Posted on 01/29/2003 11:49:12 AM PST by kcvl
Plant employees over 200 people...
The idea that it was a plane spread because it is right next to the "jetport."
Airplane crashes do NOT make shockwaves 12 miles away.
This stuff on here about terrorism is tinfoil hat time.
Hope there is better news come morning...
A massive explosion and fire Wednesday gutted a pharmaceutical supply plant, killing at least three people and injuring more than two dozen others -- about 12 of them critically.
Fire officials said late Wednesday that they had accounted for all of the missing.
The tragedy struck at the heart of this tight-knit community in eastern North Carolina.
"It's very emotional to think that this can occur in the city of Kinston," said Mayor Johnnie Mosley, who has friends who worked at the plant. "The magnitude of this incident is just devastating to all of us."
Chief Darryl Rainer of the North Lenoir County Fire Department said the blaze would continue to burn through the night and fire crews were doing their best to keep it under control.
"We have made rescues and there are confirmed fatalities," he said.
Among those rescued were three or four workers who were clinging to steel beams in a second-story penthouse area when rescuers arrived. Each had suffered second- and third-degree burns.
The cause of the blast was not known, and investigators with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms were on the scene. The plant last fall was cited for 30 safety violations, but a state official said the company had fixed everything and was in line with state code.
The explosion at West Pharmaceutical Services, which makes syringes and other plastic medical supplies, occurred about 1:30 p.m. when about more than 100 workers were on the job.
The fire charred nearby woods and gutted the massive complex. A makeshift triage center was set up on the lawn outside the factory, with medical helicopters and ambulances rushing the injured to hospitals.
Authorities recommended residents within a mile radius around the plant to evacuate.
The explosion was so powerful it blew doors open on houses more than a mile away and sent debris flying, with some pieces landing more than two miles away.
"It blew the roof off a good 400 feet down the road, and it got all the woods on fire," said Jack Lambert of Segrave Aviation, located near the factory site. "There was pandemonium. You could feel it in the air."
City Manager Ralph Clark said, "It was a tremendous explosion."
Family members of plant workers gathered at Emanuel Church, anxiously awaiting word on their loved ones. A list of names of employees who have been accounted for was read at the church, as family members held hands and wept.
Judy Ferguson said her brother-in-law was working at the time. "I found out he's OK," she said, adding that he helped injured victims on the scene.
There were initial reports of a possible small plane hitting the building, which is located near a runway for cargo planes, but authorities later ruled that out, saying it was an internal explosion.
A spokeswoman for Lenoir Memorial Hospital in Kinston said it received 27 patients, including eight in critical condition. The spokeswoman said five of the critically injured were transferred to Pitt Memorial Hospital in Greenville, North Carolina; two others were taken to the University of North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center in Chapel Hill; and one was transported to the Duke University Medical Center.
Dr. Cherri Hobgood with the UNC burn center said the unit was treating a total of six patients in critical condition. Four of those were flown straight from the site.
"They have extensive injuries ranging from significant burns and also effects of the explosion, which are major traumatic injuries," Hobgood said.
The North Carolina Department of Labor had cited the plant last October for 30 violations, including 22 that were deemed serious.
Labor Department spokesman Juan Santos said the violations ranged from confined areas that should have been identified as containing potentially dangerous equipment or chemicals, to machines that didn't have the proper safety guards.
Santos said West Pharmaceutical Services was fined $9,075 as a result. He said the company did take the necessary steps to fix the violations and was currently "in good standing."
The stock of West Pharmaceutical was halted on the New York Stock Exchange after the explosion, which is typical following a calamity.
Kinston is a town of about 25,000 in eastern North Carolina, about 100 miles southeast of Chapel Hill.
“It almost felt like an earthquake was taking place,” said Hugh Pollock, headmaster of nearby Arendell Parrott Academy.
Thick, acrid smoke emanated from the building late into the night Wednesday. Light rain fell over the countryside, but flames persisted in the most damaged area of the plant.
Chief Deral Raynor of the North Lenoir Fire Department said about 130 people were at the plant when it exploded at 1:27 p.m. Wednesday. Authorities believed that all were accounted for Wednesday night, but cautioned they couldn’t be sure.
DASHING FOR SAFETY
Joseph Moore, an 18-year veteran molder, was working near the rear door when the explosion occurred. He was struck on the head by ceiling tiles and other debris, but wasn’t injured.
“I just shook that off, and grabbed somebody and got out as fast as I could,” he said at Immanuel Baptist Church, where factory workers went to meet their families.
Greg Smith, operations chief of the Kinston Public Safety Department, said the blast occurred in a four-story area of the factory where chemicals are mixed.
It was hard to measure the scope of the disaster, Smith said: “The damage is catastrophic to the building. The structure is so compromised that you just can’t enter and walk around.”
He said rubble — mostly chunks of concrete block and metal shards — was knee-deep in parts of the plant.
Amanda Nichols, who said she saw the explosion from nearby Lenoir Community College, told MSNBC TV that she saw parts of the roof flying through the air.
“It’s horrible. Half the building is gone,” she said. “We saw their employees running ... trying to get out of the building.”
“There was a man trapped on the outside of the building, hanging on for dear life. They finally got him down,” she added.
SEARCH FOR A CAUSE
Roger Dail, Lenoir County’s emergency services director, said officials asked plant workers to return to the scene Thursday to talk to investigators.
Eleven of the people injured were treated and released, according to hospital records compiled by the Red Cross. The victims were scattered among area hospitals and at least a half-dozen critically injured people were taken to the North Carolina Jaycee Burn Center in Chapel Hill.
Smoke billows Wednesday from the factory explosion in Kinston, N.C., in which at least two people were killed. Authorities are investigating the cause. The plant has been cited for OSHA violations.
Carolyn Merritt, chairman of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, said her team would talk to the workers to “try to determine what processes were going on and what chemicals were being used.”
The federal agency’s review could take from six months to a year. The FBI, State Bureau of Investigation, Occupational Safety and Health Administration and other agencies also sent investigators.
EARLIER OSHA VIOLATIONS
The factory makes syringe plungers and IV fitments and employs about 225 people in this city of 25,000 about 70 miles southeast of Raleigh.
West Pharmaceutical Services Inc., based in Lionville, Pa., near Philadelphia, makes pharmaceutical delivery and medical devices
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration said the plant was inspected in October, cited for numerous safety violations and fined about $10,000, which was reduced to about $9,000 early this month.
OSHA has inspected 443 facilities similar to the North Carolina plant and found an average of nearly six violations per site, compared with 15 at West Pharmaceutical.
The violations included problems with its electrical systems design, wiring and use; portable fire extinguishers; hazardous waste operations; and communications.
Since 1993, OSHA has inspected 443 similar facilities and found an average of nearly six violations per site, compared with 15 violations at West Pharmaceutical.
North Carolina is the site of one of the nation’s worst workplace disasters: Twenty-four employees and a delivery man died and 56 people were injured in a 1991 fire sparked when hydraulic fluid from a conveyor belt sprayed over a gas-fired chicken fryer at Roe’s Imperial Food Products plant in Hamlet.
No, I believe we had the fee whether or not we had the special "GTPxxxxx" numbered plates.
Current Rocky Mount denizen here! (but posting from CPAC)
CD
I didn't see any further followup stories. I pray for those injured.
Introduction to Dust Cloud Explosions
The hows and whys of dust explosions.
Thanks for the additional news links. I'm surprised how quickly this story seemed to have disappeared from the national scene.
Me too. I've got my tinfoil out of the cabinet, even if I don't have my hat on yet. This dust theory seems pretty thin. Searching the web on "polyisoprene" and "dust" comes up with not much. There are industrial data sheets on the substance which rate the dust as a nuisance and a possible breathing hazard. If you add "explosive" into the search, all you find are unrelated references in lists of various hazards. So nobody ever thought of this? ( There was one reference to dangerous dust as result of grinding or sanding rubber, but this stands in contrast to the operations at the West plant. )
I'm obviously no expert, but the incoherent and irrational commentary in the news reports is disconcerting to say the least. You have the constant references to the safety violations, which others have commented on this thread, and which anybody might surmise had nothing to do with it. Now there is a news item on google citing some guy's warning not to discount them. But what does that have to do with the explosion? Nothing! Isn't it weird that this is somehow supposed to lend credibility to OSHA? Like, "Oh yeah, they had serious safety violations, so OSHA knew something was wrong." But obviously they didn't. Obviously this explosion is a complete mystery. OK, my hat's ready!
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