[volunbeer]

You don’t need water and AN (Ammonium Nitrate) does not need oxygen because it contains more than enough oxygen to burn on it’s own. All you need is sufficient heat and some compression to allow the material to transition from deflagration (burning) to detonation (explosion) and once a small part detonates all the material in proximity will detonate.

Here is a wiki page on fertilizer disasters - quite a few of them and again makes one wonder why they would build dwellings and a school around such a facility.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_nitrate_disasters

This one (in Texas in 1947) was the ship that exploded and killed 581 people.

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/fertilizer-explosion-kills-581-in-texas

[free-n-TX]

Thank you for the explanation.....see, I told you I don’t know anything about chemistry!

[caww]

Interesting Historical account of that ship and the surrounding area affected by that explosion. Thanks for posting it.