Robert Hitchcock knew something was amiss on a foggy Tuesday morning in North Blenheim, March 13, 1990.
Hitchcock noticed a milky-colored gas mixing with the fog.
It was propane gas, leaking from an eight-inch Texas Eastern Products Transmission Corp. line that ran beneath the Westkill Road near the Schoharie County hamlet.
Hitchcock, being a former fire chief, knew what to do _ warn people of the impending danger. He drove to the intersection of state Route 30 and hollered to people to get away. The gas somehow caught a spark, and the firestorm began. Hitchcock died the next day from the sustained burns, but as a hero in preventing what could have been much worse.
Another man, Richard Smith of Central Bridge, died later from burns. In all, 10 buildings and homes were reduced to cinders in the blast.
Joseph Talarico was one who heeded Hitchcock's advice as he was coming home from work overnight in Albany, and he credited Hitchcock with saving his life.
"It was like one sustained boom. The concussion was unbelievable," said Jeff Popiel, who lived just around the bend of Route 30 from the devastation.
The fireball rolled across embankments and scorched pastures in uneven blotches. At the pipeline, a bright orange plume continued to burn 100 feet into the air hours later.
Fire and Red Cross officials said that fortunately most people were away from their homes or had left for work when the blast occurred, shortly after 7:30 a.m. A school bus filled with children had passed through the area only moments before the explosion.
"Most of the people were in Florida, thank God," said Amelia Osborn of the Greene County Red Cross. An emergency shelter for five families was set up at the Gilboa-Conesville Central School. Also, the Hanah Country Inn and Spa in Margaretville provided rooms and transportation for others.
The pipeline was a spur of a 4,100-mile line that originates in Texas and concludes in Selkirk, near Albany. Texas Eastern vice-president for public affairs, James Hart said, "We're going to do everything we can to make things right with the people of Blenheim," while at the Houston headquarters. Hart said an insurance office had been set up at the Blenheim town hall. After the blast, a temporary town hall had been set up in an unused schoolhouse.
Engineers from Texas Eastern conducted pressurized water tests on the line from Watkins Glen to Selkirk and discovered two cracks in Whitney Point and Laurens. They were repaired. By early May, residents were nervous to hear that the line would be put back in service within days, and gas began flowing May 3.
The Daily Star kept track of the rebuilding process. By September, only two houses were in the process of being rebuilt. Others simply left town. Town officials were debating in December on whether to accept a one-time payment of over $140,000 from Texas Eastern, or a 30-year annuity. That amount was later raised to over $150,000. The town in July had sought $1 million.
On March 13, 1991, about 50 people gathered at the site of the blast. They came to remember the tragic day as well as to celebrate a planned complex that would house the fire and town halls and a post office. It was dedicated to their hero, Robert Hitchcock. Hitchcock was also honored in August 1991 in Syracuse at the state Fireman's Association annual convention as Fireman of the Year.
Then New York Secretary of State Gail Shaffer, a Blenheim native and daughter of town Supervisor Robert Shaffer, recalled that someone described the tragedy as "a dragon that had slept beneath the ground for 20-some years and all of a sudden ... had come to life, with tongues of fire. It's an image, I'm afraid, we'll never forget."
In June 1991, Federal safety investigators said that poor training and supervision of Texas Eastern pipeline workers and bad equipment were probably to blame for the propane blast that destroyed nearly two-thirds of the hamlet.
This weekend: The region fell in love with Mickey Mouse around 1930.
City Historian Mark Simonson's column appears twice weekly. On Saturdays, his column focuses on the area during the Depression and before. His Monday columns address local history after the Depression. If you have feedback or ideas about the column, write to him at The Daily Star, or e-mail him at simmark@stny.rr.com. His website is www.oneontahistorian.com. His columns can be found at www.thedailystar.com/marksimonson.
