Explosion in West,tx fertilizer plant

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Kingfisher":1ftkds91 said:
http://news.yahoo.com/police-report-fertilizer-plant-explosion-near-waco-texas-015859240.html
They expect more than 100 injured...place is best known for it's Czech backeries. I've never seen the plant. What's next??

When the Grand Camp and High Flyer blew up in Texas City harbor loaded with Amonia Nitrate they say it was equal to the A bomb dropped on Japan. So no tellin how bad this one could be. That one killed 581 people 66 years ago yesterday.
 
My buddy just called on them Monday and is good freinds with them and said he had tried calling them on their cell phones and can't get an answer
He said he going to drive down but the news said I-35 is packed with emergency vehicles
He said it looks real bad
 
Reading it was an anhydrous ammonia tank that caught fire. I used to make that stuff and it doesn't play nice.
The fume's from the fire can take you out as well as the ammonia it is like you are drowning on dry land.
 
Cross did they make the ammonia there?
I pulled my old manuels and anhydrous ammonia has to be 1200 degrees to light off and has a narrow range on O2 to be explosive. Apparently they found the right mix.
Did they have a lighting strike on the tank?
I know that when burning if you add water it can make hydrogen chloride that is not good either.
 
I love this lady talking to CNN! He asked her if she felt "lucky" to be alive and without skipping a beat she replied "Blessed!". God Bless Texas!
 
I am wondering how the blast set off the fires at the other locations? None of the news show the plant I suppose because of the no fly zone. How did the other structures catch fire?
 
I live 10 miles from West. Was out in pasture and heard 2 loud booms and a few minutes later wife got a text asking if we were ok and we were told the explosion was in West. We headed for our church in West to see if we could help. Church is about 1/2 mile from explosion and had minor damage from fallen ceiling tiles, etc. Soon after arriving, we were advised to leave as there was the possibility of further explosion and folks were going to the community center on the other end of town. The town was a zoo with tons of traffic, emergency vehicles from miles and miles around. The community center was being used as a triage center. Took some water by there and it was full of mostly elderly folks being treated. Looked to me like lots of cuts possibly from flying glass. Were told that they had plenty of help as emergency personel from several counties were on the scene. 6 careflight choppers are busy transporting seriously injureds to hospitals. Less than a 1/8 of a mile from explosion is a nursing home and an apartment complex with lots of casualties. Both were severely damaged. Most of the top floor of the 50 unit apartment complex was destroyed. 50-70 homes severely damaged and some totally destroyed. Looks like a war zone. Talked to a friend who has spoken to a person that works for West Fertilizer and thinks the initial explosion was a propane tank but there are at least 2 anhydrous tanks nearby and there is some anhydrous leakage. Friends mom was in nursing home and only minor injuries. Probably half the town has been evacuated.

No confirmed deaths yet but 4-5 volunteer firefighters that were at the scene when the explosion occurred are unaccounted for and feared lost. Probably will be be several more found tomorrow when the rubble is searched.

This community really needs our prayers.

FWIW this is not an anhydrous mfg plant, just a retail fertilizer business that handles dry, liquid and anhydrous. The videos I saw show an explosion that looks like other videos I've seen of propane tank explosions.
 
backhoeboogie":1fsd2bqf said:
Glad you are okay Brock. You came to mind. I knew you were close.

Thanks for your concern. We're fine but lots of other folks are hurting or worse. Please continue your prayers for them. This is a really horrible and tragic situation especially for such a small community and will have a huge effect for many years to come.
 
Texas PaPaw":9xx6fzrv said:
backhoeboogie":9xx6fzrv said:
Glad you are okay Brock. You came to mind. I knew you were close.

Thanks for your concern. We're fine but lots of other folks are hurting or worse. Please continue your prayers for them. This is a really horrible and tragic situation especially for such a small community and will have a huge effect for many years to come.

We're refueling the power plant now. Working nights. One of the inspector's nieces lost everything, including her dogs. She was not home thankfully. It was wiped out. She's pretty torn up and has called several times. He is heading down there after work to try to help her gather anything they can salvage out of the rubble. It sounds like there's little to nothing left.

The emotional injuries will be as vast as the physical. Prayers are sent.
 
Kingfisher":1pz3s03h said:
I am wondering how the blast set off the fires at the other locations? None of the news show the plant I suppose because of the no fly zone. How did the other structures catch fire?

They will bring in a team of blast expert's like arson investigator's and find the source.
Then there will be a team of Root Cause Failure Analyst piece together the cause with a timeline of event's, this could take months to know what really happened. Being reported by the USGS reported that the blast registered a 2.1 on the Richter scale.

There are a ton of way's that the secondary fire's get started.
The shock wave has massive power from an explosion like that, along with all kind's of missile's from the flying debris of the blast. I haven't made ammonia since the mid seventies, if it does catch fire it is very hard to see until it get's big. Ninety nine percent of the time the big explosion is the secondary to third effect in a chain of event's.
That may never find some of the people in the plant. The houses and other buildings mean nothing all that can be rebuilt, just money. There are many people's families that will be changed forever over the loss or injury of a loved one.
All we can do is pray and ask God to comfort them and assit them in rebuilding there lives.
There are so many thing's we use in our daily lives we take for granted, that are dangerous to make.
 
Sad to hear but the news is reporting at least 60 deaths from this. I read there were six
first responders that are included in that count. Prayers are being sent to the entire community.
 
slick4591":21ype7os said:
Sad to hear but the news is reporting at least 60 deaths from this. I read there were six
first responders that are included in that count. Prayers are being sent to the entire community.

I will bet that the worker's along with the first responder's had recieved very little HAZWOPER training.
Did they have Community Awareness and Emergency Response (CAER) Program in place I highly doubt it.
The CAER system was developed to help minimize the impact on the community.
 

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