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
My guess is the town grew around it.
Really irresponsible that local officials would allow development so near this plant.
Absolutely criminal the placement of that plant. Busy year for Texas lawyers.
A shock wave travels at the speed of sound, by definition. I suppose some kind of blast front could go faster, but I think it would be extremely destructive in that case. I’m thinking they were a lot closer than they should have been.
“WHY THE HELL ARE CHEMICAL PLANTS LIKE THIS PERMITTED TO BE BUILT IN OR CLOSE TO A TOWN???????????????????”
Government has no business in this. If people want safety, they should live farther. Choice and free will.
There is an entire apartment complex where a police officer said all that remains is a shell. Two story complex. It looked much worse then the Northridge Apartment complex that was demolished back in the Northridge California earthquake.
There is no gore in it. You don’t even see the people in the auto who are filming. At about 29 seconds the big explosion happens and the flash is so large and big, along with the huge ear blowing noise. The young person in the auto cannot hear and is begging their father to get them out of there. Just get ready for the explosion at about 29 seconds into the 55 second recoding.
In most of these cases, the town grows close to the plant, not the other way around. These old fertilizer plants have been around for a long time, people move close to where there is work.
I just saw that on FB... they say things come in threes. I hope this is the end of it for a while.
Firefighters were reportedly among those who could not be accounted for after the explosion.
Always very disturbing and heartfelt when the firefighters are hurt or die in these situations. They generally are family men...
If you look at the location of the plant on Google satellite, it was located at the eastern edge of a narrow northern part of the small town of West. Luckily it was not in the middle of the town. There still could be a couple hundred affected. And they have to worry about the wind shift tonight with the fires. Town is south of fires. Wind is shifting in a few hours.
Convenience for the workers and the plant.
The blast wave, depending on the size of the blast, can travel much faster then the speed of sound. And this was one big blast. I’d said about the size of a tactical nuke, 1 or 2 kilotons, so I think it is a safe bet that the blast wave exceeded the speed of sound.
Various places in Texas have no zoning ordinances, but that still doesn’t excuse building a school across the street.
Yes a big norther is blowing in very soon. 30-40 mph out of the north.
Is that what this was?
Or was it ammonium nitrate? A fire near a large pile of ammonium nitrate is a recipe for this sort of event. Others have mentioned the 1947 Texas City Disaster, which had a yield estimated at 2.7 to 3.2 kt.
It's to become rich by selling their souls to the highest bidder. It's the modern American Way.
Well, no. Technically, the speed of sound (in any given material) IS the maximum (and minimum also) speed of a blast wave in that substance.
Now, a bigger (faster or “sharper”) blast will create a larger pressure differential across that blast wave, but the speed of its arrival is the same in the same air conditions everywhere. A slowly expanding blast - like from a fire or burning of gasoline - will more slowly “ramp up” the pressure wave than a rapid explosion. But both travel at the same speed through air.
The shock wave going through rock is faster than that through dirt, faster in dirt than water, and all dense materials are much faster than air. So you would have seen the light waves - arriving at the speed of light - then felt the ground move, then feel the air blast.
They said annhydrous ammonia.
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