# @downinnadesert on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/Dd1dRecm69_
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/71151558-downinnadesert-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/postThumbnails/ea7651708d.jpg
- **Posted:** 2026-09-28T15:00:40.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** Down In The Desert🌵 (@downinnadesert) — https://gondola.cc/downinnadesert

## Caption

Every fire department in America learns about what happened in Kingman, Arizona on July 5, 1973.

It was over 100 degrees that afternoon. At the Doxol Gas plant, workers were transferring propane from a railroad tank car into storage tanks when a leak developed and caught fire.

Burning propane shot as high as 80 feet into the air.

Kingman firefighters got the call at 1:57 PM and arrived within minutes. They pulled lines and poured water onto the tank car, trying to keep it cool and reduce the pressure inside.

At the time, that was the procedure.

Then, about 20 minutes after the initial call, the tank exploded.

It was what firefighters now call a BLEVE, a boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion.

The blast sent burning debris and pieces of the rail car flying across the area. Three firefighters lost their lives immediately.

Eight more firefighters passed away from their injuries over the following week. A plant worker also lost his life, and more than 95 firefighters, police officers and civilians were injured.

Eleven firefighters.

From one Arizona town.

In one afternoon.

It remained the deadliest day in Arizona firefighting history until the Yarnell Hill Fire in 2013.

But what happened in Kingman also changed firefighting far beyond Arizona.

The disaster became a major case study in hazardous-material training. Safety standards surrounding propane rail cars changed, and the lessons learned in Kingman helped reshape how firefighters approach pressurized tanks exposed to fire.

Today, Firefighter Memorial Park in Kingman honors the eleven firefighters who lost their lives. A bronze plaque carries their names, and artwork at the memorial was made using a piece of the destroyed tank car.

More than 50 years later, firefighters across the country are still taught what happened that afternoon in Kingman.

Send us your Arizona stories to be featured on the page.

#Kingman #MohaveCounty #ArizonaHistory #Arizona #DownInnaDesert

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## Tags

downinnadesert, kingman, arizonahistory, arizona, mohavecounty

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