Today’s podcast is a Puerto Rican ‘two-fer’ that goes over the Dupont Plaza Hotel fire of 1986, and the Humberto Vidal Building explosion of 1996, both of San Juan, Puerto Rico.  I have a little personal history with the Dupont Plaza Hotel, at least in its new incarnation, and have decided to return this year to see how the island has fared since my last visit before Hurricane Maria, which hit the island in September 2017.

As always, you can download the podcast from here, find us on iTunes, find us on Stitcher, or listen to the episode from the embedded player below.

Sources for the podcast are:

The Dupont Plaza Hotel Fire of 1986

• Wikipedia: Dupont Plaza Hotel Arson, San Juan Marriott Resort and Stellaris Casino, List of Hotel Fires in the United States
• The New York Times: Puerto Rico Inquiry Said to Focus on Several Union Hotel Workers, 3 Admit Setting Hotel Fire That Killed 97 In San Juan
• National Institude of Standards and Technology: An Engineering Analysis of the Early Stages of the Fire Development
• NFPA Journal: Looking Back – The 1986 Dupont Plaza Hotel Fire
• UPI: Dupont Plaza fire continues to haunt Puerto Rico

The Humberto Vidal Building Explosion of 1996

• Wikipedia: Humberto Vidal Explosion, Fuerzas Armadas de Liberacion Nacional Puertorriqueña
• NTSB: San Juan Gas Company, Inc./Enron Corp. Propane Gas Explosion, San Juan Gas Company’s Inadequate Training of Employees and Government Deficiencies led to Building Explosion, NTSB Says
• FEMA via Archive.org: Humberto Vidal Building Explosion, 1996, Humberto Vidal Explosion
• StackExchange.com: How Deep are Utilities Typically Buried
• Smithsonian Magazine: Puerto Rico History and Heritage
• The New York Times: 20 Are Killed By Explosion In Downtown of San Juan
• The Washington Post: At Least 18 Killed In Puerto Rico Explosion