Propane Supplies

[ning]

I agree that in principle propane tanks aren't supposed to do anything more than blow their overpressure valve during a fire. I saw many post fire photos last year with the small tanks intact.

Having seen post fire photos, and talked to CalFire folks, it would appear that isn't always the case. My guess is that the over pressure valeves are designed for a certain, probably slow, rate of increase in temperature and wildfires exceed it, at least sometimes. I would bet that things like fire intensity and the amount of combustible material in the area affect what happens.

YMMV...

All the best,

Peter

Definitely; I can imagine if a burning tree falls on or next to a tank, or the homeowner failed to keep growth away from the tanks, then having an immediate source of heat right next to the tank could easily overwhelm the tank's ability to contain the pressures despite some venting (the venting is probably intended to handle overfilling + hot summer day and not a lot more than that, I'd imagine).