On Friday, January 27th, a dangerous car crashed on the 15 Freeway north of the Magnolia Avenue ramps. This crash involved three cars. The explosions from the crash were said to be from a medical van that was carrying multiple oxygen tanks. This caused the fire to spread to surrounding vegetation. Two of the three cars were already on fire when help and firefighters arrived. This ended with two people involved in the crash being hospitalized with injuries. This crash most likely became dangerous from the fire for several reasons. This could have happened because the valves on the oxygen tanks could have opened too fast, causing them to explode. The oxygen could have exploded also from leaking equipment.

Gas could have gotten into the oxygen tanks because they were incompatible with the oxygen. Many more reasons, like the equipment not being designed for oxygen service, could also be a factor. Still, I believe the most reasonable reason the oxygen tank could have exploded is that the vehicle containing the oxygen tanks could have had incorrect equipment operation. There are many ways you can prevent an oxygen tank from exploding. When one needs to be opened, you would have to slowly open it so the friction from the oxygen tank doesn’t cause a potential ignition source. When storing it, you must always keep the oxygen unit upright and never lay it on its side. You never want to store it in an enclosed place like a trunk or closet. This may have been the case during the crash, which could have been why one of the vehicles caught on fire, causing the other cars to also catch on fire. Be cautious not to trip over the tubing as that could create friction. Also, never use an extension cord to plug in your concentrator.

This also goes for plugging different things into the same outlet as your oxygen tank. Another reason this could have caused the car to explode is that the oxygen tanks could have been left in the car for too long. Raising awareness of these topics is essential because they could be life-saving information.  The other reason the car crash was so dangerous was because two other cars crashed into each other. This could be prevented by increasing your distance from a vehicle before you. The collision I mentioned happened, especially when traveling where the speed limit is usually higher, for instance, on a freeway. Also, make sure you are paying attention at all times. Your attention should be high in the dark or on wet or icy roads. Those are very common denominators when it comes to many dangerous car crashes. There haven’t been any updates about the crash from last Friday, but it is assumed that everyone involved only had injuries, and thankfully, no deaths have been announced.