Posted on 04/17/2013 6:51:57 PM PDT by kristinn
A large explosion rocked the town of West, Texas, 19 miles north of Waco, on Wednesday evening.
A source tells News 8 that a large swath of the small town with a population of 2,800 has been leveled.
According to initial reports, the blast was at the West Fertilizer plant at 1471 Jerry Mashek Drive, about a half-mile east of Interstate 35.
(Excerpt) Read more at wfaa.com ...
I needed that! LOL
DPS briefing now...and all I can think about is how much I LOVE that hat! Shame on me.
Ammonium nitrate.
In it’s base form, just nitrogen, hydrogen, and oxygen, all gases.
Because of the chemistry, it doesn’t need an oxidizer, it’s inherently unstable, causes a high pressure low velocity explosion.
I’ve worked with the commercial, prilled form use in mining.
Friend of mine has a small gold mine.
Kinda cool. Getting to play with blasting caps, fuses, etc.
Interesting Historical account of that ship and the surrounding area affected by that explosion. Thanks for posting it.
“It’s going to be a number.”
_Quote of the presser_as to how many dead/hurt/etc.
No worries. Ammonium Nitrate and Fuel Oil (ANFO) is the blasting agent of choice for mines and major construction material where you need to break up and move materials such as gravel or coal. A 50 pound bag of ANFO is extremely impressive although you need a high explosive to initiate it such as a cast booster that contains high explosive that is initiated by a blasting cap. This was obviously tons of material.
The danger with large quantities of fertilizer is if a fire generates enough heat while the material compresses itself so that an energized fire transitions to a detonation when the heat is unable to vent itself. You also have the concern of toxic fumes from such a fire or the ingredients. The tragedy list for fertilizer explosions is long and well known, but I am sure the firefighters in that town were aware of the danger they faced and how to approach such a fire.
Makes perfect sense to Texans. It’s more than a few, less than a lot. It’s a number.
Thanks for that info.
Worked at DPS in Austin many moons ago. Swooned every day in the cafeteria. Nothing quite like em.
But the way he said it, that is horrible.....Worst week for USA in a long time.
Wow. That was one hell of a explosion.
I notice he gave no numbers on those killed..I keep hoping the 60 to 70 number is too high..but that is all I have is hope.
They may have to barricade the roads to keep more volunteer help away..People can be so good.
There is a video of the blast, and yes I’d say 1-3 kilotons but might be as high as 5. Thank goodness no gamma rays/radiation from a chemical explosion. Short of a nuke that was the biggest explosion I have ever seen.
Wasn’t an ammonium nitrate explosion (military high explosive being shipped to Europe) but the Halifax ship explosion in 1917 killed 2,000 people (including some from a tsunami in the harbor) and was the largest explosion ever prior to the Trinity nuclear test. My sister does our genealogy but I think I had a distant relative killed in the blast:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax_Explosion
I was also born in mid-April.
You forgot to also mention the Titanic sunk on April 14, 1912.
Terrible events then....
Apparently, the apt complex is a skeleton.
See the U.S. and Texas Flags in some of live coverage, half-staff for Boston, I assume, but now its also for them, tragic.......Prayers for all....
It won’t actually be close to that high I expect...Texas City and Halifax were a LOT bigger, but only about 3 kilotons.
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