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survive—59-year-old Hubert
Saunders and 17-year-old Gary Lay, in his first day on the job—reached the command center via the Level 2 passageway; the other workers tried to use the vertical ladders in the silo to reach the surface. Saunders suffered smoke inhalation while Lay suffered second- and third-degree burns.
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Investigators later determined that a welder had been attaching a stiffener plate at an awkward angle when his welding rod made contact with a high-pressure hydraulic hose, melting the hose and igniting the fluid inside. Lack of adequate lighting, ventilation, and escape exits also contributed to the
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Firefighting efforts continued throughout the afternoon of August 9. Attempts to open the main silo door for ventilation were unsuccessful, and rescuers were at first unable to penetrate the silo deeper than Level 2. There was a danger of explosion from the missile, which despite being disarmed was
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Members of the Air Force
Aerospace Safety Missile Accident Investigation Team arrived on August 10 and began a search of the site. Evidence of extreme heat was discovered in Level 3 along with large quantities of hydraulic fluid. The missile itself was found to be undamaged and was removed while
81:, located 11 miles (18 km) north of Searcy. The nine-story underground silo was completed on July 31, 1962 and brought online on May 16, 1963. In addition to the silo itself, the launch site included an underground command center connected to the silo by a passageway on underground level 2.
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The remaining 53 workers in the silo—ranging in age from 21 to 69—perished. Two workers were descending into the silo when the fire began and were able to return to the surface. Four Air Force personnel in the control center, as well as various workers on the surface, were unharmed.
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Soon after workers returned from lunch on August 9, a fire broke out on Level 2 of the silo, rapidly filling the silo with smoke and hampering visibility. Electrical power was also lost. Workers jammed the emergency exit ladders and were quickly asphyxiated. The only two workers to
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In August 1965, non-military contractors were strengthening the silo against potential nuclear attack as part of a broader initiative called
Project Yard Fence. As a part of this project the missile's warhead had been disarmed and removed. The 55 men onsite were employed by
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on August 9, 1965. The fire broke out while the missile silo was being renovated and improved; the missile was installed and fueled at the time, although the nuclear warhead had been removed. Only two of the 55 workers who were inside the silo at the time survived.
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108:, since the missile's nuclear warhead was not installed at the time. By coincidence, that Titan II missile, serial number 62-0006, was the same missile involved in the
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loss of life. The two survivors—Saunders and Lay—disagreed with the official conclusions and claimed that no welding was underway at the time of the fire.
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Despite the heavy loss of life, damage from the fire itself was minor. The missile silo was refurbished and continued to operate until
February 1987.
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The fire represented the greatest loss of life ever suffered at a US nuclear facility. However the disaster is not considered a
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still fueled. Firefighters worked through the night to extinguish the fire, lower the silo temperature, and recover bodies.
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The
Largest Loss of Life in a U.S. Nuclear Weapons Facility -- The 1965 Titan II Missile Silo Fire
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143:. A smaller marker and historical plaque stand at the corner of Dewey and Snowden Road near
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NFPA. “The Major Fires of 1965.” Fire
Journal, Vol. 60, No. 3, May 1966, p. 52.
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A granite monument to the victims of the fire was dedicated in 1986 at
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Eric
Schlosser, "Command and Control." London: Penguin Books, 2014.
239:"Survivor recalls 1965 Titan II missile silo fire that killed 53"
359:"Searcy, AR Titan Missle [sic] Silo Explosion, Aug 1965"
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314:"Titan II Accident Searcy AR, August 9 1965"
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343:"Silo fire survivor tells his story".
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110:1980 Damascus Titan missile explosion
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281:from the original on August 10, 2021
237:Roberts, Jeannie (August 16, 2015).
139:. Today the monument stands at the
89:and Newbery Electric Corporation.
53:was an uncontrolled fire inside a
37:intercontinental ballistic missile
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73:Missile silo 373-4 was one of 18
458:1965 fires in the United States
369:from the original on 2021-08-10
324:from the original on 2011-07-17
277:. Mapstronaut. July 25, 2021.
23:1965 Searcy missile silo fire
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51:1965 Searcy missile silo fire
252:– via dailyrecord.com.
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406:The New York Times article
133:Little Rock Air Force Base
243:Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
121:investigation continued.
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75:Titan II nuclear missile
429:35.370310°N 91.794088°W
318:themilitarystandard.com
434:35.370310; -91.794088
171:35.37222°N 91.80472°W
106:Broken Arrow incident
345:Searcy Daily Citizen
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176:35.37222; -91.80472
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145:Arkansas Highway 16
453:Fires in Arkansas
182:Monument location
87:Peter Kiewit Sons
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69:Description
447:Categories
420:91°47′39″W
417:35°22′13″N
373:August 11,
328:August 11,
285:August 10,
248:August 11,
207:References
180: (
161:91°48′17″W
158:35°22′20″N
116:Aftermath
367:Archived
322:Archived
279:Archived
195:See also
149:Pangburn
147:between
79:Arkansas
55:Titan II
291:YouTube
16:Weapon
60:near
39:in a
375:2021
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287:2021
250:2021
49:The
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