Deadly Dust
The Douglas Starch Works Explosion and fire of 1919—Cedar Rapids, Iowa
BY ANGELO VERZONI
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When the Douglas Starch Works factory exploded on May 22, 1919, the impact on Cedar Rapids, Iowa, was immediate and devastating. “Every window in the central part of the city was blown out,” according to the New York Times, and people more than a mile from the blast were cut by shards of flying glass. “Chimneys caved in on families at the supper table,” the Times reported. “Guests in the dining rooms of hotels were thrown from their seats. A Chicago traveling man in a hotel had his nose cut almost off by broken glassware … Another Chicago man was blown through a window of his hotel and suffered cuts and bruises.”
The scene at the factory was even worse. “Frank Sodoma, an employee, was taken out of the plant alive,” the Times reported. “His legs were blown off. He begged the crowd to kill him.” Forty-four people died in the explosion and subsequent fire, which caused $3 million in damage, according to a report by the Iowa Insurance Service Bureau.
Reports on the cause of the blast varied, but many indicated it was likely due to combustible dust. Dusts like starch, which the factory produced, can combust when present in large quantities, are suspended in air, and when they encounter an ignition source. The Times reported that at least one of those three factors—dust present in large quantity—existed at the factory prior to the blast. “It was said that the vacuum was not turned on in the starch dryers, which may have caused the dust to accumulate,” the newspaper said.
Combustible dust explosions continue, and NFPA has for decades published a number of documents related to combustible dust safety. In 2016, the organization released NFPA 652, Standard on the Fundamentals of Combustible Dust. The basis for creating that document was laid out in an article published in NFPA Journal in May 2015. Read the story at nfpa.org/combustibledust, and learn more about the standard at nfpa.org/652.
ANGELO VERZONI is staff writer for NFPA Journal. Top Photograph: COURTESY OF THE HISTORY CENTER, LINN COUNTY HISTORICAL SOCIETY