| Name | Age | Sex | Injuries | Injured areas |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kisling, Arley | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded |
| Wolff, Jim | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded | Not recorded |
On August 14, 1982 Arley Kisling and Jim Wolff made a trip into Roto Rooter Cave, in the Marble Mountains of Siskiyou County, California to check out the water level in the Sleaze Squeeze, a wet crawl near the furthest point of exploration, some 500 feet from the entrance pit. Kisling, having not been in the cave before, thought he would check the crawl first. Since he didn't have a wetsuit, the two agreed he would be the determiner as to whether or not they should continue. Kisling sized up the situation and determined that it wasn't all that wet and proceeded down the crawl. Presently he came to a point where the down-sloping passage reaches a pool of water, 6-8 inches deep with 12-16 inches of air space above which allows the caver a chance to stay out of the water. While bridging across the pool, Kisling's cave pack became submerged in the pool and a great explosion occurred, knocking him out of his position above the pool and into the water. His lamp was extinguished. Wolff was some distance behind, so in the dark Kisling had to grope in his pack for his second source of light, an electric head lamp. The explosion had broken the lens to the light, but luckily, not the bulb. However, the battery pack was badly damaged as well, with a broken latch and hinge. Still in the dark, Kisling found the four batteries and assembled the pack by wrapping the power cord around it to hold things together. This was all done before Wolff could get to Kisling with extra light. Kisling was pretty shaken by the incident and with soaking clothes, imminent hypothermia in the 37 degree cave and a now-questionable sources of light. They decided to make their exit.
As Wolff suggests, 'spent' carbide should not be in a container where water can get at it. Since it is usually still producing gas, it cannot be put in something water tight, But should be kept in something that will allow further gas to slowly escape. As Wolff says, 'One should always be aware of the potential bomb we carry around-how many times have you peeked into your cave pack for something and used your carbide lamp for the search?'
Explosion caused by water mixing with 'spent' carbide in a caver's pack.