SPECIAL INVESTIGATION REPORT
Adopted: March 3, 1987
COLLISION BETWEEN
A TRACTOR- SEMITRAILER
TRANSPORTING BOMBS AND
AN AUTOMOBILE,
RESULTING IN FIRE AND EXPLOSIONS
CHECOTAH, OKLAHOMA
AUGUST 4, 1985 
NTSB Number: SIR-87/01
NTIS Number: PB87-917001
SYNOPSIS
About 3:30 a.m., c.d.t., on August 4, 1985, a tractor-semitrailer operated by Explosives Transports, Inc., and loaded with 10 MK 84 2,000-pound general purpose bombs, collided with an automobile on Interstate 40 near Checotah, Oklahoma. The automobile fuel tank ruptured and spilled gasoline which quickly ignited. Both vehicles were engulfed in flames. Subsequent explosions from the bombs destroyed the vehicles and left a crater 27 feet deep and 35 feet wide In the roadway. Three hundred and seventy-one residences were damaged. Other buildings, including a school located 734 feet from the accident site, suffered substantial damage. Total damages were estimated at $5 million. Forty-nine persons reported to a hospital emergency room for treatment of injuries, most after breathing smoke and gases from burning tritonal. No one was fatally injured.

Safety issues addressed in this report concern the adequacy of the U.S. Department of Defense"s (DOD) munitions transportation safety program, Including procedures for Identifying unsafe operating practices of motor carriers used to transport Class A and Class B explosives shipments; the lack of thermal protection for explosives shipments to provide reasonable time to evacuate persons from nearby threatened areas; and the adequacy of recommended minimum evacuation distances when explosives are involved In fire during transportation.

As a result of its Investigation, the Safety Board issued recommendations to the DOD to upgrade its munitions transportation safety pro@am and to provide thermal protection for explosives shipments. The Safety Board also issued recommendations to the Research and Special Programs Administration (RSPA) to require thermal protection for explosives shipments and to Increase recommended minimum evacuation distances for explosives shipments involved In fire. The Safety Board reiterated recommendations to the Federal Highway Administration and the RSPA to eliminate ambiguities in the routing requirements for vehicles transporting hazardous materials, to encourage States to establish through routes for shipments of hazardous materials and to coordinate the compatibility of the designated routes regionally and nationally.

RECOMMENDATIONS

As a result of its Investigations the Safety Board reiterated the following safety recommendations:

--to the U.S. Department of Defense:

Establish Department of Defense safety requirements for the safe transportation of explosive and other high-hazard Department of Defense shipments which motor carriers must meet, In addition to U.S. Department of Transportation requirements. (I-85-25)

Establish a safety evaluation program to monitor motor carrier compliance with Department of Defense safety requirements for explosive and other high-hazard Department of Defense shipments. (I-85-26)

--to the Federal Highway Administration and the Research and Special Programs Administration:

Amend Federal Motor Carrier Safety Regulation 49 CFR 397.9 to eliminate ambiguities in the routing requirements for vehicles transporting hazardous materials. (H-85-34)

Encourage States to establish through routes for shipments of hazardous ,materials, and coordinate the compatibility of the designated routes regionally and nationally. (H-85-38)

In addition, the Safety Board made the following recommendations:

-- to the U.S. Department of Defense:

Establish more stringent criteria for the selection of truckdrivers for transporting explosives shipments by increasing the minimum years of recent truck driving expereience and establishing minimum training requirements. Also, develop and include criteria for disqualifying drivers based on specific safety violations on driving records, accident experience, and violations of Department -of Defense safety requirements. (Class II, Priority Action) (H-87-17)

Implement a program to route expeditiously Class A and Class B explosives shipments over the most direct routes available consistent with public safety and with any unique safeguards required for specific shipments. (Class II, Priority Action) (I-87-1)

Provide thermal protection for those explosives shipments which pose the greatest fragment and overpressure hazards in highway transportation accidents involving fire, to allow reasonable time for the evacuation of nearby persons. (Class II, Priority Action) (I-87-2)

Notify the Federal Highway Administration of any safety audit of a munitions carrier which results in the assignment of a safety evaluation other than satisfactory. (Class II, Priority Action) (I-87-3)

-- to the Research and Special Programs Administration:

Require thermal protection for those explosives shipments which pose the greatest fragment and overpressure hazards in highway transportation accidents involving fire, to allow reasonable time for the evacuation of nearby persons. (Class II, Priority Action) (I-87-4)

Quantify, based on tests, the fragment and/or overpressure hazards of Class A and Class B explosives shipments when involved in fire; establish in the Department of Transportation's Emergency Response Guidebook safe evacuation distance(s) for shipments which present these hazards beyond the 2,500 feet presently recommended for all Class A and Class B explosive shipments; and require that vehicles transporting such shipments be appropriately identified to readily inform emergency response personnel about the increased hazards and the recommended evacuation distance(s). (Class II, Priority Action) (I-87-5)