East Ohio Gas Explosion and Fire of 1944 - X-UMED | Dark History, Paranormal & Ohio Folklore

LAST UPDATED: SEPTEMBER 21, 2026

Cleveland

Ohio

East Ohio Gas Explosion and Fire of 1944

On October 20, 1944, liquefied natural gas escaped from an East Ohio Gas Company storage tank in Cleveland, vaporized, mixed with air and ignited. The first blast was followed about twenty minutes later by another tank explosion. Burning gas moved through streets, gutters and sewers, producing additional underground explosions as a residential neighborhood became a fire zone. The disaster killed roughly 130 people, destroyed dozens of homes and helped force changes in the way liquefied natural gas was stored. Contemporary police records capture a city scene that responders compared to a battlefield.

OVERVIEW

East Ohio Natural Gas Explosion historical marker, Cleveland.Tim Evanson / Wikimedia Commons

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QUICK FACTS

REGION

East Ohio Gas Explosion and Fire of 1944

ERA

1930–1949

ENVIRONMENT

Multiple Locations

STORY / LEGEND

ORIGIN / STORY DEVELOPMENT

The East Ohio Gas disaster is sometimes remembered as one enormous explosion. In reality, it unfolded as a chain reaction: a tank leaked, a vapor cloud formed and ignited, another storage tank exploded, fire spread across the neighborhood and gas entered underground spaces where additional explosions tore through streets and utilities.

The event occurred during World War II, when the East Ohio Gas Company had expanded storage capacity to support Cleveland’s heavy industrial demand. Tank No. 4 had been built in 1942 and held liquefied natural gas at extremely low temperature. The disaster quickly became a case study in the hazards of early large-scale LNG storage.

Later technical explanations have focused on the failure of the storage system and the behavior of the extremely cold liquid and vapor. Contemporary investigators considered theories involving brittle metal and vibration, but the precise initiating rupture was not conclusively established in the immediate police investigation.

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

At about 2:30 p.m. on Friday, October 20, 1944, white vapor was observed escaping from an East Ohio Gas Company liquefied-natural-gas storage tank near the foot of East 61st Street. The tank contained LNG equivalent to roughly 90 million cubic feet of natural gas at normal temperature and pressure.

The vaporized gas mixed with air and ignited at about 2:40 p.m. The blast and fire swept into the surrounding neighborhood. Roughly twenty minutes later, a second storage tank exploded. Flames and intense heat engulfed an area of Cleveland’s east side around St. Clair Avenue and East 55th to East 67th streets.

The disaster did not remain above ground. Gas traveled along gutters and entered catch basins and sewers. Underground explosions blew manhole covers into the air, damaged utilities and ripped open pavement. A Cleveland Fire Department pumper at St. Clair and East 62nd was disabled when an explosion destroyed the pavement beneath it; another blast created a large crater and dropped the apparatus into the hole.

Police and fire crews faced continuing explosions while other storage tanks remained potential hazards. Residents fled the neighborhood, and the Red Cross cared for hundreds of displaced people at Willson Junior High School. Case Western Reserve University’s Encyclopedia of Cleveland History records 79 homes, two factories, 217 automobiles, seven trailers and a tractor destroyed.

The death toll varies somewhat by source and counting method. The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History gives 130 deaths, while some police-history material preserves different contemporary or later totals. For the Archive, approximately 130 is the safest concise description unless a specific source’s counting method is being discussed.

The disaster became a turning point in LNG engineering. Investigation of the tank failure and fire contributed to safer low-temperature storage methods and helped establish design practices intended to prevent catastrophic brittle failure.

REPORTED EXPERIENCES

ALTERNATE VERSIONS

Preserve material alternate versions when they change the alleged victim, date, cause, location, creature description, ritual or historical explanation. Minor wording differences should not be treated as separate versions.

MORBID FACTS

The gas did not behave like an ordinary house fire. LNG escaping from the tank vaporized into a low, spreading cloud. Once ignited, the fire could move through the neighborhood along routes people could not see—including gutters, catch basins and sewers.

That meant the ground itself became dangerous. Police records describe underground explosions blowing out manhole covers and tearing open streets. At St. Clair Avenue and East 62nd Street, one explosion disabled a fire pumper. A later blast opened a crater roughly twenty-five feet deep, thirty feet wide and sixty feet long, dropping the apparatus rear-first into the hole while rupturing water, electrical and sewer infrastructure.

Responders were working inside an active disaster while additional LNG tanks were still standing nearby. Contemporary police language described those remaining tanks as potential 'block busters.' Firefighters had to fight the existing inferno while knowing another storage vessel might explode.

The human remains presented another grim problem. The intensity of the fire made identification difficult in some cases, and the exact death total has varied in later accounts. Entire households and sections of neighborhood life disappeared in a matter of minutes, while survivors returned to blocks where homes, cars and familiar landmarks had simply been erased.

WHAT WE CAN VERIFY

CONFIRMED: The East Ohio Gas Company disaster began on October 20, 1944, after liquefied natural gas escaped from a storage tank near East 61st Street in Cleveland.

CONFIRMED: White vapor was observed before the first major ignition at about 2:40 p.m.

CONFIRMED: A second LNG storage tank exploded roughly twenty minutes after the first major blast.

CONFIRMED: Escaping gas entered gutters, catch basins and sewers, producing underground explosions that damaged streets and utilities.

CONFIRMED: An underground explosion at St. Clair Avenue and East 62nd Street damaged a fire pumper, and a later blast opened a large crater beneath the apparatus.

CONFIRMED: The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History records 79 homes, two factories and more than 200 automobiles destroyed.

IMPORTANT: Published death totals vary. Case Western Reserve University’s Encyclopedia of Cleveland History gives 130 deaths; some other historical sources preserve different totals.

CONFIRMED: Hundreds of displaced residents were sheltered and assisted at Willson Junior High School.

CONFIRMED: The disaster led to changes in low-temperature natural-gas storage design and safety practice.

IMPORTANT: Contemporary investigators considered several theories for the initiating tank rupture; the immediate police investigation did not establish a single definitive cause of the rupture.

SOURCES

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