A Brief History of: The Olympic Pipeline Disaster 1999 (Documentary)

#disaster #History
Learn while you're at home with Plainly Difficult!
On June 10, 1999, the Olympic pipeline operated by Olympic Pipe Line Company, carrying gasoline, exploded in Whatcom Falls Park at Bellingham, Washington.
The pipeline failed leaking fuel, The gasoline vapours exploded at 5:02 PM sending a fireball down Whatcom Creek. Three people lost their lives in the incident.
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[@PlainlyDifficult]

Would you like to see more explosive content? Let me know 👇

[@J3R3MY-Sigman]

YES!

[@koharumi1]

Klee explosive style.

[@MotJ949]

Dust explosions are underrepresented on KZbin!

[@Real_Claudy_Focan]

fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catastrophe_de_Ghislenghien This catastrophe lead to several laws adaptations and more strength in security and planifications

[@grandsoleil56]

@@Real_Claudy_Focan oh putain it's in French

[@robertlandon3932]

Grew up in Bellingham and was less than a mile away from the creek when it blew up. Looked like the end of the world. Was a wild day that ill never forget

[@lenman1114]

Wow! That's a memory. He said the plume went 30k feet in the air? That's cruising altitude for airliners. That must have been something.

[@SimonVanliew26]

Imagine what St. Helens felt like

[@jeffwalters8180]

I fish that portion of the creek, it's crazy to remember what happened there.

[@dylanrieck6671]

Same here, never saw anything like it

[@nikpat6006]

Saw the smoke from a nearby town. It was quite a day

[@topiasr628]

I'm glad to know the pipeline is now run by BP, a good and responsible company who would never cut corners to save cost

[@billy4072]

Errrr ...do you actually think they would cut corners now?? press the rethink button. ..and reflect.

[@skeleton_mage]

@@billy4072 The problem is, over time the vigilance of any organization will deteriorate until another incident causes them to refocus. It's a cycle that will continue due to human nature.

[@tookitogo]

@@billy4072 I think you missed the OP’s sarcasm. (And if you didn’t, you must be unaware of BP’s abysmal record…)

[@bmstylee]

Hey. It could be worse. It could be Union Carbide.

[@SofaKingShit]

@Bill y Why wouldn't they cut corners now or any time? Corporations are responsible for their shareholder's next quarterly cheque and nothing more. Especially when any fines incurred are always low enough to be simply written off as another expense in a cost/benefit analysis.

[@ZGryphon]

"Huh, the reactor keeps scramming. Weird. Well, let's see if we can get it to start up this time," pipeline edition.

[@TheConjurersTower]

"Give it a good whack with the pipe wrench, that should set it straight..."

[@tcpratt1660]

The SCADA admin would have been right at home on the graveyard shift at Chernobyl Unit IV...

[@mikeholmstrom1899]

Hmm, sounds like the Enbridge controllers in the massive Marshall MI tar sands crude leak of 2010. They were not sure what was going on, and, they restarted the pipeline twice. It was 17 hours after the leaked started that they had the leak reported, by, someone that didn't even work for them.

[@ZGryphon]

@@mikeholmstrom1899 The human impulse to just press the button again when something unexpectedly stops working, rather than think about how it probably stopped for a reason, is one of the most dangerous flaws of our species. (I'm looking at you, Therac-25 operators.)

[@leechowning2712]

And this is why Lock-Out/Tag-Out is a thing. There is always someone who will see the switch/breaker off and think "I will just turn this back on".

[@briangarrow448]

Having worked at that refinery and at various water and wastewater treatment plants, I remember this incident very well. It was used as an example of Murphy’s Law and sloppy construction inspection standards. The blame is on multiple entities at various times and locations. This was a truly heartbreaking story to hear.

[@TDurden527]

There's books on this and its called cascading failures any one which would not be catastrophic but taken together . . . boom, death destruction.😀

[@soakupthesunman]

Often called a "fustercluck". Or similar.

[@cmsracing]

What kind of pumps do they use to create such high pressure in a pipe that big and that long?

[@ladymopar2024]

Wow thank you for sharing I know I've been on the North Slope I got to work imperious equipment up there you got to be on the ball and stuff happens

[@khx73]

@@cmsracing Large, multi-stage centrifugal type. Maybe even more than one in series.

[@ancientmaverick13]

The local station made a really good documentary about this on the anniversary of the event several years ago. That focused more on the impact, less on the reasons. Thanks for a different perspective.

[@Thurston86]

I didn’t see your comment and also made one about the documentary. I hadn’t heard about this disaster before KZbin just randomly recommended it a couple months ago. It’s very well done and I suggest it to anyone interested in hearing more first person accounts.

[@splaws-fk8sw]

I've lived in B'ham for 11 years. This is the first time I learned the details of what led up to and caused the explosion.

[@ethorii]

I was 2 miles away. I was working at a grocery store, when suddenly many people gasped and ran out the door. I followed suit and saw a dark grey smoke cloud going up, seemingly miles, into the clear blue sky. It was surreal. It looked like the explosion was where I lived with my partner and baby daughter, so I raced down there and was relieved to see the fire was not actually that close to my apartment. I walked through the fire zone a week later, and it looked bad. Amazing only 3 people died. One of the boys killed was the son of the owners of a major local grocery store chain called Haggen this day is burned into my memory, no pun intended.

[@jeffwalters8180]

I had no idea it was a Haggen kid. Sad no matter what but that's crazy.

[@alyssa2796]

I didnt know that one of the boys was the son of a haggen owner

[@TwoPlusTwoEqualsFive32]

I've had the same experience with bushfire here in Australia it's difficult to determine the distance of a smoke plume. The 2020 fires were something else, I'd love to see a documentary on how it was managed there was alot of cluster fucks involved especially on the government and forest management side of things.

[@kristopherguzman400]

not to add harm or anything, your story reminds me of a Clipping. song called Story 2, glad they were safe and I hope your family is doing good

[@FreelancerFreak]

How's your daughter now she must be in her mid 20s I hope she is living her best life.

[@E123OMEGArobot]

The day I moved to Bellingham for college, I saw this statue of a little kid and I asked why there was such a thing in front of a college campus gym. My uncle who went to the same school back in the day had to explain the Olympic pipeline disaster. It was the only time I had someone mention it and I lived in that city for nearly 7 years.

[@briangarrow448]

I worked at multiple refineries, water and wastewater treatment plants in Washington state. At safety meetings, this tragedy is referred to at almost every single one. Those of us who run industrial facilities have not forgotten about the innocent victims. Here’s hoping that our nightmares never stop. We cannot ever let something like this happen again.

[@HeidiAndScots]

Typical Western

[@davepetrini1195]

Columbia gas company N. Andover MA. Determined to be they used inappropriate gas pressure meters 2018

[@MacMcNurgle]

I sometimes watch the US Chemical Safety Board channel. The thing that got me about this incident, and similar ones, was that the long term loss of supply went un-noticed. If your business is making money sending petro-chem around the place, a loss of supply en-route is profit gurgling down the drain. Having said that, I am 10+ years in the same location and the leaky gas pipes under my local footpath have been that way for all that time. Regularly, the footpath is dug up as they try to find the leak. I think the unlucky smoker walking his dog and dropping his butt on one of the many test drill holes will finally solve this issue.

[@ScumfuckMcDoucheface]

Yeah man i agree, that CSB channel is terrific, great learning tool for anyone in industry =)

[@TheMouseAvenger]

I watch the USCSB channel, too! :D

[@warailawildrunner5300]

@@TheMouseAvenger Same. And while I'm in the UK, I have to shake my head at the fact that CSB have no actual power to enforce safety standards.

[@CoastalSphinx]

@@warailawildrunner5300 If the CSB could directly enforce standards, then they would have to investigate whether their own enforcement contributed to accidents. Separating the CSB from the regulatory agencies keeps the CSB as unbiased as possible.

[@Tindometari]

I'm impressed with the videos the CSB puts out. Not only are they extremely intelligent and informative, but the animation and video quality are truly remarkable, far beyond what people have come to expect from government safety videos. I wish the NTSB would do as well.

[@americanotakuyup2037]

I was there when Whatcom creek exploded. My house was a half a block away on Woburn street. The earth shook and we thought it was a quake. Then the thundering rumble. We ran outside to see half the sky filled with black billowing clouds and could taste the gasoline vapor on our lips. Firefighters were evacuating people away from the bridge and looked both confused and horrified. It still haunts me to this day.

[@earsofcorn]

Wow that's scary! I can't imagine being that close. I was about a mile or less away and clearly remember the giant black cloud of smoke. My Dad took my brother and I and drove out to Lynden cause he had no idea what it was at first.

[@therockpile6734]

I lived off Lakeway by Civic field.

[@roxyamused]

Dad worked at NW Honda at the time, explosion right behind the lot. He was frazzled after coming home early. I was 15, I can't remember if I didn't notice cause I lived in Fairhaven or we were worried for my dad. I think I specifically remember being surprised he was home.

[@franciskolarik6802]

"It was taken over by BP." Well that's a relief.

[@oliverlemley9343]

A pressure relief yes

[@g2macs]

I've read and seen stories on the disaster, the most harrowing was a first responder who helped to recover the children who were horribly burnt. I hope he's ok 'cos I think it affected him very badly.

[@jstaz6]

Thank you for this video. I am a pipeline tech and we are currently doing an anomaly dig on one of our HP natural gas mains this month. Seeing this just put into perspective how safety is always the number 1 importance.

[@internetquickie]

16:57 "And in 2000 the pipeline was taken over by BP" *whew* with a trusted name im sure they have safety on the mind first! /s

[@SadSackGaming]

If it was Exxon, I’d be a tad more concerned.

[@warailawildrunner5300]

@epiccollision And halliburton... don't forget their contribution to the issue.

[@seand.g423]

@epiccollision *sighs in Valdez*

[@handlesarefeckinstupid]

Still makes me laugh that people in the US blame Britain for deep water, when in real life the issue was nothing but a US problem.

[@mauricedavis8261]

Yeah right!!!🙏🤔

[@hotlavatube]

Speaking of gas overpressures, it'd be interesting to see the story of the dual gas overpressure disasters in the Boston area--the 1983 East Boston gas surge, and the 2018 Marrimack Valley overpressure.

[@SentientDMT]

I remember the Merrimack one. Houses just blowing up left and right it was crazy.

[@hotlavatube]

@@SentientDMT Yeah, it was worse than the 1983 one. I don't know what's up with that area's gas system that it's had two major gas overpressure catastrophes.

[@mikeholmstrom1899]

I was able to hear the Fire Department's radio traffic that day there, via internet. It sounded like a war zone.

[@hotlavatube]

@@mikeholmstrom1899 The fire chief for that area described it as a war zone, so you're not alone in that sentiment. The fire departments responded to 40-80 fires, with as many as 18 concurrently. There's a map showing all the reported fires/explosions/gas leaks are and it's nuts how widespread the affected area is. How do you even begin to respond to a disaster that big when any home or apartment can be the next explosion?

[@raggedhillhomestead7462]

I responded as mutual aid from a nearby utility company to assist. It was absolute chaos for days.

[@victoriasewell1924]

I knew it was only a matter of time before you covered this story. Thank you for doing so. Rest in peace Wade and Steven, and Liam.

[@mattkaustickomments]

For those wondering about a fireball that high… years ago I was living in Indiana and I saw what looked like a candle flame up into the sky to the northeast. It looked very distant but I could tell it was distinctly fire. Turns out it was a high pressure gas line that had ruptured and ignited. Turns out it was over 100 miles away!!! Thankfully it was in the middle of nowhere so no one was hurt. But it also meant it burned a long time before it could be shut off. I was on the phone with a relative in northern Kentucky at the time I spotted the flame, and he claimed he couldn’t see the flame but saw a glow in the sky in the direction of the fire.

[@456puff]

Out of curiosity, where in Indiana was this? I lived there a few years ago and my bf grew up there.

[@mattkaustickomments]

@@456puff The gas fire was in a rural area, Muncie would probably be the closest city.

[@solandri69]

Playing around with a line of sight distance calculator, a flame would have to be nearly 1.5 miles high to be visible from 100 miles away (due to the curvature of the Earth). That's a helluva candle.

[@mattkaustickomments]

@@solandri69 It sure was! Great calculation! I remember them saying it was more than a mile high. It was a super high pressure line and was burning a while before they could get to the valve station(s) to turn it off. I tried to look it up but couldn’t find it. Was some time ‘92 - ‘94 ish, iirc.

[@mattkaustickomments]

@twerkingbollocks6661 Wow! Great detective work. That must have been it.

[@Qb3nsis]

I've lived in Bellingham for 13 years now and the only time anyone ever talked about this event happening was when I was walking over some of the land where it happened and asked why it looked the way it did. I don't think most who live here now even know about it.

[@michaelathens953]

I lived in Bellingham briefly and actually spent quite a bit of time in a park through which this stream flowed. I had no idea such a disaster happened there until much later on though. Edit 1: Whatcom creek! Thank you! I couldn't remember the name of the creek for the life of me. Edit 2: I also lived within line of sight of the cherry point refinery for like 2 weeks, it always made me paranoid about potential fire/explosion.

[@JasonFlorida]

I bet property values are still damaged from this incident

[@cloudsn]

@@JasonFlorida As someone who lives in Bellingham I can tell you that, no they aren't damaged. Property values are sky high here. I've lived in a few neighborhoods here and nobody ever mentions it.

[@KimJongBeIllinDaily]

You do fantastic work on these. I really appreciate that you give a technical explanation for the disaster, as well as revisiting it at the end to tie everything together. Helps when I sometimes miss the technical details to have a more plain English wrap up at the end. Thanks for your hard work, I always learn something new about subjects I didn’t even think I would be interested in. That’s the joy of learning.

[@TalenGryphon]

Wow! I grew up less than 2hrs south of Bellingham in Marysville, was in middle school when this happened. But because it didn't involve spaceships, video games, girls, or heavy metal I *barely* remember the incident and had almost totally forgotten. It's interesting to learn about the disaster all these years later. You should do one about the BLEVE in Tacoma sometime

[@xminusone1]

Glad to see we had the same preoccupations in middle school.

[@glorygloryholeallelujah]

I greatly appreciate your attention to detail within the animations. The look of those accurately portrayed 5,000lb monitors and giant loudass towers immediately transported me back to my childhood.😆❤️

[@WhoCares-mx9dy]

Awesome timing, just getting ready for work. Thank you for posting ❤️. Hope everyone has a good day.

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Thank you!

[@amoamoathome]

I lived in Bellingham at the time just steps from the park and Creek. My 9 yo son was in the park everyday at that time of day with friends and neighbors. He was staying with neighbors when it exploded and I was at a business conference in Portland. All phone lines were dead. Most terrifying hours of my life before I reached my son. Wade King loved live theater and his parents donated to the local theater in his name.

[@sniper_shot_photography]

I'm only like 6 minutes in and I'm ready to give you an award for your research. It's like you developed the pipeline and software yourself and ran it every single day. Subscribed with the bell on, outstanding work!

[@chuckrier8816]

I was at work by Whatcom Creek the day of the accident, really freaky thing was the police driving by making evacuation notices on there loud speakers and watching a wall of fire a mile long keep growing

[@drose457090]

I was 15 at the time and was with my family at a friends house in smokey point, Washington. Almost 60 miles away and all we could see to the north was the skyline glowing and smoke rising. The only conclusion we could reach was that Mt. Baker (one of many local active volcanoes) had begun erupting. As a group we decided to immediately load into a vehicle and hit interstate 5 northbound towards Mt. Baker and Bellingham. A decision that in hindsight was a horrible, braindead move. Had that volcanoe actually been erupting several of the rivers we ended up crossing would have absolutely wiped out every bridge built across them. Ultimately leaving us stranded on the side opposite our homes or taking us with the bridge and ending our lives immediately. After about 20 miles of driving towards the explosion we realized that whatever was happening it definitely wasnt a volcanoe and we returned home.

[@Meowface.]

Reading your comment with a wonderful blue sky view of mount baker out my window.. hope it just stays a peaceful view !

[@zthecat]

"As a group we decided to immediately load into a vehicle" Me: "Yeah, I'd get the fuck out of there too!" "and hit interstate 5 northbound towards Mt. Baker and Bellingham" Me: "wtf"

[@austinh7110]

@@zthecat “the decision in hindsight was a horribly brain dead move” 😂

[@matturner6890]

Just... why?!?!

[@evegreenification]

Well, Pliny the Elder made the same mistake, so...

[@heavyhauldude9914]

I would love to see an other rail disaster... Specifically the Lac Mégantic, Québec disaster.!!! Keep up the great work, Olive your videos.

[@brianl8983]

Im always amazed at the string of errors and problems that lead up to these catastrophes. Its easy to think of them as a single event but that seems to not be the usual case

[@myfirstseven]

I can’t remember where but in a safety training session I’m fairly sure it taught us that at least three failures normally have to occur for catastrophic events to occur.

[@mhauze4all]

Swiss cheese model for you there. Horribly bad luck, sloppiness, greediness, haste, ignorance, etc. Take your pick of several, with most disasters.

[@9HighFlyer9]

In aviation we call it the accident chain. It is the series of events and decisions that lead to a crash. There's never one thing that causes it. It's always a chain and stopping one event or changing a decision along that chain stops the crash from happening.

[@Scottishfoxy777]

Have you noticed it's usually during maintenance/shut downs too when people are messing with things. Doesn't seem to be completely random very often at all

[@chrisbrooks5635]

I was in Mr. Rags at Bellis Fair mall about 4 miles away and you can feel it there as well. Someone came and said "you've got to see this". The parking lot was filled with people looking at the enormous column of black smoke. I jumped in my truck to drive towards Whatcom Falls when I thought to my self "what the hell are you thinking?". Crazy day. A coworkers little brother was one of the young boys that died that day. Its said that him and the other boy were lighting fireworks and that was the source of ignition. The poor family had to keep reliving that sad day due to years of litigation in court over the settlement.

[@rogerp6903]

Wow! It makes you realize that there are all kinds of really dangerous processes going on around us 24/7 that could end up as major catastrophies! Why do they have to use such high pressures? You would thinkthey would use a 4 or 5 to 1 safety factor in the pressure loading

[@neuralmute]

And how do they use pipe that's less that 1 cm thick for this?!? My mind boggles.

[@craigcampbell7638]

The 1820 psi rating seems to be the burst rating but it seems like the line rating was supposed to operate lower. Anyway, there is maths involved in making these decisions. There are safety factors built in. But like all disasters a bunch of little things compound and it fails.

[@reinbeers5322]

Yeah I was hearing the description and thinking that it seems like a bad idea to go above 1000psi even, and the pipe sounds way too thin for a very flammable liquid.

[@thetrainshop]

@@reinbeers5322 it wasn't *supposed* to go over 600-650 PSI, well below burst rating of 1800.

[@jeffrykopis5468]

I'm a recent subscriber, and I am astounded by the technical expertise and precise breakdowns of incredibly complex, intricate chains of events that lead to these disasters. It's astonishing to me that investigators are able to determine the causes and sequences of events ending in disasters, after the fact, from smoldering wreckage. But I'm even more impressed by your narrator's ability to decipher the reports of such events, and very authoritatively explain them in exhaustive detail. Very well done, always!

[@mauricedavis8261]

I enjoy how PD breaks down events, with explanations we can understand without a PhD ( apparently PhDs built the pipeline!), thank you for the history and knowledge, consistently excellent episodes!!!🙏😪

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Thank you!!

[@mauricedavis8261]

@@PlainlyDifficult Actually PD, thank you for your excellent presentations!!!🙏✌👌😷

[@muskyman1018]

The local news did a good documentary on this but it was more focused on the aftermath, I really enjoyed getting the technical version of why it happened.

[@Hannah_Em]

How many times does "Never work on a live database" have to be said before people get the message? No matter what the scale or scope of the system you're working on is, it's never a good idea :P

[@Rain1]

Sorry for sounding ignorant, but what do you mean by never work on a live database? Do you mean computer-related or is there some saying that I am missing? Is it some sort of catch-all phrase? I actually don't think I've ever heard of it before. Edit: perhaps I should finish the video first

[@Hannah_Em]

@@Rain1 In this context, I'm talking specifically in computing terms; it's almost always a bad idea to work directly on a live system in a lot of fields (electronic and mechanical engineering being two stand-out examples), but working directly on live databases in computing is a particularly common mistake people make. With how critical computer systems can be, and how easy it is to work on a backup copy to avoid breaking the live system (and check it's all working, and *then* push the changes when compared to other fields), it's pretty much gross negligence to make changes to a live database

[@Rain1]

@@Hannah_Em makes perfect sense, thank you

[@leechowning2712]

@@Hannah_Em Especially since it had a dual computer at the hub. There was no reason for him to work on the primary, when both systems are literally right there. The fact that he broke it in such a way that he could not bring in the second is a clear sign that he should not have been doing it in realtime.

[@mikeholmstrom1899]

The NTSB in their Report on this failure seemed PO'ed over new software testing on the *LIVE* SCADA computer, but, they admitted their was no regulation against it.

[@sketchywolff6365]

I hope this video sheds more light on this story to the public. It’s really interesting and I think it’s a great cautionary tale (well, more like a real life event but you get what I mean) :D

[@stinkymart3173]

Any fatal event which doesn't go down as a cautionary tale is a tragedy twice over

[@sketchywolff6365]

@@stinkymart3173 ah so true

[@J3R3MY-Sigman]

LOVE your videos!! Always a very thorough job! Keep up the great content!! Huge fan!!

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Thank you?

[@AbigailAutumn]

Another Bellingham resident here, I was six years old when this happened and my neighborhood was nearly evacuated. I remember watching it on TV, I believe you could even see the smoke from outside of the city. My older brother was friends with one of the kids who passed away, I think they were in the same grade/class. My recollection is fuzzy as I was so young but it's something that never left me and it still makes me sad and angry when I think about it.

[@earsofcorn]

I grew up in Bellingham and lived a mile or less away from the creek. I remember seeing the giant black cloud in the sky. We had no idea what it was so my Dad tossed me and my brother in the truck and took off a few towns over until we knew more. I was in 4th grade I think and both of the boys who died went to my school. They sent counselors to the school for any kids who needed someone to talk to about it. Every time I pass by the creek area I see the beautiful new growth of the plants and trees that took over after the fire engulfed all the trees and vegetation along the creek. But I won't forget that day or the charred remains of the trees along the road. My heart goes out to the boys families ❤

[@terryjones9987]

Your timing, accent, cuts , imagery and delevery is excellent. There's just enough souff in you voice to give character while still being a pleasure to hear. Excellent video

[@sct913]

Sadly, the general public has been largely misled about the overall safety of pipelines. While pipelines do have several advantages over other forms of fuel and chemical transport, those advantages are offset by the fact that metal pipelines placed in the ground will corrode over time - even with cathotic protection and other preventative measures, and plastic pipelines (oftem used for natural gas distribution) will become brittle and weak over time. Because these facilities are located underground, maintenance, repair, and replacement of pipelines is a large and costly undertaking. And when pipelines fail, the product release and damage should there be an explosion is often far more severe and widespread than from a tanker truck or train incident. As both the Olympic disaster and other pipeline incidents over the years (Sissonville, WV for one) have demonstrated, this is due to the inevitable delay between when a rupture/leak occurs and when the pipeline is isolated once the leak is detected.. Depending on the layout of the pumps and block valves, and the responsiveness of the SCADA system and operators, this can take up to several hours in some cases.

[@DALEEMBERLEY]

Actually Pipelines are safer than ever with learnings of incidents. That pipeline was engineered and also safe for its time. I agree that they can degrade over time, but that is a direct relationship to poor preventative maintenance. If strictly looked after, policies, training, and procedures put into place, Pipelines can last forever. It will, and always will boil down to not practicing due diligence, and money. If you investigate all root causes of these incidents, it's management shortcutting spending money to prevent things like this. Guys stuck the line, didn't report it cause it would cost a lot of money. Owners inspector not there to fully witness, costs money to hire around the clock inspector. Failure to train operators to react properly....training costs money. Operators pressured to never let the line stop flowing for any reason, that's loss of money in production. See the trend. It's not about how safe the lines are. Intact, they are extremely safe. Money, production, and due diligence will always deem the fate of the pipeline.

[@Andreitism]

there's multiple ways to regularly inspect the internals for metal loss / cracking. Its just not mandated in all states in north america, most western countries mandate this as law to have regular inspections at operators cost. Not surprisingly the amount of pipeline incidents are significantly reduced.

[@richardtodd42]

Ive been doing pipeline welding xray inspection for almost 40 years. Modern standards and practices are worlds away from the junk they built in the old days. i would absolutely trust a new line going through my area.

[@Dat-Mudkip]

I am of the opinion that gas should be transported by rail where possible. Obviously it is impossible to eliminate pipelines, but I think we should avoid erecting new ones where possible. The reason I say that is because when an accident happens, it tends to be far more devastating when a pipeline fails versus when a train of gas crashes. Pipeline failure can go unnoticed for hours, bleeding millions of gallons before it is finally shut down. With trains, an accident is going to be reported within minutes, and worst case scenario no more than a few hundred thousand gallons are lost. Railroads still aren't perfect, as poor government regulations mean these sort of accidents are unavoidable, but I feel it's the lesser of two evils.

[@TS-mm6pb]

@@Dat-Mudkip Chemicals are transported by rail in some cases. It's much more complex though. Rail cars or more limited than pipeline. You can ship more product, faster, via pipeline and it's actually safer. I get your viewpoint, but think about it from a demand standpoint. When Colonial pipelines went down due to the hack, the east side of the U.S. did not have gas. Would you rather load via rail, take awhile to get there and only be able to offload a certain amount or ship via pipeline that is continuous? Pipelines are much safer than rail. While we focus on these big events every so often, when compared to the amount pipeline in the ground, the explosion rate is low. There's literally thousands upon thousands of pipelines in the ground not considering the mass amount of distribution lines tied to housing/commercial. The going " unnoticed" is rare, OVERALL. Newer pipelines have much more advanced SCADA systems. A lot (not all) of modern day explosions are due to old piping or grandfather pipeline, which PHMSA has created new regulations, being more stringent in regards to Grandfather piping.

[@TheFirstVonGunther]

I did environmental inspection on 3 loops of pipeline going through my area a few years back. Its wild how much testing and inspection goes into pipelines when theyre being built. The amount of water alone for the hydro testing at the end took several days to drain for an 8 mile loop.

[@JohnXina54]

Making pipes with different diameters is already a bummer because they all connect in one 14 inch pipe anyway

[@crissd8283]

There are branches off the pipe.

[@callmeshaggy5166]

If the diagram was accurate, it seemed to be just to increase capacity along that stretch. Like a railyard having extra lines to store cars.

[@MandyLeeRain]

I remember this 🤯 Thanks for covering it!

[@ianstradian]

A natural gas line near my childhood home in Bessemer Alabama ruptured in 1975. No injuries were recorded, but it did blow the side of a hill apart. I can still remember people closer to the rupture being evacuated and we could hear the roar of the flames for a few miles away. The local fire department had to call in all available nearby fire crews to help control forest fires. The weather at the time of the rupture was very wet and rainy which helped the fire crews by keeping the forest fires to the hillside around the rupture. The damage that caused the rupture was due to a rock slide.

[@julians6230]

Interesting to see so many Bellingham residents (current or former) in the comments! As a WWU student, I can say that almost none of the students I've talked to know about the pipeline disaster (bar maybe the environmental college kids), even though our rec center is named after Wade King and was funded by his parents with the settlement. I found out via youtube and the documentary our local station put out, despite living in WA for most of my life and going to school in bham. It's definitely not something that's widely acknowledged locally or on a state-wide scale, but I have talked to some professors about it and they absolutely remember it.

[@christalley6946]

My hometown I remember it well. Thank you for covering the story.

[@skeepee]

I live in Woodinville, and it’s an unsettling honor to see my town mentioned in a Plainly Difficult disaster video

[@Bazindi]

I'm glad more people can hear about this. Stephen and Wade were my 2 best friends.... I miss them everyday.

[@cynthiatolman326]

I must add to your brilliant documentary, there was an enormous impact on the wildlife on and in the rather large creek due to the contamination along with the explosion. Everything died, absolutely everything. It took years and a lot of work to bring it all back.

[@PenStyleProductions]

Perfect way to start the morning "2 dead children and 50 million dollars in damage"

[@PlainlyDifficult]

The best way

[@ajfurnari2448]

The good news, the $50 million in damages was mostly the treatment plant. Personally, the treatment plant and construction crew should have been the ones to pay, as they're the ones hitting the line.... Locate your utilities before digging

[@TheMouseAvenger]

Well, *3* dead children, actually...but I see your point

[@MakeItWithCalvin]

Balls!

[@Shinzon23]

*3

[@briandbeaudin9166]

Once again, laziness, complacency, incompetence and indifference strike with deadly regularity

[@bmstylee]

Atleast there wasn't a shift change. Who knows how bad it would be if that was added in.

[@Athenor]

Do NOT do development work in Production! Especially involving something so important and potentially dangerous!

[@messiahsbythesackful6267]

This couldn't have been posted at a (selfishly) better time! I'm in the midst of a forced move (landlord sold the property) and I'm breaking between truck loads to regroup and (yeah!) Plainly Difficult! to take my mind away for 20 or so minutes to someone else's way worse problems. Thank you - a dedicated subscriber... 🖖🐢👣

[@TechVikingHunter]

Hey! I live near there! I knew about the pipeline explosion but not much has been said about it. Thank you for putting it on the map

[@geotj58]

Your research is insane, nobody comes close to the detail you put in to these videos, brilliant .

[@LadySingingWolf]

I live in Washington and I remember when this happened. It was rather surreal to watch everything unfold on the news.

[@renegadenobody6802]

This feels like the most detailed, fascinating and well presented video on KZbin. Good Job, history done some justice for once, thankyou.

[@ItsJustLisa]

I remember this making the national news. I was right after my daughter’s birthday and I was pregnant with her brother. Pipelines in Minnesota had been making news as some communities, almost all not wealthy, were fighting to not be used as routes just because they weren’t wealthy enough to buy them going through someone else’s backyard.

[@elizabethsohler6516]

We are ALL a part of this problem. We ALL use gas and NOBODY wants it in their yard.

[@davidhovik7176]

I never new this happen and i was a junior in Arlington High School at the time. Thanks for sharing.

[@ericgulseth74]

I had to run a sewer line under one of these 16 inch petroleum transmission lines. The pipeline inspector made us hand dig around it to prevent any machine damage to it and when done, he re-covered it with the wrapping they use. That thing just hummed with all the fuel running through it.

[@catmaxwell6691]

This is a great accompaniment to ‘Disaster Bellingham’. PD’s explanation of the mechanics of the explosion, and the other’s personal perspective of the folks involved and events of the day, paints a full a picture. Excellent upload.

[@EzraBradford]

As someone who grew up in Washington, I appreciate the effort I assume went in to pronouncing all the place names like a local. This kind of detail work is almost invisible, when done right like this.

[@sparkysheep]

Same! That was a detail I noticed immediately, so many people not from the area absolutely butcher the names and it was so refreshing to hear them said well from someone half a world away

[@shaunstrasser1]

I agree I lived in Washington State for 25 years and learned quickly how to pronounce the city and town names.

[@roxyamused]

He did not pronounce Bellingham like a local. He said "belling'am," the original British pronunciation. We (from bham and really most Americans even Canadians) say belling-HAM, all undignified like and accentuate the ham part. He's not mispronouncing it, just different from a local. His 'whatcom' was superb though.

[@wiltse0]

I was 6 when this happened, I lived on Yew street on the hill about a mile away over looking the creek. I remember asking my dad if we were going to die when seeing the fireball in the distance.

[@yuddinwarri6824]

If you ever develop cancer you'll know where you got it from ☢️☢️

[@BooleanError]

I was working in Bellingham at the time, and driving home when it went off. The plume of black smoke was tremendous.

[@flynnforest-angelos9989]

fuck man, I grew up in bellingham and moved there in 2000 and I'm 25 now. I just remember moving there and how vividly this disaster kind of effected my early childhood. I wasn't there when it it happened but it isn't an exaggeration to say that it honestly cast a shadow over everything and I'm reminded of it every time I see the charred trees in Whatcom falls park, I also remember learning about the 3 kids that died in it and how the gasoline turned the rivers pink before it exploded. It's just such a surreal thing that kind of rarely pops up in my head. I was just reminded of it when I saw this video pop up in my recommended.

[@drowningnixis]

Another great video. Love listening to you!

[@Silverstar98121]

I lived in Bellingham during this disaster. I'm surprised you even noticed this disaster in but it's good to finally understand it. Thanks for this to and your other uploads.

[@TheTubeLovers]

We never learn from our history here in the USA.. Fossil fuels have a finite lifespan , and will run out eventually, and I think that most people don't actually understand this. They think the oil will last forever, and we will never run out.

[@77gravity]

This is the first video I have seen on this channel, it earned a Subscribe. Clear, no hyperbole, very nice thank you.

[@cartertheiii7103]

another great video John! Thanks, this one's gonna be good!

[@bellabale4353]

I love the fact you put the small black and white box in the corner to let us know an advert is coming up. I remember those when I was a child 😃

[@tomwatts703]

It makes me so mad every time I hear '[company] did not investigate the problem properly' or similar in these videos, think of how many deaths might have been prevented if companies gave more of a toss about safety and good operating practices

[@Darkness-tk1hx]

I honestly don't understand why you don't have more subs and views. Best documentary channel imo

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Thank you!!

[@Darkness-tk1hx]

@@PlainlyDifficult

[@SaintNarcissa]

Yes to more explosion accidents. Also, an analysis on the 2015 Gold King Mine accident. Although, it probably would only be a 4 on the legacy scale, it was pretty bad at the time.

[@Scorpiogregpen]

Wow! Well made! Thankyou for such an professional production. You are brilliant!

[@princeopumpkins]

amazing! I'm waiting for my straighteners to cool down to avert my own disaster - never used to care about letting them cool down, then I got a stay-at-home cat...

[@rationalbacon5872]

A stay at home cat? What other type is there? Adventure cats? Travel cats? Go to work cats? Now I'm having to reassess my understanding of cats. 🤔

[@princeopumpkins]

@@rationalbacon5872 depends on your cat. mine had a job as a hunter but she is retired now, I ain't letting her out for love nor money lmao

[@neuralmute]

@@rationalbacon5872 I had a mafia cat once - he was the fuzzy little Tony Soprano of the local backyards, running protection rackets on all the local dogs, having turf wars with the neighbourhood raccoons, hanging with all the other mob cats on the back deck, near the catnip grow-op...

[@princeopumpkins]

@@neuralmute it's always good to know someone in the family!

[@neuralmute]

@@princeopumpkins Hell yeah! Can you believe that the fuzzy little bastard actually even died on the same day as James Gandolfini?!? He was an amazing cat. My current feline owner happens to be one of the last of the Romanovs, and heir to the Russian throne... or so she tells me!😼

[@mechntechbeau]

I remember that day when it exploded I lived right outside of whatcom falls park with my parents back then

[@Siha7567]

Yay a new episode on my birthday, excellent “gift”. :)

[@CalabashNineTJ]

Happy birthday!

[@Siha7567]

@@CalabashNineTJ thank you! ^_^

[@IcedSynergy]

I always have Saturdays off work so your videos have become a staple of my lazy mornings the past few months thank you!

[@bbybby91]

I’d love to see more videos on manufacturing disasters like this on this channel.

[@TheMrPits]

Nature sure has done a lot to hide the scars, I lived in Bham for about 4 years and would walk through that park and forest every week. Saw subtle signs but not enough to really know the story. Thanks for the video.

[@Soundbrigade]

Oh, what a coincidence. I am sitting by my computer in my hazmat stepping twins Tee when there's a new hazmat video out!!!! Next time I must try my Amsterdam Beer Tour tee .....

[@spaceystaci1]

Lol

[@billyjones6626]

I love how many first-hand witnesses seem to comment on every Plainy Difficult doc. Almost seems unbelievable.

[@MiscTo3]

as soon as i heard the pressure drop bit i knew the pipe was ruptured. why didnt the professionals figure this out

[@neuralmute]

They didn't want to. Wilful ignorance is a powerful force.

[@allangibson2408]

@@neuralmute Operation priority mindset is a problem everywhere. That’s why automated pipeline rupture detection trips are now standard in new pipeline control systems - you take the decision to shutdown out of the operators hands completely. Buncefield was a driver for that.

[@candledapple]

Hearing Bellingham being pronounced with like a soft -ham is so funny to me, makes it sound much more refined. Also couldn't believe when this video popped up, it's not an event even super remembered in a lot of Washington, much less anywhere else

[@skatatataatje]

yeuh, I was so booored. You just saved the next 20 minutes haha.

[@hollyinhell]

I live in Bellingham. We will never forget this day. It literally looked like the apocalypse was coming.

[@trolslovenski]

Fitst😅Thank you for another great documentary. Love your channel❤

[@PlainlyDifficult]

Thank you

[@lizsteeds6697]

Great well explained and detailed breakdowns in all your content. Excellent work.

[@nymvlt]

It's usually exciting hearing my state get mentioned, since not as much terrible stuff happens to us compared to other US states. I was a little horrified to hear it be the central topic on one of my favourite disaster channels lol

[@willdejong7763]

We make the list more often than I would like. Without looking too hard I found these videos on this channel: Atomic Man: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aKCnnX2ii96Jra8 Tacoma Narrows Bridge: kzbin.info/www/bejne/nH7Wm6yHfdmgn7c And other channels: Hanford, America's Chernobyl: kzbin.info/www/bejne/iKGriqSNppZrZqM AND kzbin.info/www/bejne/r5zMnKejm998fsk Tesoro Refinery 2010: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bqezkoSPgpKnjdU I-90 bridge 1990: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aom9dHVpaZ6MZrs Great Seattle Fire 1889: kzbin.info/www/bejne/oX2ziZ9-fL6DnK8 And of course there's the natural disasters, like these: Ancient Floods: kzbin.info/www/bejne/n2Kld5WVqr6ffLM Mt. St. Helens eruption: kzbin.info/www/bejne/d4rPkmmnaM6mbNk Oso mudslide: kzbin.info/www/bejne/sJa9lIR6mbyJY80 Recurring forest fires: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bnjZZ4ediK6Cedk And we should not leave out the impending Cascadia Subduction Event: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gIOQaYOQlNN2rKc

[@davidgoodman6924]

Washington state plenty of terrible stuff happens there compared to other US states. Serial killer capitol of the US for starters.

[@nymvlt]

@@willdejong7763 Wow! I’ve seen the bridge collapses before but not some of those other ones. Thank you!

[@nymvlt]

@@davidgoodman6924 That’s California. Texas and Alaska have more serial killers too. We’re not the capitol for them, we’ve just had a few big names

[@RhawketS]

I live in Bellingham, and never knew about this. Thank you for teaching me my own city's history.

[@kcgunesq]

i've always heard it pronounced 'skayduh". And of course, SCADA is a general concept used in many industries, not just pipelines.

[@xnademolicious]

You've always lived in the US

[@bingusmctingus4395]

American phonetics have 3-4 different ways to pronounce “A”, European phonetics tend to have only 1-2 ways to pronounce.

[@handlesarefeckinstupid]

@@bingusmctingus4395 Not counting Britain as part of the continent of Europe?

[@ialsoagree]

@@bingusmctingus4395 I work with Europeans in Bornem and other non-English European nations. All my colleagues pronounce SCADA as "skayduh." This is the first time I've heard "scahduh" - which isn't a big deal, if you don't work in the industry you might not be familiar with it. Are there Europeans that pronounce it that way who do work in the industry? Maybe, but I've never met them, and we have European colleagues that do our SCADA development.

[@vancemacy1850]

Well told story. I like the dashes of sarcastic humour tastefully incorporated also. Thanks

[@CarolineBearoline]

I 'member I've watched the EMS and public official interviews, and they were all so traumatized by what they were responsible for that day. I'm horrified for the way the 2 boys were killed while innocently fishing 💔

[@arfyness]

The City of Bellingham itself has a documentary about this disaster on their own channel. It covers a few other angles. I appreciate both of these, the more objective technically detailed examination here, and then the coverage there which is more, idk, narrative? subjective? It is part of their own history, which gives it a certain irreplaceable gravitas, imo.

[@yakacm]

I've been a computer operator since the 80's and everything explained here is frighteningly familiar, OK when we fuck up shit doesn't blow up, but when I worked for a local council shit we did ended up on the front page of the local paper.

[@Tindometari]

Oh, when computer ops fuck up shit can go down hard. There was once a rocket that went astray and crashed with a multi-$100M satellite aboard. The investigation traced it to a one-character computer op's typo: a minus sign instead of a plus.

[@pochakajeoi8943]

@@Tindometari - kaboom

[@user-xd7dt6gr8l]

honestly i disagree, and my take on it just makes it worse. with computer operations and code and stuff one minuscule mistake can destroy a whole project. with stuff like pipelines and whatever there’s usually a solid amount of failsafes, it took a SERIES of fuck ups to allow something like this to happen

[@yakacm]

@@Tindometari Yup that sounds familiar too, 1 place I worked at, some lad just accepted a default date instead entering date, it was the difference of 1 day, but it meant a shit load of ppl had money taken out of their accounts a day early, and a lot of them ended up getting charged fees by their banks cuz they didn't have enough money to cover it. It was managed service place and we were doing work for someone else, so it ended up with our lawyers talking to their lawyers about who's fault it was.

[@yakacm]

@@user-xd7dt6gr8l Oh definitely, I was just saying the computer bits sounded alarmingly familiar, like the guy doing database development work on the live system.

[@yvettemeza3384]

Great videos

[@SadSackGaming]

Daaaaamn, those dudes knew how to lay pipe!

[@TruthNeverFade]

Finally I'm rather early to a video! Thanks for the great content 😊