What would you do?

It's Halloween and time for our unusual disaster issue. Everything here could happen... even if there's only a small chance (we hope). The question is what would you do to prepare for and deal with these disasters - and get your business up and running quickly. Several of these incidents had consequences no one could have imagined; maybe they should have been more imaginative.

London has been beset by Great Plagues and Great Fires, but did you know about the Great Beer Flood that killed eight? (Item #1)   How can a sailor in a rough dockside bar tell a story about how his ship was almost destroyed, not by a hurricane or pirates but by an enraged dessert? (Item #2) Fire and an explosion kill more than 500, destroying the business district in Texas City, Texas. (Item #3)  

70 city blocks were destroyed by this out-of-control fire and some 2,500 businesses were displaced. (Item #4)   Some Minneapolis residents thought the world had ended when an explosion destroyed the Washburn A Mill. (Item #5)   A shipment of liquid nitroglycerin led to one of the greatest industrial accidents of early California. (Item #6)  

As always, we look forward to hearing your comments & insights regarding business continuity. If you have a topic you'd like us to cover, email me at [email protected].

Bob Mellinger, President
Attainium Corp

1. The London Beer Flood of 1814

Late in the afternoon an 800lb iron restraining hoop fell off one of the vats, which was full to the brim with 3,550 barrels (more than a million pints) of finest 10-month-old Meux's Porter. A clerk made a note of the occurrence but thought no more of it until about an hour later when the wooden staves of the vat burst asunder. The resulting flood of beer, weighing close to 600 tons, plus wood and metal from the vat knocked out the wall of the brewery and gushed into the street, destroying more vessels which were holding about another 1200 barrels of beer. Eight people were killed.
http://badassdigest.com/2011/06/09/the-london-beer-flood-of-1814/

2. Wishing they'd saved room for dessert

Tapioca might sound like an innocent treat that's the favorite of toothless infants and toothless elderly the world over, but the right conditions can turn it into a bulky ship destroyer. The crew of the Swiss freighter Cassarate were hauling 1,500 tons of the stuff when a fire started in some timber in the upper holds. The water from the firefighter's hoses seeped into the cargo hold, and the fire started cooking 1,500 tons of tapioca from Thailand. Fortunately, crews were able to stamp out the fire and cool down the pudding before it could do any real damage to the ship's supports, the town's docks or the crew's blood sugar levels.
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/sectionfront/life/wishing-theyd-saved-room-for-dessert-376345/

3. The Texas City Disaster

On April 15, 1947, the French freighter Grandcamp docked at Texas City, Texas, and took on some 1,400 tons of ammonium nitrate fertilizer. That night a fire broke out in the hold of the ship. By dawn, thick black smoke had port authorities worried because the Monsanto chemical plant was only 700 ft away. As men stood on the dock watching, a ball of fire enveloped the ship. For many it was the last thing they ever saw. A great wall of flame radiated outward from the wreckage, and within minutes the Monsanto plant exploded, killing and maiming hundreds of workers and any spectators who had survived the initial blast. Most of the business district was devastated, and fires raged along the waterfront, where huge tanks of butane gas stood imperiled. Shortly after midnight, a second freighter - also carrying nitrates - exploded, and the whole sequence began again. More than 500 people died, and another 1,000 were badly injured.
http://www.local1259iaff.org/disaster.html

4. The Great Baltimore Fire

In Baltimore, Maryland, a small fire in the business district is wind-whipped into an uncontrollable conflagration that engulfs a large portion of the city by evening. The fire is believed to have been started by a discarded cigarette in the basement of the Hurst Building. When the blaze finally burned down after 31 hours, an 80-block area of the downtown area, stretching from the waterfront to Mount Vernon on Charles Street, had been destroyed. More than 1,500 buildings were completely leveled, and some 1,000 severely damaged.
http://welcometobaltimorehon.com/the-1904-fire-and-the-baltimore-standard

5. The Great Mill Disaster

The Washburn "A" Mill along sat along the east bank of the Mississippi River in Minneapolis, and at the time was the largest flour-making facility in the United States. On May 2, 1878, at 7:10 p.m., a spark ignited flour dust in the mill. The explosion that followed blew the mill's concrete roof several hundred feet in the air and leveled the seven and a-half story limestone building. The nearby Humboldt and Diamond Mills also were flattened by the explosion, and one third of the city's business district was destroyed by the fire.
http://www.friendsofthecemetery.org/history/alley_articles/MillExplosion_March2005.shtml

6. Great Nitroglycerin Explosion of 1866

"Terrible Explosion and Loss of Life in San Francisco" roared the headline in the Placer Herald describing what happened 145 years ago after stored nitroglycerin boxes at the Wells Fargo and Co. office exploded on California Street, causing widespread destruction. Nearby offices and businesses were also damaged or destroyed. What would you do to prepare for such a disaster?
http://sfist.com/2010/04/16/happy_anniversary_great_explosion_o.php