Gas explosion on Effingham Rd in October 1973.

[Cynthia]

Timbuck's reply was virtually correct.

 

As I understood it one man started cutting before he should have done and he was the one killed.

I worked in the offices of the East Midlands Gas Board at the time, I along with a colleague were in the middle of training some staff in a location away from the main office when the explosion happened, we had to return immediately to the main EMGB main office to help the other staff cope with all the phone calls that we received.

 

Cynthia, Ontario, Canada.

[0742]

Strange i was filming down round there last week and was talking about this i was on my way home from school and have a image in my mind of some poor bloke chared to a roof nearby.. It was 1973 that i do remeber..

 

0742

[GrinderBloke]

I remember the gas-o-meter explosion.

 

I was at Wybourn school at the time and that day we had a boat trip on Sheffield Canal from the canal basin, so we passed the gas-o-meter on the canal.

 

The explosion must have happened whilst our boat was down towards Tinsley, because as we headed back towards the canal basin I remember hearing all the sirens. I don't recall hearing the actual explosion but we were in a covered boat and we were probably being noisy kids on a day out.

 

The explosion must have happened about 11AM

[Plain Talker]

interesting picture in the Sheffield Star tonight, (15/7/06)

in the then-and-now section, in the middle of the paper, is a photograph showing the local aftermath of the explosions.

 

It shows a row of cars parked up nearby to the explosion, with debris scattered all over them.

 

PT

[richald]

I was very near the gas explosion in 1973 - about 2-300 yards away, working in the Tempered Spring laboratory next to the river.

 

I was looking down a microscope when the explosion occurred - and it was very disorienting! - there was a rush of air through the building and confusion as to which way to run for safety.

 

When we walked out into the yard it was noticeable that everywhere was covered in fist-sized lumps of shredded brick.

 

Most memorable image was of our bosses 1949 bentley which was parked nearer the centre of the explosion - a concrete upright from the adjacent wall had been blown across the car and acting like guillotine, almost cut the car in half!

[Plain Talker]

<snip>When we walked out into the yard it was noticeable that everywhere was covered in fist-sized lumps of shredded brick.

 

Most memorable image was of our bosses 1949 bentley which was parked nearer the centre of the explosion - a concrete upright from the adjacent wall had been blown across the car and acting like guillotine, almost cut the car in half!

 

wonder if one of the cars in the photo i mentioned above, was your boss's car?

[Wilmawhyman]

I remember my dad coming home from work and telling us about it. He worked in The Vulcan Foundry - Oxley's on Saville St. I remember him saying how they were showered with years of muck from the rafters and roof of the foundry. He died in '77, so it was a few years before that.

[Wiggins]

Hi folks, I remember this incident rather too well I'm afraid - I was a serving firefighter at Sheffield Central and we turned out to it at 11.32am on Wednesday 24th October 1973. Bricks, concrete and dust everywhere. We were ordered to look for 6 missing workmen. We pretty soon found them in separate locations and in conditions that I couldn't describe here. One thrown through a factory roof; one underneath the crane he had been operating; a welder up on a nearby gas holder; one thrown against a brick wall; one in the roadway; one recovered from site. Six in all died and 20 further persons were treated at hospital and released.

Dismantling of iron and pipe work above an 'empty' underground tank 100 feet diameter by 20 feet deep was being carried out by a welding gang. Sparks ignited pockets of flammable distillates. As there was about 3 feet of reinforced concrete aver the tank, the resulting explosion was vastly more powerful.

For me it was a rude awakening to the job I had chosen

[caronlel]

I remember this although I must have only been about 4 at the time. I lived on Hyde Park Flats, the side that overlooked the gas tanks, and if I remember rightly it actually shattered some windows the blast was so massive!

[Treatment]

My wife said that her Dad was the Police Superintendent who was interviewed on TV for this, so it must have been 1973.