Hide Article Text (OCR)
On Tuesday, August 2nd, at 5:59 p.m. a transformer located in the middle of the alley behind the American Legion overheated causing it to explode and spray transformer oil all over the parking lot, spraying most of the cars in the parking lot. When the Fire Department arrived, there were flames on the ground near the pole, burning on the ground and in a patch of grass in the yard next to the alley. The fire department extinguished the fire and notified Public Service Indiana about what to do next. Jack Hatke of Public Service Indiana was there, and he had notified the company about the transformer. The cleanup crew of PSI did not get there until about 8:00. Many of the cars’ owners were in the American Legion of Office Tavern at the time of the explosion, and were quite incensed about the possibility of the paint coming off in a couple of days. Jack Hatke, of PSI, gave me some information on the contents of the transformer and other things that were needed to be known. The main content of the transformer was simply transformer oil. He did not know if the oil was PCB or Non PCB. Many electrical ‘transformers contain PCB’s, a chemical which is link ed with cancer, and which is considered very dangerous to health. Hatke said that he thought it was ‘Non PCB because Non PCB didn’t burn as well as PCB. Meanwhile, the firemen used 5 gallons of foam to cover the fire and then covered the ground and area with crushed corn cobs to absorb the oil and to con tain the dripping oil that was still coming out of the transformer. Hatke explained that there was going to be a lot of work ahead because of the explosion. He said that PSI was going to have to dig up the grass and dirt and put it into barrells. Then, they were going to have to clean up the alley and take out all the bushes. In essence, they were going to have to clean everything that was cleanable and throw away everything that wasn’t. The owner’s of the cars parked in the parking lot were waiting for the PSI people to get there and wash their cars off. The PSI people used a high detergent solvent soap called Penetone. Hatke didn’t know if it was specially made for them. The PSI men informed the owners of the cars that it might be wise to go through a car wash, and that PSI would reimburse them if they brought their receipt. The Delphi Fire department left the scene at 8:33p.m. When the PSI people got there, they changed the transformer and stayed there until about 11:30 clean ing up. The next day, they came back and barrelled up everything else. By Michael Griffey 11 Pictured above is one of the cars which received the most coverage of transformer oil, owned by Juanita and Billy Martin of Delphi. Photos by Michael Griffey II
Newspaper Details
Delphi Journal
Delphi, Indiana, US
Wed, Aug 10, 1988
Page 6
Full Page
Clipped by
Lara D.
