure was just fundamentally mismatched to the city's rapid growth

Host 1: and the reports say the mayor actually approved using gunpowder to blow up surrounding buildings to create fire breaks which I mean I am trying to wrap my head around this fighting a massive fire with explosives.

Host 2: It sounds totally counterintuitive right?

Host 1: Yeah didn't blowing up the buildings just create a massive pile of splintered combustible debris?

Host 2: You would think they'd have realized that but out of sheer desperation they tried it anyway and well you're exactly right it failed completely and arguably helped spread the flames even faster.

Host 1: That is just wild.

Host 2: Yeah. It took fire companies rushing in via trains from all over New England to finally contain the blaze by midday on November 10th.

Host 1: Wow.

Host 2: And by then 776 buildings were destroyed.

Host 1: And what was the human cost of all that?

Host 2: The human cost is actually still disputed today. The records plainly state it ranges from 13 to about 30 people, which tragically includes 11 firefighters.

Host 1: Just awful. So how does a city even bounce back from losing 65 acres of its downtown?

Host 2: By actually treating the root cause. Boston didn't just rebuild as it was they widened and straightened those cramped streets upgraded the water mains

Host 1: Right fixing the infrastructure

Host 2: Exactly and they instituted a strict new building code and Fire Chief John Damrell who led the charge against the blaze actually went on to found a national association of fire engineers.

Host 1: Oh that is a great legacy

It

Host 2: It is Now while Boston's tragedy was worsened by struggling infrastructure and sick horses, the next disaster we're looking at was driven by an active choice to prioritize production over safety.

Host 1: Right. So let's move forward to 1963, to Omuta, Japan. Looking at the Mikawa pit inside the Mitsui Miike coal mine.

Host 2: Yes.

Host 1: So deep inside that pit a coupling between two coal cars just snapped. And that single failure sparked a massive coal dust explosion but I need to stop here for a second how does just coal dust create a blast that devastating?

Host 2: It is all about surface area and suspension. When that coupling failed it kicked up years of accumulated fine coal dust

Host 1: Because it hadn't been cleaned properly.

Host 2: Exactly. And because coal dust is incredibly combustible once it is suspended in the oxygen rich air of a tunnel a single spark essentially sets the air itself on fire.

Host 1: That is terrifying. In the aftermath was just overwhelming. The 384 bed company hospital only had 83 free beds that day leaving unconscious miners laid out in operating and waiting rooms.

Host 3: It was total chaos.

Host 1: But I want to clarify something here the explosion was devastating but the true silent killer was actually the mine's own ventilation system spreading carbon monoxide right?

Host 3: That is correct so the blast knocked out the power and the phone lines

Host 1: which blinded the rescue crews right

Host 2: yes and these were slow moving crews who had absolutely zero training in treating carbon monoxide poisoning and without power the massive ventilation fans couldn't be shut off.

Host 1: oh no

Host 2: yeah which turned a life-saving air system into a toxic distribution network most of the 458 victims actually died from the gas

Host 1: that is so tragic

Host 2: and 839 survivors were left with permanent brain injuries because routine dust control had lapsed

Host 1: just because of that production first policy I mean if you were a miner's family you were fighting a systemic failure

Host 2: absolutely

Host 1: the survivors pushed so fiercely for justice the reports detail this July 1967 week long sit in staged by miners wives right at the bottom of the pit

Host 2: and that relentless pressure is what led Japan to pass a special law compensating carbon monoxide victims

Host 1: Wow that is incredibly powerful

Host 2: it is it really makes you wonder you know with our modern reliance on automated safety systems what happens when the algorithms we trust are programmed by companies prioritizing production just like that mine

Host 1: That is definitely a provocative thought for us all to sit with also on this day in 1913 the White Hurricane reached its deadliest hours on Lake Huron losing over 250 sailors and 12 ships and in 1965 a tripped relay in Ontario caused a cascading blackout that stranded 800,000 riders in New York subways.

Host 1: Thanks for tuning in see you back here tomorrow.