OT: another tragedy tonight in Waco (fertilizer plant explosion)
Video: http://bit.ly/12oheZs
Thoughts are with anyone in the Waco area tonight
April 17th, 2013 at 11:52 PM ^
Sometimes, you just have to ask "why?"
April 17th, 2013 at 11:55 PM ^
April 17th, 2013 at 11:58 PM ^
I'd be absolutely shocked if this wasn't just a freak accident. My guess is that there was a fire somewhere in the plant, and tragically a fertilizer plant is just about the worst place in the world to have a fire like that.
April 18th, 2013 at 12:00 AM ^
Chemical plants (incl. fertilizer plants) use a lot of hazardous and incredible flammable materials. Many plants don't allow you to carry cell phones in the manufacturing areas because of the high risk of torching the whole place is there's a spark.
I'd guess that the heat of the flames caused one of their hazardous chemical (ammonia something) storage tanks to explode. No real evidence for that yet, but it's a common hazard you look out for when designing your pressure relief devices and that place was absolutely engulfed in flames and people are referencing "another tank" like one of them is gone already
April 18th, 2013 at 12:08 PM ^
Without knowing what the plant in Waco specifically makes, I can postulate that the "ammonia something" you refer to is ammonium nitrate, which is both an excellent fertilizer and an excellent explosive. 400 lbs of the stuff are best used to fertilize 9 acres of farmland for growing corn; that same quantity is also how much Timothy McVeigh needed to blow up the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City back in 1994. You can imagine that a fertilizer manufacturing plant has a lot more than 9 acres-worth of ammonium nitrate on hand... and that's how you get one gigantic explosion.
which I nothing about, but I doubt you could find a fertilizer plant without something that will go boom so your point stands
April 17th, 2013 at 11:56 PM ^
God that looks awful...thoughts and prayers to everyone around there. Really worried especially about those first responders that rushed out to stop the fire before it went off...just terrible
April 17th, 2013 at 11:59 PM ^
April 18th, 2013 at 12:03 AM ^
I dont doubt anything, just curious, what site did you get those reported numbers from? I've been following it on the news (tv) since it all happened and they have 2 dead 100 injured...but it was only like 10mins ago that they all started even reporting on this, it was CNN only for quite a while
April 18th, 2013 at 12:05 AM ^
April 17th, 2013 at 11:58 PM ^
Otherwise, this would've read like another terrorist thing.
This is very sad, and my prayers go out to them. Fertilizer is a dangerous, dangerous thing.
April 18th, 2013 at 12:01 AM ^
I haven't seen any reports of fatalities? Can you link to where you heard that there were 60-70 fatalities? I have read that 60 to 70 were injured...
April 18th, 2013 at 12:05 AM ^
I've seen nothing close to 60-70 yet. Just the first responders so far. After the misinformation in Boston this afternoon, I just want to make sure those numbers can be verified somewhere.
April 18th, 2013 at 12:08 AM ^
Im sure it's all really chaotic right now, but all the on-ground reporters seem to be repeating those numbers when reporting on fox/cnn....can only hope it's very wrong though
April 18th, 2013 at 12:09 AM ^
@Breaking911: ABSOLUTE HORROR UNFOLDING: 70 people confirmed dead, incl 5 firefighters, 1 police officer. Hundreds more inj. #PrayForTexas
April 18th, 2013 at 12:12 AM ^
I was hoping this was a case of people getting facts wrong trying to rush to get info on TV.
April 18th, 2013 at 12:27 AM ^
April 18th, 2013 at 12:09 AM ^
April 18th, 2013 at 12:12 AM ^
Fox News was just reporting from their local affiliate that there are around 60 to 70 dead. Damage reports from up to 4 blocks away. This is crazy, so much has happened in the matter of a couple days... this all just needs to stop. Too much tradgedy, too many people dieing. The video of the explosion is insane, never seen anything like that. Thoughts to all of those families
April 18th, 2013 at 12:16 AM ^
Sometimes its hard to not be sad... No matter what your personal accomplishments are, it's hard to look around the world sometimes and tell yourself "this is all great."
Just have to hope that everyone affected by these events finds some sort of strength to move on..
ugh
April 18th, 2013 at 12:46 AM ^
Good god...I can't even imagine.
April 18th, 2013 at 12:29 AM ^
April 18th, 2013 at 12:47 AM ^
While I'm sure that this explosion was just a freak accident, you can't help but feel like the world is going to hell in a hand basket.
Hearts out to those involved
This video shows just how massive this explosion was. I will warn you there is a kids voice in the video but the NBC News outlet has reported him and his father are both ok.
No minimum safe distance from a fire like that, I don't think. That explosion was massive. I wonder if they were storing fertilizer or components in a silo or something, and it acted like a pressure vessel?
April 18th, 2013 at 10:07 AM ^
The man and his daughter are lucky to be alive. The article stated that the explosion registered as much force as a 2.1 earthquake on the Richter scale.
April 18th, 2013 at 11:20 AM ^
That was incredible.
.
Incredible is the right word if and only if it is conjoined with some expression of horror.
I can't imagine being around that explosion. Praying for all those involved in that horrible tragedy.
As a Marine, my first instinct is to help a buddy in need. But honestly it would be very hard rushing headlong into something like that. Prayers sent to Texas
April 18th, 2013 at 10:13 AM ^
Just wanted to get this in here, but anyone who works in the chemical industry is taught that they should NOT try to help in situations like this unless they are part of the response team.
With the unknown circumstances and the potential for toxic gases, you could just be creating another victim if you run in there. Every safety training says you call for help and you get out. There have been multiple situations where someone has run in and died trying to help their friend.
From reports that are out this morning, they are saying that they have anywhere from 5 to 15 dead and 160 wounded as a result of this explosion. Homes within a 5-6 block radius were damage or destroyed - 50 to 75 individual reports of damage to structures thus far, per NBC. USGS apparently measured a ground tremor of 2.1 on the Richter scale too. Wow. Thoughts and condolences are with the injured and those who were lost and their families as well as the town of West.
I would like to point out that this was not in Waco; it was in West, Texas, which is about 15-20 miles from Waco. I'd suggest changing the title because when I woke up and read that, I immediately thought that this was related to the inital Waco incident. I know you're just rehashing info, but as more people read it, it should be made clear that there is no evidence that this was intentional or related to any other events that have happened during this week in history.
Tragic, just tragic. The news was airing video someone posted to youtube of the explosion this morning (Good Morning America, I believe). That's a very small community of around 2,800 and I don't know if you ever recover from something like this. I'll keep them in my thoughts today.
The ammonia gas released is terrible for people, very poisonous so I hope they bear that in mind.
April 18th, 2013 at 11:35 AM ^
anhydrous ammonia tank. On a couple of occasions they had a small leak and we had to evacuate. That stuff is just brutal.
and there are some really, really nasty chemicals that go into making fertilizer so I'm not surprised that that plant blew sky high like that considering how big the initial fire was.
What I am surprised about is that the company said they thought their worst case scenario was just a large fire. Someone there clearly did not understand the hazards of their own chemicals or they glossed it over to avoid spending the time and money to put the right safeguards in. I'm going to guess the latter
I thought I read somewhere that the chemicals were in large metal containers, which is why they didn't expect the second one to blow. They probably thought that the fire not getting to the chemicals directly was enough to prevent the explosion, but that probably just pressurized the tank and maybe caused a crack in it.