5
1 Acetylene cylinders are filled with a porous solid material, which in older cylinders, may contain asbestos.
2 Following the incident Praxair contracted a cleanup of the asbestos which the Missouri Department of natural Resources monitored.
3 From report of the St. Louis Medical Examiner, Case Number 2005-2061. out empty commercial building, fire-damaged cars, a three-foot hole in the wall of one residential building, broken windows, and other destruction to residential and
commercial buildings. Cylinder parts traveled as far as 800 feet from the area of the explosions (Figure 5). The fire plume spread
asbestos1 from ruptured acetylene cylinders over a 1/3-mile wide and 1-mile long area.2 The St. Louis Chief Medical Examiner attributed the death of one St. Louis resident to an asthma attack triggered by noxious smoke and fumes from the incident.3