"We've had an explosion and everything's on fire" Company Comptroller Roy Westerfield  told a dispatcher.  A few seconds later he said "Get 'em all out of here". 

These were quite possibly his last words.

On May 4th, 1988, a loud explosion rocked the entire Southern Nevada Valley.  The ground rumbled, windows shook and, in many places, shattered completely.  Residents at first thought it was an earthquake.  Others who saw a mushroom cloud rising over Henderson thought a nuclear nightmare might be unfolding in the industrial city.

In reality, it was an industrial disaster that occurred  at the Pacific Engineering Production Company of Nevada which was commonly referred to as PEPCON.  The plant, located in Henderson, was one of two American producers of ammonium perchlorate which is an oxidizer in solid rocket fuel boosters for the Space Shuttle and the military's Titan Missile program.

The other American manufacturer, Kerr-McGee, was located less than five miles away from the PEPCON plant and well with-in the area that suffered blast damage.

A little background information:  After the Challenger Space Shuttle disaster in January, 1986, the United States government continued their contract with PEPCON for ammonium perchlorate.  Despite the freeze on the Space Program, the company continued to manufacture the product at the same rate as before the Shuttle disaster.  Since there was no delivery of the product going on due to the freeze and no guidance from the government as to where to ship it to, the company stored the compound on site in plastic drums. These drums were housed on the parking lots around the plant.  The Las Vegas Review Journal reported in the aftermath that "nearly 9 million (yeah, you read that right) pounds of the chemical was consumed by the flames or explosions."

According to Wikipedia, a fire started by "a cigarette that had been discarded into a barrel of scrap ammonium perchlorate."  Nearby, workers were repairing a steel frame with fiberglass walls that had suffered damage in a recent windstorm.  They were using a welding torch.  The fire spread quickly once it reached the fiberglass material.  This led, according to the Las Vegas Mercury account by Gregory Crosby, to the first small explosion:

This small explosion raised the alarm "that enabled most workers to escape before a second larger explosion occurred on the heels of the first." 

Company comptroller Roy Westerfield "was on the phone reporting the emergency, explaining the urgency of the situation, "We've had an explosion and everything's on fire" he told a dispatcher.  (Las Vegas Review Journal)

The Henderson Fire Department responded to the fire.  When the Fire Chief arrived he saw a massive white and orange fireball and dozens of people running across the desert towards him.  The second explosion happened at 11:54 and the shock wave shattered the windows in the Chief's car.  A heavily damaged vehicle approached and its driver advised the chief that the danger was growing.  The Chief turned around and headed towards safety.

Inside the plant, Roy Westerfield was still trying to herd people to safety.  He was talking by phone to a dispatcher when  few seconds later he said "Get 'em all out of here".  These were quite possibly his last words. 

It was the third massive explosion that sent Henderson and Las Vegas residents running for their windows, radios and television news.   Local Channel 3 anchor Gwen Castaldi went on the air and began letting Valley residents know what was happening.  "It was a real moment of urgency and tragedy in the community." (Personal interview with Castaldi, 2005).

It was the third blast, according to Gregory Crosby, "that sealed the plant's fate when that 9 million pounds of chemical literally went up in smoke."  

The blast was so forceful that it knocked an arriving fire engine over two lanes.  Another arriving fire truck had its windows shattered.  Cars were overturned.  The explosion created a visible shock wave.  This explosion almost destroyed the Fire Chief's car but he was able to drive to a nearby hospital to seek treatment for his passenger and himself.

Inside the plant, Roy Westerfield and Bruce Halker, two employees who were shepherding people out of danger were killed.   More than 300 people were injured.

The marshmallow factory next door, Kidd and Co., suffered the brunt of the explosion.  Due to faulty equipment there were fewer employees working that day.  Those employees who were there evacuated at the first sign of trouble.  The marshmallow factory was destroyed. 

"The final explosion went off and PEPCON basically disappeared.  Boulder Highway looked like a war zone.  There was glass everywhere.." Eyewitness  and PEPCON employee Joe Hedrick.

The last explosion registered 3.5 on the Richter scale by the National Earthquake Information Center 600 miles away in Colorado.  A crater estimated at 15 feet deep and 200 feet wide was left in the storage area. 

A 747 on approach to McCarran Airport was reportedly buffeted by the shock wave.  The Airport, 11 miles away from the blast, suffered cracked windows.  An analysis later estimated the blast damage the equivalent of 250 tons of TNT. 

Nearby Basic High School suffered serious damage and damage was reported at McDoniel Elementary, Burkholder Middle School and Southern Nevada Vocational-Technical Center.  The last blast blew out the windows at Basic High School.

"We thought someone was out there with a shotgun" remembered teacher Michael Neighbors, "Like fools, we went right for the windows.  We literally pushed the kids out of the building.  It was like an air pocket.  The back of my hair parted." (Las Vegas Review Journal). 

The large plume of smoke could be seen around the valley and residents throughout the valley worried about chemical fall-out.   Luckily, the wind that day was only 20 to 25 mph and kept much of the chemical from settling in the valley.  Local health officials predicted that lives were saved because of the winds.

Damage was estimated at $74 million dollars.  The nearby Fire Station was heavily damaged and there was structural damage to a nearby warehouse.

PEPCON, renamed Western Electrochemical Company, relocated to Iron County, Utah.  Now some 14 miles northwest of St. George, they began the relocation a mere three months after the devastating explosion at the Henderson plant.  Kerr-McGee moved their plant 17 miles northeast of Las Vegas to Apex.   For awhile Kerr-McGee continued to manufacture the more stable liquid form of the chemical on site.  But in 1998, ten years after the disaster, the parent company of PEPCON/Western Electrochemical Company bought out the remaining ammonium perchlorate contracts and moved all production to Utah.

Senior Company official, Fred Gibson, Jr tried to shift blame from PEPCON to Southwest Gas by saying that a ruptured gas line caused the fire.  However, this conflicted with eyewitness testimony by employees.  PEPCON attorney told the Las Vegas Review Journal, three days after the disaster, "Nothing ignites ammonium perchlorate.  It does not burn.  It is not flammable."  Chemists from around the world immediately disputed the attorney and called the product "unstable and highly flammable." 

After the explosion it came out that the facility had been cited numerous times since 1974 for safety violations.  There had been a small explosion in 1980 that had injured a worker. 

More than 50 law firms represented dozens of insurance companies and corporations in lawsuits.  The case ran up tens of millions of dollars in attorneys fees and produced 1 million pages of depositions.

The case wound its way through the judicial system from 1989 to 1992 when a $171 million settlement was reached before going to a jury trial.  Insurance companies that had reimbursed some 17,000 claimants received almost 100 cents on the dollar.

Clark County agreed to pay $3.8 million to insurance companies as a result of shoddy inspections that had taken place at the plant over the years. 

Southwest Gas also agreed to settle because according to their attorney "it was a practical decision made because of the uncertainty of what a jury might do at trial." (Las Vegas Review Journal).

Southwest Gas later found out what a jury would do.  In a trial that lasted a little over a month, PEPCON's insurance company argued that gas, which is lighter than air, had leaked from a pipe then moved horizontally underground toward the plant 670 feet away.  The gas was then to make a 90-degree turn upward and ignited with an unknown source. (Emphasis added)

Following final arguments, the attorneys hadn't even gotten back to their offices before the call came from the court house that a jury had reached a verdict.  It took less than a half hour for the jury to laugh that idea out of court.

The disaster was a turning point for the development of Henderson.  The city began to shift from being the "City of Industry" (its slogan) to a bedroom community of Las Vegas.  A few years after the disaster, Green Valley subdivision, a master planned community, took off with home buyers and changed the dynamics of Henderson forever.

Though many industries remain in Henderson, the city is now a growing hub of suburban dwellers looking to escape Las Vegas.

Video of the explosion can be seen here:  http://www.reviewjournal.com/news/pepcon/pepcon1.mov 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMofeKl4hpY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NMofeKl4hpY 

The Pepcon Site with the Kidd Marshmallow Factory on the right

(Courtesy of the Las Vegas Review Journal)

Map of Pepcon location

The explosion as seen from Lake Mead Blvd.

(courtesy of the Las Vegas Review Journal) 

The Aftermath

(courtesy of RoadsidePictures) 

The Aftermath

(courtesy of RoadsidePictures)

Unfinished Business    Season 1, Episode 20

After a couple of weeks of far-flung travel (hello, TCM Classic Film Festival), we are back with a recap!

At the top of the episode:

The Tumbleweed is about to “come under new management”.  Mining tycoon Porter Gainsley’s ownership of the Tumbleweed not only has Vince’s panties in a bunch but and wants him out. Gainsley thinks he can up Vince. We know better.

The chorus line at the Savoy is expensive, costing the hotel  $25,000 to bribe a gaming commissioner.

Agent Byrne,  who was shot by a rogue woman  last week is recovering. He hates jello cubes. Don’t we all.

Lady Heather, oops, Mia’s mother, Lena, is on her way to Tahoe for the weekend but runs into Mia and Jack before hand and has eyes for Jack. Mia is not happy.

The brothers Lamb find the body of a lawyer, Milton Krull, in the trunk of a car with a canary in his mouth. Can we say foreshadowing? Yes, we can.

Katherine thinks Krull is working both sides against the middle. Are you surprised? No, we thought not.

Gainsley was a friend of the former, dead sheriff and that causes Ralph to raise an eyebrow.

Katherine knows that Jack has been taping the phone calls and Mia may be in the cross hairs of the Feds. Jack assures her that’s not the case. Are you surprised? We thought not.

Seems the dead lawyer had an in with Ralph’s dead wife. Her brother was involved, business speaking, with the dead lawyer. Seems the brother sold the ranch to Krull and the payments ran out. The brother thinks that Ralph thinks he might have killed Krull. He claims he didn’t. Are you surprised? We thought not.

Dixon and Miss Sanchez find out that a company, Nevada Land Consortium, was interested in Marilyn’s family’s ranch before her death. Ooops!

Dixon goes after his uncle. The uncle claims he is innocent and gets the drop. Are you surprised? We thought not.

The Lamb brothers really aren’t all that good no matter how much the show runners want us to think they are.

Dixon and his uncle talk about Marilyn, the missing piece that is supposed to be at the heart of this story. Do you care? We thought not.

Agent Byrne, it seems, is making inroads with the investigation and with Katherine. He is being made Special Bureau Chief and wants Katherine to join him outside Las Vegas. She sees through the transparent attempt to derail the investigation. And we are sure you did, too!

Dixon wants to investigate what happened to Marilyn and enlists Ralph’s help. Are you surprised? We thought not.

Jack sees a future where he and Mia own a 500 acre ranch. Have you stopped laughing? We thought not. But, this being Vegas, she’s thinking about it.

We find out that Vince got out of Havana just ahead of Castro. He wants to be his own man. The Tumbleweed is that opportunity. That and Lady Heather, oops, Mia’s mother, Lena. They have plenty of heat. And someone tries to blow them up. Doesn’t look good for Lady Heather. Luckily, for whoever planted the bomb, she lives.

Katherine and Ralph think Gainsley double crossed Vince.

Vince, of course, wants revenge.

Jack believes that Gainsley wants Vince dead. He wants Mia out of there. She ain’t leaving cause, well, because it serves the overall plot. What’s that plot? We have no idea. Something about Chicago wanting Vince dead and Vince wanting his own place and all this happens under the watchful eye of Ralph Lamb.

Gainsley goes to Katherine because she has questions. He has no answers. Are you surprised? We thought not.

Katherine thinks she can lower the boom on Gainsley. You think that will happen? We thought not.

Seems Nevada Land Consortium was looking for water rights. There is a straw man at the heart of it. Are you surprised? We thought not.

Jack has competition with the Savoy Entertainment Director who has eyes for Mia. Are you surprised? We thought not.

Katherine is driving home on a dark road and gets run off that road. Are you surprised? We thought not. Will you be surprised that Ralph is upset? We thought not.

Vince discovers he’s been bugged not by the Feds but by Jack and the local sheriff’s office.

Looks like Gainsley put out the hit on Katherine which causes Ralph to attack him. Ralph gets replaced by the state attorney general and relieved of duty.

Gainsley is implicated not only in the accident that has put Katherine in the hospital in critical condition but the death of Ralph’s wife (and he had to turn in his badge). Are you surprised?  We thought not.

Ralph goes to Vince to get his help in bringing down Gainsley. Ralph offers up the tapes vis a via Vince and Chicago to bring down Gainsley. Are you surprised? We thought not.

How does this lead to the season finale?

 A showdown between Ralph and Vince vs Porter Gainsley.

Who do you think will win?

Yeah, we thought so.

The big question at this point is not how they accomplish that but will the series be renewed.

Stay tuned!

                The pioneering Kenny Kerr

Before Frank Marino flourished in drag on the famed Las Vegas Strip, that journey had been pioneered by the one and only Kenny Kerr. Back in 1977, he brought drag shows out of the shadows and made them  accessible and popular on the famed Strip. The flashy Boylesque marquee as part of the Silver Slipper sign signaled to tourists and locals alike that it was okay to come in, have a drink and enjoy a night of comedy that you couldn't find anywhere else on the famed boulevard. He held court at the tiny Silver Slipper for eleven years.

Kenny Kerr passed away earlier today.

From Mike Weatherford at the Las Vegas Review Journal:

Kenny Kerr, the bad girl that Las Vegas fell hard for in the ’70s, died Sunday. He was 60.

The star of “Boy-lesque” was the Strip’s first must-see female impersonator, pulling a locals-heavy audience into a tiny casino called the Silver Slipper for 11 years with his deadpan stare, cutthroat wit and killer gowns.

“It’s now to the point where there are three things you have to see: Lake Mead, Hoover Dam and ‘Boy-lesque,’” Kerr said in 1988, when the show wrapped its long era at the Silver Slipper in anticipation of the casino’s eventual closure and demolition.

Kerr’s impressions of Cher and Barbra Streisand were matched by his comedic skills as the show’s saucy host.

Drag was still somewhat taboo when Kerr came to town in 1977, but by then, he had already been impersonating Streisand for years.

Growing up in Blue Anchor, N.J., he was 16 when a couple who saw him shopping at a mall noted his resemblance to Streisand. They soon had him riding the bus into Philadelphia to perform at night while he was still attending high school.

“These people had a show of the sort I do now and asked me if I wanted to work in it,” he recalled in 1982. They talked a lot of money. ... Most of my contemporaries had jobs for minimum wage or less.”

Going out on his own a few years later, Kerr and his original cast showcased their act for free at the Sahara and caught the attention of Herb Kaufman, the owner of Wonder World discount stores.

The Slipper show quickly became a low-cost novelty for locals to take out-of-town visitors. But it arrived fresh on the heels of Anita Bryant’s anti-gay crusade, and for years Kerr said the question “Are you gay?” was one he had to dance around.

“It’s a question I can’t win by answering,” he said in 1982. “If I said I am gay, there are an awful lot of narrow-minded people out there. And If I said I’m heterosexual, a lot of people wouldn’t believe me.”

Kerr kept working after the Silver Slipper era, with long runs at the Sahara and Plaza followed by smaller casinos and gradually diminishing returns, as the rival “La Cage” revue proved fierce competition and the shock value faded over the years.

For more click here.

Kenny Kerr photo courtesy of Eventful.com

Just to give our readers (and everyone else) a heads up-  News sources are saying that CBS is going with news coverage of the manhunt in Boston tonight instead of their regularly programmed dramas.

We'll keep you posted. If Vegas is pre-empted, which seems quite likely, we'll let you know when tonight's episode will be rescheduled.

Stay tuned.

Hollywood Ending  season 1, episode 17

A tale of two cities.

We are in Hollywood and Miss Sanchez is all googly eyed about her singing audition at Capitol Records.

Back in Vegas, DA Reynolds is not having a good evening. He’s not happy about being Savino’s bag man. “You either carry your weight or become dead weight”, Vince tells him. While he is talking to Savino, Mia and her guys take the briefcase full of money out of the DA’s trunk.

Savino makes a call. Ralph, Jack and Kathryn are listening. Unfortunately, the DA isn’t on the phone so no one realizes he is the avocado (the one getting the skim out under the nose of the Feds).

A mystery woman shows up at the Savoy. Lady Heather fans rejoice. She and Vince get hot and heavy quickly. The mystery woman is Lena Rizzo, Mia’s mother.

Kathryn tells DA Reynolds about the tap in passing. Again refers to the bag man as the avocado. And she tells him that the Feds and Agent Burns are involved as well. The DA almost lurches. Kathryn notices but the DA laughs it off.

In Hollywood, Dixon is trying to crash the gates of the studio to get in to see Violet.

Back in Las Vegas, Kathryn and Mia talk. Anvils begin falling from the sky. Kathryn tries to get Mia to realize that the screws are tightening on Savino. Kathryn wants Mia to roll over on Savino. Mia ain’t buying. She gets all huffy with Kathryn.

In Hollywood, Dixon and Miss Sanchez finally crash the gates and see Violet. She has plans she can’t cancel but she really wants to see Dixon.  But not yet. They end up getting invited to a party that Violet’s manager/lover is throwing.

In Vegas, the DA is missing. A bad guy he put away was paroled and he knows that the law knows about the skim. Is he legitimately missing or has he planned his escape?

Lena and Mia meet.  Do we care? Mia is not happy to see her. Seems all these years, Mia thought she was dead.  Daddy Rizzo thought she was fooling around.  She wasn’t but Daddy threatened to kill her if she ever came back. Now that he’s dead, it’s safe to come around, I guess.

In Hollywood, we have no idea how Miss Sanchez’s audition went as we never saw it. But we see her and Dixon at the party (so it’s the next day).  Miss Sanchez gets the chance to sing a Cuban duet at the party. Does Aimee Garcia have another gig?

Dixon is too busy kissing on Violet to notice how well Miss Sanchez sings.  But Violet’s manager notices and tells her to come by his office the next day to audition. She sees the manager and one of his goons assault a photographer.

Back in Vegas, Ralph smiles (DRINK!!!) and the search continues for the missing DA.

There’s too many stories going on. Dixon, Miss Sanchez and Violet, Mia and her mother, the missing DA, the skim and the investigation.

Vince gives Mia the ledger with all the skim info in it because she came up with the right idea to keep Chicago happy while they try to find the missing avocado, er, DA. This will come back to haunt him.

Seems the DA set up the paroled bad guy to mislead the cops. So, Reynolds staged his own kidnapping.

Agent Burns is the one who realizes that Reynolds is the avocado. You think that sounds silly reading it, imagine the actors reciting it. Come to find out, Savino wasn’t saying avocado, he was saying Italian for lawyer.

But, unfortunately, for Reynolds, Ralph catches him coming out of the bank with his money as he is about to hit the road into oblivion.  Oh well.

Kathryn is so disappointed in Reynolds and she lets him know. They even shout-out to the poor, dead sheriff from the first episode. Agent Burns wants Reynolds to be their inside man. Go back to Vince, get back in his good graces and rat him out.

In Hollywood, Miss Sanchez tells Dixon he can do better and, like everyone else in this show, he doesn’t listen to reason. Miss Sanchez goes to see her studio audition.  The manager offers her a drink. This can’t end well.  It’s the old casting couch. Miss Sanchez tries to leave, he calls her a derogatory name and starts to smack her around. She hits him with a crystal ashtray.

Lena and Mia have another reunion and more anvils fall from the sky about how Savino and his boys will screw Mia over when the Feds close in.

Vince and crew find the DA tied up in a motel room. Will Vince buy his story? This is Vegas, of course he will! Reynolds tells them Bade, the paroled bad guy is responsible.  The skim is safe in the trunk of his car, in his drive way. He had to wire Bade all the money from his personal account in Ely. Why does the DA have a bank account in Ely and not Vegas? Who knows.

Dixon discovers that Barry, the manager, hit Miss Sanchez. He wants to kill him. Violet and Miss S talk him out of it.

Back in Vegas, the plan with Reynolds and the law goes forward. There is a shout-out to the local cemetery, Woodlawn. Ralph, of course, does not like the idea of Woodlawn, too isolated. Agent Burns is all for the drop. Did he just oversell his eagerness?

At the Savoy, Mia begins copying (by hand, this is the early 1960s), the ledger by hand. She goes downstairs and talks to Lena and puts her drinks on a tab. The ice is melting.

Watch those anvils, Mia. They can hurt.

At Woodlawn cemetery, the mausoleum is fit for a city the size of Los Angeles in 1960, not a city the size of Las Vegas. Vince brings Bade with him and tells Reynolds to kill him. Vince isn’t buying anyone’s story. Bade says he’s innocent, Reynolds says he’s not. Vince says kill him to prove he is telling the truth. At the last minute, Reynolds flinches and points the gun at Savino. It’s empty and Vince knows that Reynolds lied. That’s probably the last we saw of Reynolds.

In Hollywood, to the strains of Frankie, Dixon is beating the crap out of Barry.

In Vegas, they discover that the avocado has been killed.

RIP DA Reynolds.

This could have been a really good episode if there hadn’t been the side story in Hollywood. Oh well. It’s Vegas, baby.

Hit the comments and tell us what you think!