Posted on 09/13/2002 8:02:33 AM PDT by i_dont_chat
TV stations in Houston, TX, are reporting a large explosion in a BASF facility in Freeport, TX. Reports are coming out that a tanker car has exploded and a building housing tanker cars has been leveled.
No it's a terrorist attack on a plant that makes componenets for tires and pantyhose!
BTW No injuries ... well other than to a few nuts of Free Republic. Now YOU move along ......... geeeeezzzz
Freeport, Texas, is a major chemical complex, and the people there are accustomed to accidental fires and explosions.
Apparently the quotation marks I used didn't have the desired effect. They were meant to convey my sarcasm and the lack of trust I have developed in things Federal.
Please accept my humblest apologies for failing to get my meaning across.
Go inside
Shut all doors and windows
Turn off air conditioners and heaters to prevent outside air from getting inside
Turn on the radio to listen for instructions
Stay off the phone
I've always wondered why they tell us to turn off the air conditioner. Don't ACs simply re-circulate the inside air throughout the house? They don't draw air in from the outside.
Side note: Does anybody know any reason why your hot water heater should not be used as an emergency supply of drinking water?
You did forget "Go out and buy a car" though. :)
"Now run along and go buy a car or a computer. Help restore your country's economy. Buy some stock. Or a refrigerator. Or a lawn mower. Go do anything else. You just can't stay here because this incident is not in any way related to terrorism or people of middle-eastern descent."
13. September 2002 Norddeutschland
Güterzüge stießen zusammen - Explosionsgefahr
Bad Münder - Die Unglücksstelle am Bahnhof von Bad Münder ist am Tag nach dem Unfall mit Schaum bedeckt. Am Rand des weißen Teppichs stehen Feuerwehrleute und warten. Warten, ob es noch gefährlich wird. "Es besteht immer noch Explosionsgefahr", sagt Feuerwehrsprecher Jörg Grabandt. Mehr als zwölf Stunden ist es her, dass hier zwei Güterzüge frontal zusammengestoßen sind - und die niedersächsische Kleinstadt nahe Hameln nur knapp einer Katastrophe entging.
Ein Kesselwagen mit der hoch giftigen Chemikalie Epichlorhydrin war explodiert.
Man Arrested In Stolen Fertilizer Investigation
Georgetown (30 miles north of Austin, TX) -- Williamson County sheriff's officials on Thursday arrested a man in connection with the theft of part of 330 pounds of potentially explosive fertilizer reported missing from a Georgetown company.
Bryon David, 24, of Georgetown remained in the Williamson County Jail Thursday evening on a state felony charge of burglary of a buildling. His bond was set at $30,000 said Wendy Denson, sheriff's spokeswoman.
David admitted stealing a 30-pound tube of ammonium nitrate from Austin Powder Co. and dumping the fertilizer at the Williamson County landfill after media coverage of the theft made him nervous, Denson said.
Authorities investigated David's story and he passed a lie-detector test, Denson said. He was not an Austin Powder employee.
"We are confident that that's all he took," Denson said.
The investigation led authorities to believe hat other 300 pounds, or 10 tubes, reported missing was a bookkeeping error made by the company and not actually missing, Denson said.
The tube David said he threw in the landfill has been destroyed, she said.
(The article gives more information -- are you interested?)
...an industrial accident which is not uncommon to this area.
...the people there are accustomed to accidental fires and explosions.
True, indeed!
I grew up within sight of the petrochem plants & refineries crowded along the Houston Ship Channel. After a while, upon hearing a " WHUMP! ", we would listen, rather than look. It was easy to identify the plant involved, because each had its own, distinctive fire alarm/whistle...
Such incidents were all too common.
Hope the news that no one was hurt is correct!
TXnMA (No Longer!!!)
(Thank you, George Carlin.)
Dienstag, 10. September 2002
Gefahr nach dem Zugunglück (Danger from the train accident?)
Epichlorhydrin
Epichlorhydrin (C3H5ClO) ist eine farblose, (colorless) stechend riechende Flüssigkeit. Das Nervengift (Nerve-poison) ist ein Grundstoff für die Kunststoffindustrie und wird beispielsweise bei der Herstellung von Klebstoffen verwendet.
Epichlorhydrin kann Leber und Nieren schädigen und wirkt stark reizend auf Augen und Schleimhäute. Wird es eingeamtet, ist je nach Menge mit Kopfschmerzen, Übelkeit oder Lungenödemen zu rechnen. Der Stoff gilt auch als Krebs erregend. Kommt es zu Hautkontakt, ist Blasenbildung möglich.
Wird der Stoff verschüttet, müssen umgehend alle Zündquellen entfernt werden, da es zu einer Explosion kommen kann, wenn Epichlorhydrin mit Säuren, Lagen, Metalloxiden, Alkoholen oder Kohlenmononoxid reagiert. (explosion possible if it comes in contact with acid, metal-oxide, alcohol, ?)
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