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Eyewitnesses Describe Explosion of Titan Rocket : ‘It Looked Like a Nuclear Bomb’

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Times Staff Writers

Ed Dibs was at Lompoc Airport, about six miles from where the Titan rocket exploded, and the way he described it, the scene was awesome.

“It looked like it went straight up, started to teeter and blew up at about 500 feet,” the 68-year-old retired flight instructor said. “It looked like an inverted umbrella spewing brilliant debris. . . . We waited for the sound, but there was no noise. . . . There was a little smell, like a burning lemon peel, kind of an acidy smell.

“The whole thing looked like a nuclear bomb.”

Common Comparison

The nuclear explosion comparison was a common one among witnesses to Friday’s accident at Vandenberg Air Force Base.

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“It looked like an atom bomb, a mushroom like the bomb that was dropped on Japan,” said Ralph Waterhouse, who was driving on California 154, about 25 miles away.

Rick Kalles and Barbie Setlock of Lompoc were driving to Surf Beach, two miles northeast of the launch pad, when they saw the spectacular midair blast.

“There was no sound, just a low roar,” Kalles said. “I could see pieces of metal flying through the air. . . . It was like fireworks; it got bigger and bigger.” He said it formed a mushroom cloud that looked orange and dark red from some angles.

“As we kept driving out toward Surf, we were surrounded by (Air Force) officers and military police with M-16s (automatic weapons), and they turned us back.”

The highly toxic cloud boiled straight upward about 10,000 feet and drifted seaward, then spread out on a four-to-five-mile front and wafted in a southeasterly direction around Point Concepcion and toward the Channel Islands.

Few Signs of Panic

Despite the toxicity and ominous appearance of the cloud, there were few signs of panic in the surrounding area. Although a number of people reported stinging eyes and a peculiar smell in the air, there apparently were no serious injuries among civilians living near the base.

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Principal Kenneth McCalip of Casmalia School near Vandenberg said one parent “drove like crazy” to pick up her child after seeing the cloud from her home.

Some school administrators sent children home, but others kept them in their classrooms. Children were kept in classrooms in the three schools on the base itself.

Kevin McGee and Larry White of Huntington Beach were at Jalama Beach when the cloud appeared to roll over the top of a mountain and across the sand.

“It was a nice clear day,” McGee said, “then it was thick with smoke.” They saw yellow, orange and white clouds. “It looked kind of like Challenger (explosion),” McGee said.

“You could taste it; you could smell it,” White said. “It burned the eyes. It was hard to breathe.” A number of others were ordered to leave Jalama, which is about 10 miles southwest of the launch site.

The National Park Service ordered a precautionary evacuation of San Miguel Island, where five rangers and a scientist were working. They were taken from the island by aircraft.

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Three tour boats, with 86 people aboard, were also ordered to return to harbor in Ventura shortly after they arrived at Anacapa Island for an outing.

Southeasterly Winds

The National Weather Service reported that at the time of the missile explosion, winds were blowing in a southeasterly direction at 12 m.p.h. Four hours after the accident, the winds had picked up to 15 m.p.h., but the direction remained constant.

Wes Herman, an engineer-inspector with the Santa Barbara County Fire Department, said the toxic cloud was carried upward, allowing it to dissipate before it fell back to earth.

Asked if anyone had been injured, Herman said, “Thank, God, no.”

By mid-afternoon, county officials reported that they had disbanded their emergency operations center.

Staff writer Mark Henry in Ventura assisted in this report.

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