Explosion at Texas Fertilizer Plant

[oilboy2]

Originally Posted by Dogbert

Almost 66 years to the day after the Texas City Disaster.

Bottom line, this can't happen. Whether it was done on purpose or just plain old negligence, someone's gonna fry for this.

By RANDY LEE LOFTIS Environmental Writer rloftis@dallasnews.com
Published: 17 April 2013 11:23 PM

The fertilizer plant that exploded Wednesday night in West, Texas, reported to the Environmental Protection Agency and local public safety officials that it presented no risk of fire or explosion, documents show.
West Fertilizer Co. reported having as much as 54,000 pounds of anhydrous ammonia on hand in an emergency planning report required of facilities that use toxic or hazardous chemicals.
But the report, reviewed Wednesday night by The Dallas Morning News, stated “no” under fire or explosive risks. The worst possible scenario, the report said, would be a 10-minute release of ammonia gas that would kill or injure no one.
The second worst possibility projected was a leak from a broken hose used to transfer the product, again causing no injuries.
The plan says the facility did not have any other dangerous chemicals on hand. It says that the plan was on file with the local fire department and that the company had implemented proper safety rules.
Advisories on safe handling of anhydrous ammonia generally state that the chemical is not considered an explosion risk when in the air as a gas. They add, however, that it can explode in certain concentrations inside a container.
“Emergency responders should not mix water used for firefighting directly with anhydrous ammonia as this will result in warming of the product, causing the liquid to turn into a vapor cloud,” says the website of Calamco, a growers’ cooperative in California.Explosive hazards with fertilizer are more commonly linked to ammonium nitrate, which is widely used both in agriculture and as an explosive in construction and mining. A mixture of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil was used to make the bomb that destroyed the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City 18 years ago Friday.

[J epworth]

Originally Posted by puckluck2

Nope, I'm not the one assuming anything.

If the town is only inhibited by 2800 people, wouldn't the logical explanation be that they were NOT from that town?

Silly argument, but no, most likely a person in a town is more likely from the town than not from the town. Go to any small town and poll a sample of people, 95% of the people will say they are from the town (controlling for tourist stops, etc.) I would say your's is more likely if they were on the interstate when they took the video, but I wanted to win the argument so I google street viewed the interstate and there is no clear view to the plant from the highway. So they would have had to been on a side street in town, not just going through. This is so silly to argue about though.

[ranchlandsselling]

Originally Posted by Dogbert

someone's gonna fry for this.

Good chance they already did.

[Minnie]

Originally Posted by Dogbert

Almost 66 years to the day after the Texas City Disaster.

Bottom line, this can't happen. Whether it was done on purpose or just plain old negligence, someone's gonna fry for this.

Wasn't there another explosion in Texas City a few years ago? At the refinery?

And I think a fair amount of people already 'fried' for this tonight.

[GreatWhiteEbola]

Originally Posted by J epworth kendal

This is so silly to argue about though.

Then stop.

[Sluggo]

double post

[Sluggo]

Originally Posted by oilboy2

A mixture of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil was used to make the bomb that destroyed the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City 18 years ago Friday.

Yep you mix component X with ammonium nitrate you get "farmers dynamite" its pretty idiotic to watch or even live near a fertilizer plant. I bet that guy didn't know he was like all 'merica I hope his son gets his hearing back.

[Dogbert]

Originally Posted by ranchlandsselling

Good chance they already did.

I doubt it. Those responsible for this are likely miles away from the blast site, and may not even know anything's wrong. As always, many innocent people have to suffer for the terrible decisions of the few who could've stopped this.

[Knut]

Destruction of nearby apartments

[pylon]

That thumbs up at the bottom is terribly juxtaposed.

[Knut]

Yeah. Definitely needs a thumbs down.

[sun]

I think the simplest explanation is that the dude didn't know that a fertilizer plant could explode like that. He said "It should collapse..." in the video, not "Oh boy, this mother is gonna blow sky ####in' high! Hope you don't like your eardrums, son, 'cause this one's gonna sting like a sonofabitch!!".

Lambasting this dude for what was obviously an innocent mistake... Why would he bring his kid to watch an explosion if he knew it was gonna happen? Probably feeling ####tier than he ever has in his life and now he'll get burned at the stake by A++ perfect parents on the internet.

He was probably just ignorant, and hopefully he and his kid are alright. I assume they are, since we're watching their video...

[CaptainCrunch]

Whether he made a mistake or not by taking that kid within what looks like a couple of KM's of the fire, I'm just hoping that her hearing came back and the overpressure didn't do permanent damage to her ears.

Holy hell that's quite the video

[transplant99]

Yikes....gonna be a LOT of fatalities I fear....seems that first responders were way to close to survive that initial blast.

Also with so many homes damaged and destroyed and the time of the explosion, doesnt seem like a very good mix.

Godspeed to that whole area....nasty nasty stuff.

[pylon]

Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch

Whether he made a mistake or not by taking that kid within what looks like a couple of KM's of the fire, I'm just hoping that her hearing came back and the overpressure didn't do permanent damage to her ears.

Holy hell that's quite the video

CC. that would have to be inside of a Kilometre. There was virtually no sound delay. At 1 kilometre, there would be about a 3 second delay.

[CaptainCrunch]

Originally Posted by pylon

CC. that would have to be inside of a Kilometre. There was virtually no sound delay. At 1 kilometre, there would be about a 3 second delay.

Could be I was going by visual and not physics.

When Fertilizer plants go, they go big.

Its no different then a building full of artillery shells going off.

[Buff]

I am not an explosives expert, and I'm willing to bet that he isn't either. Based on the video, I would have assumed that he was far enough away should there be an explosion.... The size of that explosion took me by surprise. I expected to see a nice video of an explosion from a distance, and then BOOOM!

Easy mistake to make. A big mistake, but I'm not your average CP poster. Just like I don't make $1,000,000 per year, I am not an expert on every single freakin' thing there is to know about every single freakin' thing out there to know. I also don't jump at the first opportunity to label somebody a horrible parent, person, or anything else, because I recognize that there are other factors at play that could cloud a persons judgement.

[GreatWhiteEbola]

If you're interested, here is a link to the Mclennan County Sheriff and Fire, Waco and Area Police and Fire radio feed.

http://www.broadcastify.com/listen/feed/2663

[saskflames69]

All it takes is a tanker full of gasoline and a psychopath driving the rig to blow up a fertilizer factory. Thoughts go out to the families of those affected, especially the volunteer firefighters.

Merica these days

[Wormius]

The thing is, he was only filming for about 30 seconds before the plant self-destructed. Assuming he just ignored it and drove on, I don't see him and his child necessarily being any better protected from the blast.

What would they do? I suppose my opinion might change if they purposefully drove out there from a safe distance just to take a video, especially if he was there taking a video under the expectation that he knew the plant would explode.