Roseburg BLAST of August 7, 1959 (site) (Roseburg, Oregon)

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In the early morning hours of August 7, 1959 a fire at Gerretsen Building Supply Company ignited a truck parked on the adjacent street. The truck was carrying a two ton load of dynamite and four and one-half tons of ammonium nitrate. The explosion created a crater fifty-two feet in diameter and twelve feet deep.

The blast killed 14 people and injured 125. Among the dead was Roseburg Police Officer Don DeSues, Roseburg Fire Assistant Chief Roy McFarland, and Roseburg Volunteer Firefighters Richard Knight and Dennis Tandy.

The subsequent blast leveled eight city blocks. Three hundred businesses within a thirty block radius were damaged by the blast. Of those, seventy-two were declared structurally unsafe resulting in major repairs and renovation. Twelve buildings beyond the eight block perimeter were condemned.

www.oregonlive.com/O/index.ssf/2009/08/fifty_years_ago_...