| Summary: | Both men were employees of the Vulcan Roofing and Heating Company and had been on site making repairs when the blast occurred. Price was quoted in an article about the incident that was published in the Birmingham News on April 11, 1941: "One man who was in the plant at the time of the terrific blast, J. B. Price, Vulcan Roofing & Heating Company worker repairing a heating plant at the time, described the explosion: 'Without any sort of warning, we heard the most terrific noise I've ever heard. Accompanying it was a huge ball of fire which seemed to engulf the entire place. I was working on a large scaffolding covering the pipe at the time. Just as the explosion came, I saw large steel beams and window framings shoot past my head, hardly two feet away. I'm the luckiest man alive, I suppose. Though glass and steel and wood were flying all about me, I wasn't hurt except for a minor cut on my hand. Several of the fellows were burned pretty bad. Right after I got up after being knocked down from the scaffolding where I was working on the pipe, I saw the place was filled with steam. Four of the men in the room at the time were burned pretty bad. The skin was completely burned from two of them. I think they'll die. Don't know about the others. It was pretty bad - you could even smell the burned flesh. More, including myself, were burned, too. I started getting out about that time.' His face was grimy from the oil that had shot from the scene of the explosion."
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