Missile silo 373-4 was one of 18
Titan II nuclear missile launch silos in
Arkansas, located north of Searcy. The nine-story underground silo was completed on July 31, 1962 and brought online on May 16, 1963. In August 1965, non-military contractors were strengthening the silo against potential nuclear attack as part of a broader initiative called Project Yard Fence. As a part of this project the missile's warhead had been disarmed and removed. Soon after workers returned from lunch on August 9, a fire broke out on Level 2 of the silo, rapidly filling the silo with smoke and hampering visibility. Electrical power was also lost. Workers jammed the emergency exit ladders and were quickly asphyxiated. The only two workers to survive—59-year-old Hubert Saunders and 17-year-old Gary Lay, in his first day on the job—reached the command center via the Level 2 passageway; the other workers tried to use the vertical ladders in the silo to reach the surface. Saunders suffered smoke inhalation while Lay suffered second- and third-degree burns. Four Air Force personnel in the control center, as well as various workers on the surface, were unharmed. Firefighting efforts continued throughout the afternoon of August 9. Attempts to open the main silo door for ventilation were unsuccessful, and rescuers were at first unable to penetrate the silo deeper than Level 2. There was a danger of explosion from the missile, which despite being disarmed was still fueled. Firefighters worked through the night to extinguish the fire, lower the silo temperature, and recover bodies. The fire represented the greatest loss of life ever suffered at a US nuclear facility. However the disaster is not considered a
Broken Arrow incident, since the missile's nuclear warhead was not installed at the time. By coincidence, that Titan II missile, serial number 62-0006, was the same missile involved in the
1980 Damascus Titan missile explosion. == Aftermath ==