Fertilizer plant explodes in Texas

[CowPie]

Link

 

An explosion ripped through a fertilizer plant Wednesday night in the area of West, Texas, sending a massive fireball into the sky and causing dozens of injuries, officials said.

 

A number of nearby residents were being evacuated because of the possibility of another explosion, officials said.

 

A hospital in nearby Waco, Texas, has been told to anticipate 100 injured people coming in from the fertilizer plant area, an official at the medical facility said.

 

A friend in Florida told me about this (Im from Florida, Live in Texas now). Scared me, thought it was another bombing. Its about an hour away from where I am.

For those of you interested you can listen in on the firefighters/police radio Here

[guyzwitgunz]

I saw some amateur video of the explosion. Looked absolutely insane.

[tubbs51]

I saw some amateur video of the explosion. Looked absolutely insane.

I think this is the footage you saw.

 

 

 

Just insane.

 

 

My prayers go out to that whole community.

[Tyler]

Another link

 

 

A rescuer earlier said he knew of five deaths.

 

 

sh*t sucks, nearly the reunion of the other Waco incident that happened a few years back, too. Considering the town is fairly small, I reckon this'll affect it quite harshly.

[Master of San Andreas]

First Boston and now this.

 

Seriously the world needs a makeover.

 

My prayers are with the injured and if there are any deaths, May they Rest in peace.(Although I hope there aren't any)

 

[018361]

So was this an accident or intentional? I feel bad for anyone who died.

[Mr.Mordecai]

Hmm, a bomb went off Boston on Monday, and an explosion happened in Waco.

 

Get out your tin-foil hat fellas, because i think we have a conspiracy on our hands.

 

 

Prayers goes out to anyone affected.

[DarrinPA]

So was this an accident or intentional? I feel bad for anyone who died.

Probably an accident. Factory fires are very dangerous because of the amount of combustable items.

 

Take saw mills for example; too much saw dust creates nothing but surface area on the dust particles making it explosive. Considering that fertilizer is already explosive, a small fire can easily turn into what you see in the video.

 

I hope that people got out in time, I've heard that it's looking not so good.

[AZAZEL]

Danish media are reporting at least 60 dead. I was a bit skeptical until I saw that amateur video above.

[Exkabewbikadid]

Fortunately those behind the Boston bombing didn't know how to rig a bomb with that stuff. Although it may require many Kgs of it to be potent enough. I can't recall how much was thought to be used in the OKC bombing.

 

But no, this does not look good. Probably just a malfunction or an accident, but rather ironic that it would happen almost 20 years after the Waco incident with fertilizer that was used in OKC almost 18 years ago as well.

[JOSEPH X]

Just saw that amateur video. That must have been an enormous explosion to make that woman deaf. In this gif you can see the blast wave affecting the grass as it moves towards the camera.

 

[Harley]

You know I saw fertilizer, and plant, and thought this was about a rare exploding flower.

But uhh, this is much worse. That video is insane.

[GTA-King]

That was f*cking crazy.

[CryptReaperDorian]

This one might be an accident since fertilizer can already be made into an explosive. However, it's possible that this was also intentional. I hope not many people were hurt in this.

[Saggy]

Just saw that amateur video. That must have been an enormous explosion to make that woman deaf. In this gif you can see the blast wave affecting the grass as it moves towards the camera.

 

Wow, they were WAY too close. Any word if the people in that car were seriously injured?

 

 

These types of accidental explosions aren't unheard of. The PEPCON explosion in Henderson, Nevada was said to be the largest non-nuclear blast ever documented in the U.S., and registered a 3.5 on the Richter scale 600 miles away. Caused by a worker smoking a cigarette.

 

 

 

 

But yeah, it's a pretty astounding coincidence with the anniversary of Waco so close at hand.

[CryptReaperDorian]

 

Wow, they were WAY too close.  Any word if the people in that car were seriously injured?

 

 

These types of accidental explosions aren't unheard of.  The PEPCON explosion in Henderson, Nevada was said to be the largest non-nuclear blast ever documented in the U.S., and registered a 3.5 on the Richter scale 600 miles away.  Caused by a worker smoking a cigarette.

 

 

 

 

But yeah, it's a pretty astounding coincidence with the anniversary of Waco so close at hand.

Since it appears that those people were able to make home and submit that video, my guess is that none of them have suffered anything more than minor injuries. So, I'm sure they're quite fine (thankfully, that poor kid was in complete horror).

 

As for the PEPCON explosion, how would its blast radius compare to. . . say the GBU-43/B MOAB (which is a thermobaric bomb that's claimed to be one of the most powerful non-nuclear weapons made by man)?

Edited April 18, 2013 by CryptReaperDorian

[OysterBarron]

Isnt it weird how a flame arcs down from the left to the fire then it explodes.

[Creed Bratton]

Probably an accident. But that amateur video is terrifying.

[darthYENIK]

This week sucks.

 

Not to make light, but I wish people understood how to film video with a phone. Just turn it on it's side so we can watch a normal aspect ratio.

[acmilano]

My God,that was awful. Sorry for the lost lives and hope that wounded be all right. What is going on,so much things happened in so short time?

[The Killa]

 

This week sucks.

 

Not to make light, but I wish people understood how to film video with a phone.  Just turn it on it's side so we can watch a normal aspect ratio.

Moreover, I wish people (especially those with kids) would realize that being so close to ammonium nitrate threatening to go kaboom is a bad idea.

 

Ah well. Hindsight is 20/20 and all that.

[Celticfang]

PEPCON got mentioned so I went and found a video that explains what happened:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEjY-PJ86x8

 

(44 seconds in to 11:05)

 

I'm not sure how that compares to a military bomb, but in terms of civilian explosions, it is a major, major blast

[Saggy]

Wow, they were WAY too close.  Any word if the people in that car were seriously injured?

 

 

These types of accidental explosions aren't unheard of.  The PEPCON explosion in Henderson, Nevada was said to be the largest non-nuclear blast ever documented in the U.S., and registered a 3.5 on the Richter scale 600 miles away.  Caused by a worker smoking a cigarette.

 

 

 

 

But yeah, it's a pretty astounding coincidence with the anniversary of Waco so close at hand.

Since it appears that those people were able to make home and submit that video, my guess is that none of them have suffered anything more than minor injuries. So, I'm sure they're quite fine (thankfully, that poor kid was in complete horror).

 

As for the PEPCON explosion, how would its blast radius compare to. . . say the GBU-43/B MOAB (which is a thermobaric bomb that's claimed to be one of the most powerful non-nuclear weapons made by man)?

According to Wiki the energy released from the PEPCON blast was equivalent of 2.7 Kilotons of TNT.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PEPCON_disast..._and_explosions

 

In comparison, the "MOAB" is equivalent of 11 tons of TNT. Note that's tons not kilotons.

 

For a much better way to understand how powerful the blast at PEPCON was...

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_weapo...r_weapon_yields

 

 

As a comparison, the blast yield of the GBU-43 Massive Ordnance Air Blast bomb is 0.011 kt, and that of the Oklahoma City bombing, using a truck-based fertilizer bomb, was 0.002 kt. Most artificial non-nuclear explosions are considerably smaller than even what are considered to be very small nuclear weapons.

[Killerdude]

FYI, Fertilizer is used in IED's.

 

Nuff said.

Really, sh*t happens.

[Celticfang]

Holy sh*t after watching the video.

 

That was just a giant explosion, but if you are going to store a lot of explosive material in one place, be it dust, chemicals, or whatever (or for that matter, make it), you do run that risk of a huge, huge explosion.

[sivispacem]

FYI, Fertilizer is used in IED's.

 

Nuff said.

Really, sh*t happens.

In combination with fuel, usually diesel, yes. Seldom as an explosive in it's own right.

[Killerdude]

FYI, Fertilizer is used in IED's.

 

Nuff said.

Really, sh*t happens.

In combination with fuel, usually diesel, yes. Seldom as an explosive in it's own right.

So is the stuff flammable on it's own, or does it need to be mixed with other stuffs?

 

[Celticfang]

Needs to be mixed with other things.

 

Bear in mind they were making it there, it wasn't just storing the finished product, and think of all the chemicals needed to produce fertilizer on that scale, they had to store those chemicals on site too.

[Raavi]

It really looks like something flew into the building just before it exploded.

 

Edit probably due to a rolling shutter. See explanation in Boston Bombing thread.

Edited April 18, 2013 by Raavi

[Finn 7 five 11]

 

Just saw that amateur video. That must have been an enormous explosion to make that woman deaf. In this gif you can see the blast wave affecting the grass as it moves towards the camera.

 

http://i.minus.com/ibw3K2ySLiIt13.gif[*/IMG]

Wow, they were WAY too close. Any word if the people in that car were seriously injured?

 

 

I can see them lying in the hospital bed in intensive care "Must...Post....Video...to....internet."

 

Haha they must be mostly okay.

 

 

 

EDIT: It's the same town from destroyed in seconds? That explosion was f*cking crazy, wtf? How unlucky can you be?