I did not mean to be snarky and I am very grieved for this town that represents the best of America (I love Texas). However, I can’t help but wonder how much cheaper it would have been to move such a plant further away from occupied dwellings and a school just in case something horrible like this occurred.
History shows that life is not without risk, but looking at a first responders guide to hazmat incidents shows that these homes and structures were built well within the critical danger radius for much smaller amounts of the material that was present in bulk at this facility.
Risk mitigation dictates you don’t place a nursing home within 500 feet (apparently) of such a place. If we agree to disagree that is okay. Regardless, my prayers are with the people of West and those affected by this tragedy.
We had an even larger facility/chemical plant in the city where I was a first-responder and the potential for a massive disaster with hundreds or thousands of casualties was very real. An effort was made to help the company move out of the city and it was declined for financial and political reasons - seeing what happened there is very sobering. Relocating a plant like this would have been a few pennies on the dollar to what this will cost and it would have limited injuries and property damage.
Please don’t misunderstand me — I agree with you wholeheartedly. That plant, and others like it, is a dangerous place to work and to leave near.
We have a lot of those in Texas, both chemical and petro.
I think the point I was making, and not very well, is that common-sense dictates that people not live near such facilities. But freedom allows them to do dumb things.
The plant, which is on the outskirts of town, had been there for a long time and predated the neighborhood that had grown nearby. Common sense should have prevailed.