Explosion and Fire at Texas City Chemical Plant

[i_dont_chat]

Channel 13, Houston, Texas, just reported a series of 4 explosions and a large fire at Amoco Chemical Company in Texas City -- I think it is called BP now.

My mother in TC felt 2 of the blasts. Plant is at Highway 146 and Texas Avenue.

[capecodderathome]

FYI, Texas city, had the distinction of having the largest explosion/fire in peace time, only to be exceeded by 9/1l.
In '47 a ship loaded with amonium nitrate exploded, killing the entire 28 man fire department, and spreading to virtually to all the petro-chemical facilities in the city. Lets hope this gets contained quickly.

[philo]

see post 73

[Mo1]

Waiting for more info before I FReek.

After all the threats I've read today .. I'm already freaked

Not more to do now but to pull out the bottle of wine ...

Just to relax my nerves .. really :0)

[gogipper]

Used to be only Amoco. Amoco was acquired by British Petroleum about 5 years ago.

[WestCoastGal]

"It was in the 80s today in the Houston area. I think most residents use their fireplace once per year, on Christmas Eve with the air conditioning running."

Hey we do the same thing here, it was only 94 here today. :-)

On a very serious note, I pray they get this thing under control. I wonder how many other tanks are near this one?

[TexasCowboy]

Thanks for the ping, HC.

What I know about refineries I could stick in my eye and not feel it, but this sounds suspicious.

[WhistlingPastTheGraveyard]

And that FBI warning was just days ago too....

Last year, Monsoor Ijaz was on FNC saying the Islamists were targeting oil refineries and that there was an imminent threat. Two days later, an oil refinery in NYC went up in falmes.

Now this...

Of course, the mere suggestion that this is anything other than an accident will get you called insane.

[Orange1998]

Just returned from little league ballpark. Everyone was saying "What that smell, smells like plastic burning". I am 50 miles away from the refinery, it's hard to imagine it could travel that far.

[Mark Felton]

I was watching Patton with my youngest son.

Now I'm trying to find news.

The wind seems to be out towards the bay, but there really isn't much wind.

[Cold Heat]

My senses tell me this is a routine accident.

If it were terror, there would be more than the one plant involved.

I am going to get a beer.:-)

[WestCoastGal]

I wonder how many times the terrorists have studied these stories. An article earlier today from Khalid Sheik Mohammed explained how they looked in books to find tall buildings and came up with the Sears Tower and the Library Towers building in LA to choose targets for the second wave on 9-11 which thankfully never occurred.

[Palladin]

Shelter in place--right. That's what they told us to do during the TMI "incident". I was at work and the safety guy showed me how the radiation detectors were spiking off the scale. Management said: "Oh, it's OK. The batteries on those things are dead". Meanwhile, the air raid sirens are going off all over town.

I left work, rushed home, put the family in the van, and headed for the hills.

[sonofatpatcher2]

From:
http://www.khou.com/topstories/stories/khou040330_ds_BPExplosion.d9b0c3de.html

Explosion at BP Amoco in Texas City

08:45 PM CST on Tuesday, March 30, 2004
From 11 News Staff Reports

There have been explosions and a fire at the BP AMOCO refinery and chemical complex on FM 519 E. in Texas City.

The explosions occurred just after 7:00 Tuesday evening.

Emergency management officials have requested residents to shelter in place in Texas City and La Marque.

Company officials say a furnace exploded and the fire is the result of the explosions. Multiple agencies have responded to the fire.

There are several roadblocks in the area.

Area residents say there were at least four explosions and they felt it in their homes when they occurred.

Company officials also say that all employees have been accounted for and no injuries have been reported.

[Dog Gone]

I wonder how many other tanks are near this one?

Hundreds, probably even into the thousands. There is no other refining and petrochemical complex like this in the world. It has to be seen to be believed. Tanks, pipes, towers, flares, for miles on end.

[Frank_Discussion]

Patton. Coool...

[WestCoastGal]

It was just the anniversary of TMI, I saw an interview with a lady who still lives within sight of it. She also said they told them to shelter in place and then *later* they told them to evacuate. There was a newspaper picture of her holding her small baby with a blanket over his head. In those days no one knew how deadly that accident could have been.

[joesnuffy]

It couldnt have been terrorists ...having come across our wide open borders.....
We had better disarm US citizens and arrest Ranch Rescue types ASAP

[juzcuz]

FOX News: Last Thursday Texas City, TX
Advisory from Terrorism Task Force with non specific threats.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,115197,00.html

Interesting Coincidence..

[LOC1]

Relax about the tanks already. There are a lot of them, but every one is surrounded by a firewall designed to contain whatever they contain, and a fire if it were ignited. Standard design practices for refineries and chemical plants, which has been the case for decades.

[jungleboy]

"My senses tell me this is a routine accident"

Note to self: Never hire wirestripper as private eye