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 ...
Wow. Just wow.
Watching Channel 8 now and they have some hellatious video of the explosion.
It does truly look like a small nuke going off. Darnedest thing I’ve ever seen on tape.
Absolutely HORRIBLE..prayers UP for everyone affected..such a horrendous year..never know what the next day will bring
West to Arlington is roughly 80 miles and West to Kennedale is a shade over 70 miles.
So this is less important because you don’t get to have fun fantasies of nuking Mecca?
I was a bit worried that it wasn’t as important because industrial explosions tend to afflict obscure places in flyover country.
If other storage facilities were nearby, another explosion might happen tommorrow.
Lesson from history of the Great Texas City Explosion of the SS Grandcamp on 16Apr47. the following day, 17Apr47 (66 years ago):
The ship SS High Flyer, in dock for repairs and also carrying ammonium nitrate, was ignited by the first explosion; it was towed 100 feet from the docks before it exploded about sixteen hours later, at 1:10 A.M. on April 17. The first explosion had killed twenty-six Texas City firemen and destroyed all of the city’s fire-fighting equipment, including four trucks, leaving the city helpless in the wake of the second explosion.
A man was arrested with an IED in Waco three days ago.
Go to google maps for West Texas, look just to the east of mile marker 354 you’ll see a school facility and foot ball field. Then look north across the street about 500 ft and that is the West Fertilizer Plant. Put Google Maps on Satellite and you’ll see the tanks, etc.
Lots of residential buildings in that area.
Oh no....4 firefighters and one police officer dead....OMG
The good news is that they knew what they were going in to and -hopefully- had a good pre-fire plan.
Some years ago there were several guys who were killed fighting a fire in a parked trailer of ammonium nitrate late at night and had no clue what they were dealing with.
It sounds like the incident commander has a good staff and they are in front of the problem and not playing catch up.
Back to what you said, one only has to look at Texas City 1947 and the Morton Thiakol blast in NV to see potential.
Apparently took out a couple of EMS guys as well as a few fireman in the initial blast. Their building is a stone’s throw away.
A street full of houses are totally flattened.
Initial count of fatalities are approximately 60-70 at the moment.
Prayer’s Up.
I can’t believe such a plant could be located so close to a neighborhood, hospital & school. Who thought that was a good idea?
KFAA just reported 60-70 fatalities, hundreds injured...
Just heard on WFAA that there could be as many as 70 dead.Praying so for this town and our country right now.
WBAP reporting "dozens of injuries" - "entire town of West being told to evacuate"....
“Approximate distances please?
West to Arlington is roughly 80 miles and West to Kennedale is a shade over 70 miles. “
Just about. 67.1 miles from my doorstep to the West city limits per Google.
I went outside for while after I felt it but never heard any sirens and never saw any smoke in any direction. Wasn’t sure what I felt until this broke.
Your photo was from a 2008 oil refinery explosion out in western Texas. Not to be confused with the town of West, Texas.
There are cops being told they’re in a hot zone....evacuate!
This hits close to home. I lived in Waco for a long time. Know people from West.
OMG I am in tears right now..absolutely HORRIBLE..I heard the reporter on WFAA was crying..unreal..life is so precious have to live everyday like its your last
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