The deadly secret behind the Lac-Mégantic inferno

"It wasn’t until four days after the July 6 derailment that the fires finally subsided. But even before the inferno was extinguished and the burned-out town counted its 47 dead, rescue workers and rail, petroleum and government officials were asking the same troubling question: Why was the oil so explosive? "

"Mr. Pritchard said that in his experience as a railroad inspector, oil companies and shippers do not always examine oil for corrosiveness and explosiveness.
“They didn’t test the oil,” he said.
Authorities did test the oil after the Lac-Mégantic disaster because, as regulators said, they could not explain the speed and ferocity of the fire."

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