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

[EBH]

PS...Your assumption is what got people killed ...
Small town plant with a fire department not understanding the risk. And the plant itself probably didn’t know better either.

http://my.firefighternation.com/forum/topics/889755:Topic:2841048

[Elsie]

So, the following from Wikipedia is wrong?

A lot of information there!

I'll await hearing from more knowledgable guys than me!

[Elsie]

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

As a surviving ex-teenager; I can tell you that you cannot run fast enough to avoid getting cut by a chunk of glass after dropping a lit cherry bomb in a peanut butter jar full of gasoline!

[Elsie]

beat me to it!

[Moonman62]

That shock wave was going much faster than the speed of sound. No; it wasn't.

Look through this thread and you'll find the information that supports shock waves being supersonic.

[virgil]

The stuff has a boiling point of -28 F and is kept under pressure. I guess if it heats up it could explode. I don’t know the mechanics of it though. I’ve never heard of people having problems with it unless they’re exposed to high concentrations of it or they mix it with bleach.

[jpsb]

I’ve posted the relevant info TWICE, just google blast wave speed or shock wave speed and read all about it.

[redgolum]

I can say the same about black powder.

[gunsequalfreedom]

But he’s now famous on youtube!!! Obviously that was far more important to him than the safety of his daughter.

I don't think that allegation against the guy doing the video is fair. He was a far distance away and filming a fire. He may have known it was a fertilzer plant but it is not reasonable to think that at that distance he could have know that he and his daughter were at any risk.

[Monty22002]

I was talking relatively. I suppose a 10 ton Davy Crockett type would be similar, but the gamma at that range would’ve been lethal probably. I was thinking more of 10-15kt as ‘small’.

[Elsie]

I noticed...

[archy]

Yep. This'll give you some idea. I'll post more after I run some numbers.

Remember that many of the AN components, such as bulk ammonia stored at the plant, are also flammible/explosive. And if chlorine was in large supply at the plant, then the highly explosive nitrogen trichloride (NCl3) could have also been involved, not just *prilled* or superheated AN.

[archy]

They said annhydrous ammonia.

While it CAN be dangerous; it doesn't appear to be flammable or explosive.

Try adding Chlorine. 4 NH3 + 3 Cl2 → NCl3 + 3 NH4Cl

Safety:

Moderately toxic by inhalation. An irritant to the eyes, skin, mucous membranes, and a systemic central nervous system irritant. An explosive sensitive to impact, light, and ultrasound. The solid explodes on melting. The liquid explodes above 60°C. Concentrated solutions are also explosive. Explosive decomposition is initiated by contact with: concentrated ammonia, arsenic, dinitrogen tetraoxide, hydrogen sulfide, hydrogen trisulfide, nitrogen oxide, organic matter, ozone, phosphine, phosphorus, potassium cyanide, potassium hydroxide solutions, selenium, hydrogen chloride, hydrogen fluoride, hydrogen bromide, hydrogen iodide. Mixtures with chlorine + hydrogen are potentially explosive. Upon decomposition it emits toxic fumes of Cl− and NOx. See also CHLORIDES.

[Gilbo_3]

did you guys see the frame by frame ???

http://i.imgur.com/l1hw5Sj.gif?1

[archy]

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

Squantos, kindly check my numbers.

Per numbers from the Texas Feed and Fertilizer Control Service, the amount of AN on hand at the West fertilizer facility averaged 54,000 pounds, assuming no loaded railcars [circa 125 tons each per covered hopper/LO car] or contributing oxydizers. Accordingly, about 27 tons on AN.

AN isn't nearly as brisant as TNT, which provides the baseline for figuring an atomic/nuclear detonation, but as a back-of-the-envelope number, it's close enough to 1/40th KT, or .025 KT. The W54 warhead of the Davy Crockett offered a yield of around 22 tons [Little Feller I shot, 07 July 1956] command detonated 3 feet AGL, or 18 tons yield in the following Little Feller II shot 07 July, with a Davy Crockett warhead fored 20-40 feet AGL. So about in the same neighborhood as the West explosion, which appears about the same insofar as effects resulting:

Declassified Little Feller II test shot film

[archy]

did you guys see the frame by frame ???

Yep. That's what the 4 stills posted above are from.

[Elsie]

And if chlorine was in large supply at the plant...

IF?

[Elsie]

I guess one could theoretically add anything they wanted; but if it's not on location; why the chemistry lessons?

[Gilbo_3]

thanks archy...a facility that large, seems 54,000 lbs would be a pretty small volume, more or less a tractor/trailer sized load...Ok city on roids basically to obtain a tacnuke blast...

even at that though, that 1962 training film didnt appear to be the same intensity of blast...

[archy]

I guess one could theoretically add anything they wanted; but if it's not on location; why the chemistry lessons?

There is [was!] a rail line running past the plant. Had a loaded LP or chlorine tanker [circa 20K gallons and frequently travelling in multi-car *blocks*] been travelling past when the plant went up, the entire town would be pretty much gone. Think a blast four to eight times the size of what happened, with the high school and triage area also gone.

And instead of the town's hospital [about 1200 feet away from the blast ground zero] being seriously damaged, it would likely have been leveled.