Decision to screen gas blast film deplored

Press, 27 February 1980, Page 2

Decision to screen gas blast film deplored

PA ■ • Auckland The • decison of -the Onehunga ■ Residents’ Action Committee' to show'-a film on gas explosions to'families has been labelled as irresponsible by the consortium that wants to build a liquefied petroleum' gas depot in the borough. , ■ Mr E. Penny, the liquid gas project engineer, said that the committee was using “scaremongering tactics” to make Onehunga residents believe -the risks from the L.P.G. depot would be greater than the evidence showed. He also said that recent comments by the director of fire safety for the Fire Service (Mr K. Burton-Wood) also said that the film was not suitable for public screenings. In a booklet on L.P.G., Mr Burton-Wood says. that the film is training material which deliberately sets out to emphasise the danger.

As such, it could create “completely the wrong impression,” for people. The film was obtained from the United States Fire Protection ■’ Association by the action group, which intends to show it to the public on March 6. The film, called B.L.E.V.E. (boiling liquid expanding vapour explosion) illustrates how L.P.G. accidents occur through incorrect handling and shows a fireball explosion. y ■

‘‘The scenes; '■ in “8.L.E.V.E.” have been, deliberately selected to illustrate to firemen the very worst situations that have occurred over a long period,” Mr Pennv said.

“Such scenes cannot help but alarm Onehunga residents.

|. “Many of the incidents .shown in the film have no relevance to New Zealand at all,” he said. He also criticised the ac-

tion group for what he said were inaccurate statements regarding the film and the planned depot. He said the makers of the film denied that a cameraman ’was : killed while making “8.L.E.V.E.” as had been alleged, and that a fireball would not shoot across the ground. for hundreds of metres. Being hot, it would rise into the air. 1 The Onehunga depot would not be the biggest in the southern hemisphere — there were six of similar size or bigger, Mr Penny said. His main concern was that many Onehunga residents might believe they would live alongside a bomb that could-blow up at any moment.

“This is nonsense,” he said.

It would be built to regulations which are among the most stringent in the world.