“Blast devastates heart of Roseburg,” The Oregon Statesman newspaper headlined Aug. 8, 1959, with more than half its coverage devoted to a deadly explosion more than 130 miles south of Salem.
The newspaper carried Associated Press articles reporting that a truck carrying 6.5 tons of explosives caught fire in a burning building and exploded, destroying a six-block area and killing at least 11 people .
The number of deaths would rise to 14; more than 120 other people were injured in a town of 12,200, about half the size of Roseburg today. Firefighters and police officers were among the dead, including firefighters who responded after the first report of a fire at the building materials company where the fire broke out.
The tragedy became known as “The Roseburg Blast” or simply “The Blast”.
It was reportedly heard as far away as Eugene and broke windows up to seven miles away.
Salem’s afternoon newspaper, the Capital Journal, reported in one of its headlines how the explosion left a crater 20 feet deep and 50 feet wide.
Later reports estimated that 300 businesses in a 30-block disaster zone suffered damage from the explosion.
Authorities estimated the damage at $10 million to $12 million.
An early morning fire at Gerretsen Building Supply Company on Pine Street was determined to be the cause, spreading to a parked truck loaded with two tons of dynamite and more than four tons of ammonium nitrate.
The truck driver had stopped to spend the night at the nearby Umpqua Hotel. Most nearby residents were asleep at the time of the explosion.
The explosion attracted widespread national attention and led to stricter explosives transportation safety regulations and enforcement by the Interstate Commerce Commission.
Register-Guard photographer Chris Pietsch contributed to this report.
Capi Lynn is a senior reporter at the Statesman Journal. Send her comments, questions and tips to [email protected] and follow her work on Twitter @CapiLynn and Facebook @CapiLynnSJ.
This article was originally published in the Salem Statesman Journal: A look back at “The Blast” that devastated the heart of Roseburg
