CAUGHT ON CAMERA: Fertilizer Plant Explosion Near Waco, Texas (Warning, Unedited)

YouTube ^

[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

[justa-hairyape]

And a well defined line of heavy rain should be hitting the town of West in about 30 minutes. Light rain beforehand possible. Strong winds out of ENE. Some lightning with heavy rain. Some hail. They were predicting possible tornado activity two days ago in this storm line.

[rlmorel]

Yeah. When I was in the USN, they used to drop bombs on targets in the water, and you would feel and hear the explosion through the hull long before you heard it in the air...

[Rocky]

So, the following from Wikipedia is wrong? (I’m not saying Wikipedia is infallible. Far from it. Just wondering what your take on this is.)

“When a shockwave is created by high explosives such as TNT (which has a detonation velocity of 6,900 m/s), it will always travel at high, supersonic velocity from its point of origin.”

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

[Gilbo_3]

1 minute vid...that blast wave was massive...

[redgolum]

Since it didn’t happen on the East coast, it isn’t news.

[EBH]

This raises the question as to how far the First Responders had the perimeter?

Obviously something failed here in the EMS response plan and/or the fire chief failed to properly implement it.

Every plant like this has a government approved plan. When I worked as the Safety Manager for a Haz. Waste facility, if there was a fire...the evac plan was a minimum of 2 miles. A fertilizer plant would be no different, really.

If you watch the fire closely, you see the flare-up just before the explosion.

[EBH]

Actually, I’ve seen the post now several times he is 1/4 mile away....

If you look closely, he is just outside the fenceline to the plant! This raises a huge red flag as to way authorities had not secured the area.

[NFHale]

Holy crap... what a blast...

Unintentional MOAB....good lord.

[eak3]

Oh please!! You see how far he is from the fire? He didn’t know there was going to be an explosion like that. He didn’t do anything different than anyone else would have done.

[deport]

Texas City Explosion - April 16, 1947

The Texas City disaster was the deadliest industrial accident in U.S. history. The incident took place on April 16, 1947, and began with a mid-morning fire on board the French-registered vessel SS Grandcamp which was docked in the Port of Texas City. The fire detonated approximately 2,300 tons of ammonium nitrate[1] and the resulting chain reaction of fires and explosions killed at least 581 people, including all but one member of the Texas City fire department.[2] These events also triggered the first ever class action lawsuit against the United States government, under the then-recently enacted Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), on behalf of 8,485 victims.

[redgolum]

Son (I think).

He was far enough away that the average person would feel they were safe.

As an chemical engineer, I would have backed up a few more miles.

[Spartan302]

Its a dangerous world, always will be, there will never ever possibly be any perfect society, gun free, murder free, lions nd sheep kissing each other, no care, no pain, no worry.

Shit happens, one day you are here, the next you are gone.

I for one won’t spend hours and hours concerned about the welfare of hours, its a big enough job all on my lonesome just trying to get through a days work without getting hurt, driving home dead tired at the wheel, hoping my pains and aches are temporary and not the message of something worse.

My biggest rebellion is telling those “superior trained compassionate liberals” to eff themselves and stay out of my life.

[freebird5850]

No word from the Usurper?

I'll tell you later why. Stay tuned.

[TalonDJ]

Small nukes are not as big as you think. The smaller ones are about the size of this blast.

[Gilbo_3]

Unintentional MOAB....good lord.

any *professional* opinions from the EOD/Arty experiences on just how big that thing was ???

[TalonDJ]

IS the maximum (and minimum also) speed of a blast wave in that substance.

This is only true for incompressible substances.

[NFHale]

Yeah...

It was of “BFB” magnitude...

(”Big F***ing Boom”)

[chessplayer]

Read my comment to bigtigermike you idiot

---

Go to hell.

[GeronL]

http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Fort-Hood-Bomb-Team-Removes-Device-From-Waco-Truck-202701651.html

This was 6 days ago!!

“A disposal team from Fort Hood removed an apparent home-made bomb early Friday after police discovered it inside a pickup truck during a routine traffic stop at a Waco intersection.”

It included a hand grenade and was reported as being “live”.

[redgolum]

In large explosions, it isn’t unheard of to have temporary hearing loss. Hope that is the case.