Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Ammonia cloud kills woman, injures 7
The State ^ | Jul. 16, 2009 | SAMMY FRETWELL

Posted on 07/16/2009 4:57:18 AM PDT by Peter Horry

Donna Petrey got a call just after 8 a.m. Wednesday from her son, telling her the chemical plant across the street had sprung a leak.

“I grabbed my 7-year-old grandson, Hunter, and our dog, Oreo, and put them in the car,” she said.

At the end of the driveway, she glanced left and was stunned. "It looked like a huge cotton ball. It was so thick, you couldn’t see anything through it,” said Petrey, 50, who lives across from Tanner Industries, just south of Swansea in Lexington County.

Petrey didn’t know it, but a motorist already had driven into that cloud — a vast poisonous mist of a deadly chemical called anhydrous ammonia, typically used in cleaning products — and hadn’t made it out.

(Excerpt) Read more at thestate.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; News/Current Events; US: South Carolina
KEYWORDS: ammonia; chemicalplant; tanner
According to the news, someone was trying to stop traffic and two cars drove past them... think one of them was driven by the woman that died.
1 posted on 07/16/2009 4:57:18 AM PDT by Peter Horry
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Peter Horry

Maybe the one that was trying to stop traffic knew what the cloud was, and the dangers it posed.


2 posted on 07/16/2009 5:09:16 AM PDT by wastedyears (The Tree is thirsty and the hogs are hungry.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Peter Horry

I work for a company that owns an ammonia pipeline up north. I don’t work on that line myself, but I’ve heard that is some straight up nasty, horrible stuff. Hard to control it once its loose.


3 posted on 07/16/2009 5:09:39 AM PDT by FreeSouthernAmerican (I AM JIM THOMPSON)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Peter Horry

“a vast poisonous mist of a deadly chemical called anhydrous ammonia, typically used in cleaning products”

Uh, no. Anhydrous ammonia is not used in cleaning products - it is a gas at standard temperatures and pressures. In this form it can be used directly as a refrigeration gas, like Freon. I believe it can also be used as a fertilizer. Otherwise it is used as a feedstock for chemical processes, or hydrated to produce aqueous ammonia which can be used in cleaning products. Anyhydrous ammonia, much like hydrogen chloride or hydrogen sulfate, is particularly nasty because it turns to ammonia on contact with water, which the mucous membrames and lungs are full of (the latter two turn to hydrochloric and sulfuric acid, respectively). Result - instant chemical burns inside your lungs, which is not good.


4 posted on 07/16/2009 6:59:10 AM PDT by -YYZ- (Strong like bull, smart like ox.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: -YYZ-

Yup we used as fertilizer for corn for years. VERY NASTY STUFF!! Burns any tissue on contact.Really likes mucus membranes and other “wet” things.


5 posted on 07/16/2009 7:02:39 AM PDT by mad_as_he$$ (Nemo me impune lacessit)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: Peter Horry
Anhydrous Ammonia is nasty.
I used to work with it while repairing microfiche copiers.

We had the valve come off one tank once.
It cleared the whole shop.
I had to put on an air mask to get in to replace the valve. Couldn[t hold my breath long enough.

My skin afterwards burned like he!!.
I had to decontaminate in the shower, including my clothing, to get back to nornal.

6 posted on 07/16/2009 7:05:28 AM PDT by Just another Joe (Warning: FReeping can be addictive and helpful to your mental health)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Peter Horry

When the Miannus River bridge on I95 collapsed here many years ago, motorists tried to stop a car about to drive off the bridge. It was night time & the driver couldn’t see that the bridge was gone.

The car, with 2 young men in it, flipped the persons trying to warn them the finger & drove off the bridge to their deaths.


7 posted on 07/16/2009 7:13:33 AM PDT by KosmicKitty (WARNING: Hormonally crazed woman ahead!!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: -YYZ-

Post 4

The writer included material, which references anhydrous and aqueous ammonia, as well as their uses, that appears to have come from the company, .... for what it is worth. That seems to be the basis of his statement.


8 posted on 07/16/2009 7:19:29 AM PDT by Peter Horry (Never were abilities so much below mediocrity so well rewarded - John Randolph)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 4 | View Replies]

To: mad_as_he$$

“Yup we used as fertilizer for corn for years. VERY NASTY STUFF!! “

Charleston, SC (1950s- early 1960s) had a fertilizer plant that would take your breath away, just driving by it. I remember, at least one occasion where they had a leak and evacuated several blocks.


9 posted on 07/16/2009 7:28:54 AM PDT by Peter Horry (Never were abilities so much below mediocrity so well rewarded - John Randolph)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: 2A Patriot; 2nd amendment mama; 4everontheRight; 77Jimmy; Abbeville Conservative; acf2906; ...
South Carolina
Ping

Send FReepmail to join or leave this list.
10 posted on 07/16/2009 4:39:52 PM PDT by SC Swamp Fox (Aim small, miss small.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Peter Horry

Don’t know if it’s relevant here, but anhydrous ammonia is an ingredient of methamphetamine.


11 posted on 07/16/2009 5:10:24 PM PDT by Slings and Arrows (Crazy is the new sane.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Slings and Arrows

I think just about everything out there but the kitchen sink is an ingredient of meth.


12 posted on 07/16/2009 5:51:49 PM PDT by visualops (portraits.artlife.us or visit my freeper page)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Peter Horry

This reminds me of years ago when I lived in Solvay, NY (Syracuse), about a block from the chlorine (chloride? something or other) plant. They had a siren if there was a leak. Once it went off and they told everyone stay inside and shut all the windows. You couldn’t really smell it in the air and it was invisible but even the slightest amount did burn. It was kinda scary. Luckily no-one was seriously hurt.


13 posted on 07/16/2009 5:55:18 PM PDT by visualops (portraits.artlife.us or visit my freeper page)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: visualops

Oh, they use the kitchen sink too.


14 posted on 07/16/2009 7:10:36 PM PDT by Slings and Arrows (Crazy is the new sane.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson