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|| SportsShooter.com: Member Message Board
Photographer and husband injured in explosion
Chuck Liddy, Photographer
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Durham | NC | USA | Posted: 12:47 PM on 01.04.11 |
->> Please keep Fayetteville (NC) Cindy Burnham in your thoughts. She and her husband, a former videographer for WRAL were injured Monday when Allen inadvertently knocked over a scuba tank in their garage and it exploded. Along with their journalism careers the two are renowned underwater photographers with Allen recently finishing a documentary on the recovery of Blackbeard's ship off the N.C. coast. The explosion blew the doors off the garage and Allen is in critical condition at the N.C. Burn Hospital in Chapel Hill.
www.fayobserver.com/articles/2011/01/04/1060453?sac=Home |
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Chuck Liddy, Photographer
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Durham | NC | USA | Posted: 3:43 PM on 01.04.11 |
| ->> Sorry that should have read Fayetteville (NC) Observer... |
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Logan Mock-Bunting, Photographer
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Washington | DC | USA | Posted: 6:18 PM on 01.04.11 |
| ->> That's horrible news Chuck. I hadn't heard, so thanks for putting the word out there. If you talk to anyone at the FayPub, please tell them we are thinking of them. |
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Mark J. Terrill, Photographer
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Simi Valley | CA | USA | Posted: 6:32 PM on 01.04.11 |
->> It's hard to believe that something like this could happen. SCUBA tanks don't just explode. They're made so that the valve will blow off before the tank blows up. The tank would have to be compromised in some way before it would fail like that.
After reading the story it sounds like it may not have been a SCUBA tank but an oxygen tank although that shouldn't explode from a fall either. The story says two different things. I wouldn't think that a SCUBA tank would cause a flash fire since it's just compressed air, but an oxygen tank sure would. I have a feeling that the story is mistaken about the SCUBA tank.
Hopefully he'll pull through okay. |
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Mark J. Terrill, Photographer
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Simi Valley | CA | USA | Posted: 6:45 PM on 01.04.11 |
| ->> I also thought of some of the other tanks that commercial divers use like Heliox (a mixture of Oxygen and Helium) and Nitrox (a mixture of Nitrogen and Oxygen), but the amount of Oxygen in both of those is the same as normal air and neither Helium or Nitrogen are flammable, so I can't imagine what happened here. |
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Angus Mordant, Student/Intern
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Sydney | NSW Australia | Australia | Posted: 7:13 PM on 01.04.11 |
->> Very sad story and i wish Rick and Cindy all the best.
Although it is strange as Mark points out as the mixtures generally contained in a SCUBA tank (22% Oxygen, 78% Nitrogen) is the same as normal air we breathe every day.
Other common combinations include Nitrox I (32% Oxygen, 68% Nitrogen), Nitrox II (36% Oxygen, 64% Nitrogen) and for commercial diving (Below 200ft) there is Heliox (21% Oxygen, 79% Helium) and Trimix (10% Oxygen, 70% Helium, 20% Nitrogen)
I would be interested to hear what the outcome of any investigation is as i have not heard of a flammable explosion out of a SCUBA tank. |
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Richard Uhlhorn, Photographer
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Chelan Falls | WA | USA | Posted: 7:38 PM on 01.04.11 |
->> I wish Rick and Cindy a quick recovery.
I would also be interested to hear the outcome of any investigation. The story said he knocked over an oxygen bottle. A SCUBA bottle would probably not explode, but if the valve was knocked off a full bottle, it would certainly become a missle; sort of like a balloon full of air.
At any rate I wish them well and for a quick recovery. |
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Jimmy Hickey, Photographer, Assistant
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Portland | OR | USA | Posted: 8:42 PM on 01.04.11 |
->> Sorry to hear this, I hope they make a full recovery. Their recent documentary sounds very interesting as well...with the recent outbreak of piracy in the public media, is it too unsafe to assume that this wasn't a...pirate attack?
In all honesty I deal with both the full sized ones for filling tanks and the normal compressed air tanks, and have never heard of anything like this...ever. The pressure from an exploding tank (in the smaller paintball compressed air tanks) is usually only forced out through the regulator/burst disk. All I am saying is, a scuba tank just being knocked over blowing the doors off is somewhat fishy...No disrespect intended. |
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Chuck Liddy, Photographer
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Durham | NC | USA | Posted: 11:35 PM on 01.04.11 |
| ->> Jimmy, I don't know wtf you were thinking when you sat down at your keyboard....but that comment about a "pirate attack" is about as tasteless a comment I've ever read on this site. |
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Matthew Bush, Photographer
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Mark Loundy, Photo Editor
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San Jose | CA | USA | Posted: 12:48 AM on 01.05.11 |
->> Neither nitrogen, helium nor oxygen are flammable. Oxygen in high concentrations will make flammable materials more likely to combust, however.
--Mark |
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Matthew Sauk, Photographer
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Sandy | UT | United States | Posted: 1:44 AM on 01.05.11 |
| ->> Was he smoking? That certainly could cause an explosion. |
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Juliann Tallino, Photographer
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Seattle | WA | USA | Posted: 2:26 AM on 01.05.11 |
->> one article said the tank was fiberglass, could it possibly have been a propane tank? Oxygen and scuba tanks are generally aluminum or steel, fiberglass is becoming more popular for propane tanks especially for boats.
I've knocked over my share of scuba tanks, even had one drop out of the back of a moving vehicle (hatch didn't close and it rolled out when I accelerated up a hill, bounced a few times too)and never even had a burst disc blow.
Either way it was a freak accident, and I hope he'll be okay. |
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Mark J. Terrill, Photographer
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Simi Valley | CA | USA | Posted: 6:19 AM on 01.05.11 |
->> Juliann,
I understand that some tanks these days are made of an aluminum composite shell wrapped with fiberglass, which is news to me. I wouldn't be surprised if these tanks have less integrity than their all aluminum and all steel counterparts. I agree though, it had to be a freak accident. |
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Chuck Liddy, Photographer
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Durham | NC | USA | Posted: 10:27 AM on 01.05.11 |
| ->> Television news had a clip last night and the tank was indeed some sort of small, looked to be about 18 inches tall fiberglass tank. the tank was in bad shape burned up pretty bad and in several pieces, but they did recover it. rick received burns over 20% of his body and also had to have part of his left arm amputated. after seeing the inside of the garage I'm still amazed he came out of it alive. |
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George Bridges, Photographer, Photo Editor
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Washington | DC | USA | Posted: 11:26 AM on 01.05.11 |
->> Everyone is making the assumption that the tank itself exploded. It may be a compilation of freak occurrences such as the SCUBA tank was knocked over and the regulator knocked off so that it became a small rocket and it then knocked into something flammable such as a natural gas clothes dryer or propane tank etc.
I know a while back Mythbusters did some experiments on tanks. They found that shooting a SCUBA tank, as in Jaws, would not cause it to explode, but much larger compressed gas tanks with the regulator sheared off perfectly would rocket across the floor and through a cinder block wall.
And the early reports are assuming it was a SCUBA tank because they were divers, an easy leap. But it could be some other type of gas that actually exploded. |
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Billy Crowe, Photographer
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Easley | SC | United States | Posted: 11:46 AM on 01.05.11 |
| ->> This just makes you realize that everyday is a special day and that you should make the most of it beacause you do not know what your future holds. Thoughts and prayers go out to Rick and Cindy. |
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Chuck Liddy, Photographer
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Durham | NC | USA | Posted: 6:50 PM on 01.06.11 |
| ->> Update from a news report Cindy was on today. The explosion was caused by a tank of compressed oxygen which was used to purge lines and regulators after dives (I don't know enough about this but there ya go) Rick was in shock after the explosion and the neighbor found him using his garden hose to put out the fire in the garage even though his left hand had been blown off. He is currently on a ventilator due to smoke inhalation from the accident but is in very good spirits. |
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Chuck Liddy, Photographer
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Durham | NC | USA | Posted: 11:47 PM on 01.06.11 |
| ->> crap megan.....you beat me to it....this is a new website started for folks who want to keep up with rick and cindy and send them messages.... |
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