Posted on 08/24/2006 10:05:59 AM PDT by abb
Explosions this morning rocked a Webster Parish plant that recycles bombs, leading to widespread evacuations because of fears of injury from a series of secondary explosions.
The explosions and fire at Explo Systems were the second at the Camp Minden industrial park in two weeks.
There were no reports of serious injuries, but fears that three truckloads of 750-pound bombs would detonate has led authorities to evacuate a several-mile radius. Explosions have been occurring much of the morning.
Among those being evacuated were two schools with about 600 students and a "boot camp" for teens with delinquency problems. Authorities were preparing to evacuate approximately 400 inmates at Bayou Dorcheat Correctional Center.
Part of Interstate 20 and U.S. 80 in the immediate vicinity were closed.
There were no fatalities but two people were slightly injured, Explo Systems' owner David Smith said.
The first explosion occurred about 8:30 a.m. The concussion could be felt miles away and knocked out phone lines and windows.
The fire sent dense smoke into the sky and firefighters were pulled back because of the secondary explosions, which could be heard occurring seconds apart at mid-morning.
Students from Doyline High School and Union Elementary School were taken to a school in Sibley. People who were evacuated and had no other place to go were being given shelter at the Minden recreational center, Webster Parish Chief Deputy Sheriff Bobby Igo said.
School buses were being sent into the area to help get prisoners out. Law enforcement in neighboring parishes sent officers into the area to help with blocking roads and transferring inmates to state prisons in Homer and Keithville and jails in Bossier Parish.
Camp Minden is the former Louisiana Army Ammunition Plant, which closed in the mid-1990s. The Louisiana National Guard now oversees the area.
Explo Systems, which opened its site in January, has a military contract to disassemble bombs and recycle bomb components.
Week before last, an explosion and fire occurred in a part of the Valentec Systems plant that makes parachute flares for the military. No one was injured and the fire burned itself out overnight. It damaged about half of Valentec's facility.
Story Created: Aug 24, 2006 at 10:10 AM EST Story Updated: Aug 24, 2006 at 12:43 PM EST
http://www.ksla.com/Global/story.asp?S=5321770
http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060824/BREAKINGNEWS/60824007
Glad no fatalities.
I never knew bombs got recycled.
I bet that would be on the most wanted job list with Mushroom growing.
Yikes.
AM: Thanks for pulling my duplicate post quicky!! You are really on your toes today... :-)
Shouldn't this be in breaking for now?
We need to bring our troops home from Louisiana
Camp Minden is the pink area west of Minden.
I am at the upper left corner of the map -- just inside TX from the 3-way junction of the AR, LA, and TX boundaries.
(Can't hear the explosions here -- or can't discriminate them from the thunder that's in the area...)
The really old stuff is put in a pit, packed with explosives and det cord and mass-detonated. It's safer than trying to work with questionanble filler that's 40+ years old. This includes smaller munitions (artillery shells, rockets, grenades) as well.
Modern explosives are safe. It takes a bit of work to detonate them, so they're relatively easy and safe to demil. And modern facilities segregate individual rounds with blast doors and sumps.
But, I guess accidents do happen.
I'm about 50 miles away from that location, but I have been inside before. It used to be a manufactory for ordanace and was built during WW2. Goex (black powder manufacturer) has a plant there.
http://www.goexpowder.com/
http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060816/NEWS01/608160328/1002/NEWS
another bit of history...
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/aap-louisiana.htm
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/library/report/enviro/LAAAP_IAP.pdf
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