Fertilizer plant explodes in Texas

[Killerdude]

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.

I suppose.

Seems interesting that people work around this sh*t on a daily basis.

one wrongly tossed match and the whole place goes nuclear.

[sivispacem]

Fertilizer itself isn't explosive unless mixed with a fuel if I remember rightly, but it does suffer from sympathetic detonation. Basically when heated normally it decomposed into flamable compounds, which add to any fire, which in itself increases the risk of a small explosion due to various conditions, which can cause a large scale sympathetic detonation. Oppau is the prime example of this.

[ArmedJudas47]

I hope the victims are all right

[Schemer]

A little past midnight it was confirmed that 6 firefighters, 2 EMS workers, and 1 police officer are dead.

 

Defiantly sending my thoughts and prayers to Texas this morning.

 

 

[AreXi]

Defiantly sending my thoughts and prayers to Texas this morning.

Why defiantly?

[nightwalker83]

Some people still say it was Waco...Idiots!

[Shyabang Shyabang]

 

 

 

 

 

[Freezer89]

First the bombings in Boston, another bombing in Iraq (with way more causalities), a huge earthquake in Iran and now this. What's next? North Korea nukes Japan? Aliens take over the world?

[The__Phoenix]

 

I hope the victims are all right

 

UPDATE, 5:15 a.m.:Waco police Sgt. W. Patrick Swanton at about 4:30 a.m. said officials are confirming between five and 15 people were killed in the explosion, and more than 160 people were injured. Swanton said the severity of the injuries varied widely.

 

 

New video:

 

 

 

 

[ainsz]

Those videos are absolutely incredible, especially the first one. What a horrific tragedy.

[mrpain]

Oh god. That... that was brutal. The cameraman with his own child... f*ck man their reaction just made it more horrific.

 

My heart goes out to all you Americans. It has not been a good week for you guys. Tragedies happen, but fear can be overcome.

[ExtremoMania]

That was one big bang. More like a powerful JDAM bomb that exploded.

[JOSEPH X]

That was one big bang. More like a powerful JDAM bomb that exploded.

It apparently had the power of a 1.5kt tactical nuke, and measured 2.0 on the moment scale at local seismometers.

[sivispacem]

 

That was one big bang. More like a powerful JDAM bomb that exploded.

It apparently had the power of a 1.5kt tactical nuke, and measured 2.0 on the moment scale at local seismometers.

Where's the 1.5KT figure from, out of interest? The Cypriot naval base explosion a couple of years ago was 2KT and that levelled everything in about a half-mile radius around the epicentre, including the entire naval base. The damage doesn't look anywhere near as severe- but then again that might be because ammonium nitrate has a very low detonation velocity and low brisance compared military explosives. Nuclear weapons have an even higher detonation velocity and much greater brisance, so the "power of a 1.5kt tactical nuke" is a bit misleading even if the total potential energy of the explosion was the same.

[GtaVComments]

April 1947, plant explodes due to a dangerous chemical called ammonium nitrate, in texas. April 2013, plant exlodes due to chemical called ammonium nitrate, in texas.

[S99]

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

I wounder what started it? and is that radio real, live or is it fake and a recording?

[RARusk]

 

April 1947, plant explodes due to a dangerous chemical called ammonium nitrate, in texas. April 2013, plant exlodes due to chemical called ammonium nitrate, in texas.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_City_Disaster

[Hotband]

Saw pics of it, was worse than I initially thought.

[Fisciletti]

I've never seen anything like this. The explosion is just... insane. Looks like a nuclear bomb exploding or something like that.

[El Dildo]

I feel for the firefighters and employees who had to respond to the initial fire and were killed. most of them were volunteer. very sad.

I don't feel anything for the people who were caught in the blast because they were simply gawking with their cell phone cameras.

 

"hey kids, a massive fertilizer plant is on fire! grab the dog and meet me in the car, we're gonna' drive over there and watch it burn! what could possibly go wrong? it's not like fertilizer is fireworks!"

 

America.

f*ck yeah.

[acmilano]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/18/j..._n_3113489.html

 

This guy have 9 lives.