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A 1967 Fiery Disaster in The Plains
A 1967 Fiery Disaster in The Plains
By John T. Toler
A massive fire broke out in The Plains on the afternoon of Feb. 21, 1967, when a tank truck loaded with fuel oil collided with a 19-car freight train at the Main Street railroad crossing.
“We never realized that such a catastrophe could occur in a small, rural town like The Plains,” Fire Chief George Beavers said at the time. “Circumstances arise, and we have to make the best out of them.”
It was about 2:50 p.m., and truck driver James Hillard, 24, of Shepherdstown, W.Va., was headed westbound through The Plains. The crossing bell and signal light at the rail crossing were operating, but apparently Shepherd’s brakes failed, and he crashed into a locomotive passing through.
The force of the impact knocked the locomotive off the tracks, and within seconds, the truck exploded in a fireball. Hillard died in the wreckage, but trainmen on the locomotive managed to flee the flames by jumping out the other side.
“The crash split a 500-gallon fuel tank on the locomotive, spilling fuel that mixed with gasoline from the truck’s tanks, “ according to The Fauquier Democrat. “The cab of the truck was carried a short distance by the train and smashed the crossing signal light.”
Just missed by the truck was a propane gas railroad car, immediately behind the locomotive.”If that car had been full, we would have had to evacuate the whole town,” Assistant Chief Barney Brittle told the newspaper.
Chief Beavers recalled that one of the train crew was a member of the Penn-Daw (Fairfax County) Fire Company and had the presence of mind to run to the nearby buildings and warn the occupants to evacuate.
“A bitter west wind fanned the flames, which almost immediately set fire to the Piedmont Feed and Lumber Company buildings,” according to The Democrat.
Inside the feed store office were employees Roger Williams, Mary Jane Cooper and Bob Gibson. “It hit. We started running, and ran into all this fuel,” Williams told the newspaper. “It was spraying down us like a mist. There was an explosion, and then the fire. We were out the front door in five seconds.”
Threatened by the fire was the nearby three-story, six-unit Patterson Apartments (originally the Orange County Hunt Club House), but all of the occupants managed to escape with some of their possessions before the structure was consumed by fire.
Brittle was working at the nearby Farmers Exchange, and immediately ran to the firehouse, blew the siren and called Fauquier Fire Control, asking for all available firefighting equipment to be sent to The Plains.
Within three minutes, Brittle was on the scene with the first of The Plains pumper trucks, which was positioned to protect the Cochran Lodge. Beavers, who had been working at Kinloch, arrived minutes later with another truck, and a direct line was set up from the 18,000-gallon reservoir at the firehouse to the fire. An 8,000-gallon tank used by nearby businesses was also tapped, but soon both were depleted.
The emergency response eventually included every fire company in Fauquier County, as well as units from Prince William, Loudoun, Warren and Rappahannock counties, Vint Hill Farms Station, the Warrenton Training Center and Town of Strasburg. Two foam trucks from Dulles International Airport also arrived on the scene, escorted down narrow Route 55 by State Police units.
Beavers credited the foam trucks with extinguishing the fuel-fed inferno around the burning tanker, and water sprayed from an 80-foot aerial ladder truck from Vienna fought the blaze on the south end of the Patterson Apartments.
For awhile, it appeared that Grace Episcopal Church might be lost.
“I thought the church was gone,” Rector Rev. James McLaughlin said back then. “There were flames reaching over the top of the church, and I started moving things out. Neighborhood kids helped tremendously. They took everything out that would move, ran messages, and did what they were told.”
It became apparent to Beavers that their efforts should be directed at saving the structures that had not yet caught fire, since those that were burning could not be saved. Additional water was pumped in from Rock Valley Creek, almost a mile away, and tank trucks ran in shifts to several nearby farm ponds.
A miracle of sorts may have prevented serious harm to a group of children from The Plains Elementary School, located on Rt. 55 about 200 yards west of the tracks.
“Every day at 2:45 p.m., three patrol boys march 22 first graders across the railroad tracks,” Principal Mrs. T. B. Cochran said at the time. “For some reason, the patrols dilly-dallied until they were 10 minutes late. As soon as they got out the door with the children, the explosion came and we rushed the kids back inside.”
Henry Rust was one of a group of children returning to The Plains from the Hill School that afternoon.
“We were headed home in that VW bus driven by Bob Dornin, with Nan, Mary and little Bob Dornin, Steve Marzani, Catherine Adams and Celeste Adams. As we were departing Middleburg, a huge column of smoke rose in front of us. You could tell something terrible had just happened, but we had no idea what it was.
“As we got closer to The Plains, the sky was black. To make matters worse, the train involved was stretched across both rail crossings, so there was no way to even enter the town from the north. Bob back-tracked through Whitewood, heading toward The Plains from the Marshall side to drop off Celeste and Catherine. This was our first look at the fire.”
Coming from Warrenton, Beaver’s high-schoolage son Linwood saw the smoke as his bus reached Old Tavern. “The driver, who worked at Big K (WKCW) had a radio in his toolbox,” Linwood recalled. “He turned on the radio, and we heard that a tank truck had hit the train.”
“By 5:40 p.m., the inferno had been brought under control,” according to the Democrat. “Two firemen were treated at Fauquier Hospital and released. Lewis Allen suffered a hurt hand, and Saint V. Beach had minor burns on his face and hand, and smoke inhalation.”
Broad Run resident Bill Hazel came in with a bulldozer and pushed the train south along the tracks, allowing firemen access to the tank truck. When the firefighters were running low on fuel, he brought gasoline for them, using a makeshift gas tank mounted on his pickup truck.
Members of The Plains VFC Ladies Auxiliary provided a steady supply of food and drink for the firefighters. “Many people brought food and offered to help serve,” said Rosie Darnell, president of the auxiliary. “Outsiders, complete strangers came here and worked. We had so much food.”
Word of the catastrophe was spread on local AM radio stations WEER (Warrenton) and WFTR (Front Royal), and by 7 p.m., vehicles loaded with more food, clothing and bedding began to show up at The Plains Firehouse, quickly filling up two rooms.
Burning debris and hotspots continued through the night, and into the next day, and telephone and electric company crews worked through the night to restore service lost due to ruined equipment.
The buildings, merchandise, all of the lumber and feed in stock, the yard equipment and two trucks at Piedmont Feed and Lumber were destroyed, at an estimated loss of $300,000. Additional property loss was first set at $200,000, but it was later determined that total damage to the town exceeded $885,000, with several large buildings burned to the ground and six families left homeless.
Grace Church was saved, though there was still much smoke in the church, and several windows on the rear of the building facing the tracks were buckled by the heat.
Beavers praised all of the firefighters who came to The Plains. “Everybody cooperated, and were willing to help any way they could,” he said. “When you take a loss as great as this was, someone is usually severely burned, or even killed.”
Turner Foster of The Plains filmed the fire during the daylight hours, and Chief Beavers was later interviewed about the fire. Working with a company in Sterling, Linwood Beavers later combined the film and his father’s interview, which he had copied onto compact discs. It can also be found online.
“We appreciate Mr. Foster’s quick response to take pictures of the fire,” said Chief Beavers on the CD. “It gave us something to look back on… we’ll never forget it, but it’s good that in the future, we can see what really happened in a short time.”
