Columnist Jeff German: Taxi industry working hard to calm propane blast fears

Thursday, Sept. 25, 1997 | 10:20 a.m.

STATE TAXICAB Authority investigators say the worst of the Great Propane Scare is over on the Strip.

Yellow-Checker-Star Cab Co., they say, has worked hard to plug the propane leaks in its fleet of 356 taxis.

No more explosions have occurred since a Sept. 10 blast severely damaged a cab and another vehicle outside Palace Station. And for the most part, the city's lucrative tourism industry has been resting easy.

"We are pretty confident this particular kind of incident will not recur, but we're going to keep looking at it," says Taxicab Authority Administrator Bob Anselmo.

His chief investigator, Bob Flaven, adds: "It was touch-and-go for a while, but everything's being resolved. We feel that the problem is now behind us."

Well, not quite.

A random Taxicab Authority inspection of 30 Yellow-Checker-Star cabs Tuesday found that five had propane leaks, though not the kind that may have caused the Sept. 10 explosion.

Bill Shranko, Yellow-Checker's director of operations, says there's no cause for alarm. He says Yellow-Checker, Southern Nevada's largest cab company, has an "incredible" track record with propane.

"We've had one fire in 500 million miles," he says. "Propane has proven to be the safest fuel in the industry, and we're going to do everything that any agency wants us to do, as we have in the past, to ensure that it continues to remain the safest fuel in the industry."

Anselmo says Yellow-Checker, the only company that uses propane here, couldn't have been more cooperative with his investigators during the scare.

And Shranko says he's eagerly awaiting the arrival of a state fuels expert from Carson City to get to the bottom of the leaks once and for all.

Though the threat may be over, it caused some tense moments within the industry earlier this month. Propane can produce a violent blast.

Flaven says he's never "faced anything like this" in the 17 years he's been with the Taxicab Authority.

According to internal Taxicab Authority reports, the scare began about 6:45 p.m. Sept. 10, when Las Vegan Curtis Williams left the Palace Station and walked to his 1985 blue Cadillac, which was parked next to a Yellow-Checker cab.

Williams noticed a steam-like substance coming out of the front end of the taxi as he got into his car and turned on the ignition.

The next thing he knew, the reports say, the taxi and his car had burst into flames.

Williams managed to escape with superficial injuries, though he later complained of severe ringing in his ears, a stiff neck and tightness in his chest.

By the time Taxicab Authority investigators showed up, firefighters had managed to put out the blazes.

Anselmo was notified from the scene, and he ordered Yellow-Checker to inspect the fuel systems of all its cabs.

Investigators then were dispatched to the company's yard to oversee the inspections.

The first three taxis examined, the reports say, were found to have leaks.

In all, investigators discovered that 30 percent (more than 100 vehicles) had been leaking propane.

The problem was thought to have been fixed. But four days later, leaks were discovered in Yellow-Checker cabs at the Barbary Coast and Treasure Island.

At Treasure Island, the reports say, hotel security and firefighters were evacuating people from the immediate area when a taxicab investigator arrived.

Once notified, Anselmo ordered yet another inspection that found 83 cabs still had leaks.

Shranko says most of those have since been plugged. But not all, according to the latest random Taxicab Authority inspection.

It's comforting to know, however, that the authority and Yellow-Checker are doing everything within their power to make the Great Propane Scare go away.

In a city that relies on taxis to move millions of tourists each year, we can expect nothing less.