Posted on 04/17/2013 8:55:27 PM PDT by mnehring
Explosions rocked a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, Wednesday evening as firefighters were battling a fire, causing multiple injuries, authorities said.
Dani Moore, dispatcher with the Texas Department of Pubic Safety, said she did not know how many were injured or the extent of their injuries.
"The fertilizer plant was on fire. Firefighters were on the scene. There was an explosion ... followed by a second explosion,'' she said.
She said there were multiple damages to structures and vehicles. She said she had no information on the cause of the blasts or fire.
WFAA.com reported at least 10 structures were on fire, including a school which is next door to the plant. An emergency triage center was set up at a high school football field.
The TV station said on its website that a shock wave was felt in parts of North Texas.
The Waco Tribune reported injuries to several people including firefighters.
The fertilizer plant is about 20 miles north of Waco and just off Interstate 35.
KWTX.com reported one of the nearby buildings damaged was a nursing home, and state troopers transported some of the injured to hospitals in patrol cars.
It also said the explosion knocked out electrical power to part of the community.
Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center in Waco, was receiving some of the injured. Answering the phone at the hospital, Karen Jackson said she could provide no information on the number of injured or the extent.
Video Here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=ROrpKx3aIjA
Don’t you two make me stop this car!
It happened in Texas .. don't hold yer breath
BECAUSE THEY DIDN’T HEAR YOU WHEN YOU SPOKE UP WAY BACK WHEN THE PLANT WAS BUILT AND TOWN BUILT UP AROUND IT!??
Try decaf.
Yea but a nursing home? A high school? What were they doing there?
And this one gives a good explanation as to why AA didn't seem like a risk...
Why You Don’t Use the DOT Emergency Response Guidebook for Incidents Involving Anhydrous Ammonia at a Fixed Facility!
http://my.firefighternation.com/forum/topics/889755:Topic:2841048
Those grow around the people. The reality is you’ll be hard pressed to find a community that doesn’t have some sort of danger like this.
Amber Cambell 47 seconds ago
"The dad and little boy are ok. they were on the local news last night. west is 55 mi from where i live and it felt like we had a earth quake."
I suppose you’re right about that. All I know is I would not live any where near a fertilizer or chemical plant. I would tell my realtor to look in a different location. We used to live near a rendering plant and I can tell you that sometimes the smell was so bad that it wilted the flowers! I’m serious.
Sorry...got it from twitter feed at the Houston Chronicle..it was listed as a pic from Waco/West explosion...the time of day should’ve been my first clue!
BECAUSE THEY DIDN’T HEAR YOU WHEN YOU SPOKE UP WAY BACK WHEN THE PLANT WAS BUILT AND TOWN BUILT UP AROUND IT!??
“On June 11, 1892, West was officially organized into a town. It had become the center of commerce for the area. There were cotton gins, grocery stores, churches, schools, and doctors’ offices.”
“The turn of the century brought electricity, running water, and natural gas. The population of West and surrounding area grew.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West,_Texas#History
No mention of a fertilizer plant being the reason West came into existence. The main reason for the towns existence and growth was the railroad. No mention whatsoever of a fertilizer plant being there first and people built the town around it.
Believe me, I understand that...and it has just cost many lives. The officials that approved this should be brought up on charges. The public record will show findings addressing this issues and denying that they pose any risk is my guess.
I’ve lived in the US, south of I-10 from coast to coast, for 43 years. I can promise you I’ve lived near a plant (from de-desalination to chemical to oil to just about every other kind) in those 43 years.
I live 35 south of Houston in “rural” unincorporated county now. I live near (less than 5 miles) places that “clean” trucks. I also live in between two prisons, and about 1 mile or so from an old rice dryer. I’ve been at a fire in the chicken coops at the prison (ugh, burning chickens and chickenshit - UGH).
Good luck living anywhere NOT near a plant.
No; it wasn't.
Also, some phones have poor synchronization between the image and the sound recording.
It CAN?
I guess I must have been sleeping in my high school physics class the day the teacher taught the mysterious forces that can cause that effect.
(It IS true, however, that sound WILL travel faster through a solid or liquid medium than it will thru air.)
This stuff is all OVER my area!!
The locals drive down the roads with two - TWO!! - big white tanks of it behind their pickups.
Then they'll hook one to a tractor and drag it all over a field.
Should I worry that the ground is going to explode in the field across from my house?
While it CAN be dangerous; it doesn't appear to be flammable or explosive.
http://www.extension.umn.edu/distribution/cropsystems/dc2326.html
Source?
Source?
... always greater than the speed of sound in the fluid ...
Actually you might want to read this for much better insight.
AA is responsible for a lot of deaths and injuries. The government required NFPA labels are horribly misleading.
ttp://my.firefighternation.com/forum/topics/889755:Topic:2841048
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