Fertilizer Plant Explosion - West, Texas

Nogs

Fertilizer plant caught on fire and exploded

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/explosion-hits-fertilizer-plant-north-waco-texas-article-1.1319844

There are some insane pictures out there of this already



Looks like it might be the size of the PEPCON explosion

Sticks

Saw that on the news. I feel so bad for everyone in that town.

Place that small, there is literally zero chance that someone you know personally wasn't affected by this.

Marathon

They said on the news this morning that the blast could be heard something like 30 miles away.

JoeUser

According to early reports, it seems a fire broke out at the plant, and people were being evacuated when the fire possibly ignited some pressurized nitrogen.

Kochikens

I saw this picture, it is fucking insane. (I hope it's okay for me to post it? If it's upsetting let me know and I'll edit it out)

I feel so bad for everyone.

Mr. G

Here is a video of the explosion happening. Fair Warning: this is the scariest goddamn video you'll ever see, and I'd also call this a trigger warning because the cameraman's daughter is audibly terrified once it goes off

smof

Holeeeee crap. I hope her ears recovered.

Sticks

I'm assuming he wasn't aware that it was a fertilizer plant (seeing as he had his kid with him), so that seemed liked a safe distance.

But this is why you won't ever catch me standing around filming a disaster unfolding.

Things can go from bad to worse so very easily.

smof

The amount of destruction this sounds like it caused is crazy. I cannot comprehend what it would be like to have something like this happen in your town.

rhylith

@smof, most likely you DO have something like that in your town somewhere. It's unusual to have so much stuff built so close to it though.

Kaplar

This week sucks.

JoeUser

rhylith wrote: »

@smof, most likely you DO have something like that in your town somewhere. It's unusual to have so much stuff built so close to it though.

Yeah a nursing home, apartment and school were all right next to it.

Tef

Holy fuck, this is terrible.

I really hope there's not a lot of people seriously hurt or injured

Syphyre

This is going to affect a lot of people in that town, prayers are with them

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101

BBC has the number of people killed between 5 and 15, with over 160 injured.

I imagine those numbers will change though as it's still quite early.

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smof

I just went to the youtube comments for that explosion video to see if there was any report of the man and girl being ok afterwards. That... was a terrible idea. Man, all that talk of "tragedies bring out the good in people" really goes out the window when you consider fucking youtube comments.

Syphyre

Holy shit, I just watched that video. Damn.

(never read youtube comments. Never)

Duke 2.0

smof wrote: »

I just went to the youtube comments for that explosion video to see if there was any report of the man and girl being ok afterwards. That... was a terrible idea. Man, all that talk of "tragedies bring out the good in people" really goes out the window when you consider fucking youtube comments.

It brings out the best of people, not anonymous internet personas

And sometimes even they do some cool stuff amid the sea of horribleness

Kaplar

smof wrote: »

I just went to the youtube comments for that explosion video to see if there was any report of the man and girl being ok afterwards. That... was a terrible idea. Man, all that talk of "tragedies bring out the good in people" really goes out the window when you consider fucking youtube comments.

God. I just looked at some. They made me more upset than the video itself. Just...fuck.

Dead Legend

Well the person I know from West, his family's okay, but his dad's friends not so much.

rhylith

Dead Legend wrote: »

Well the person I know from West, his family's okay, but his dad's friends not so much.

Sorry to hear that DL.

Dead Legend

Just know the guy, but it sucks nonetheless.

Quoth

I am kind of amazed that someone thought it would be cool to put a school next to this plant

Why on earth

Bluedude152

Quoth wrote: »

I am kind of amazed that someone thought it would be cool to put a school next to this plant

Why on earth

Texas

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Hunter

Quoth wrote: »

I am kind of amazed that someone thought it would be cool to put a school next to this plant

Why on earth

Because 99.99% of the time there's no issue.

What the biggest problem was having an open, non-contained fire at the facility for over 30 minutes before starting evacuations. Then as the fire is raging in an ammonia nitrate plant, there are people close enough to film video clips on a smart phone.

You don't need to be a rocket surgeon to realize that when a building that makes and stores something that can go BOOM! is on fire, you should get as far away as possible from that place.

Quoth

I'm not trying to be dumb and naive but wouldn't it just be safer to not put schools next to things that have a higher than normal likelihood of exploding

Maybe not put apartments next to them either

We have zoning restrictions about that kind of stuff in this county

crwth

Quoth wrote: »

I am kind of amazed that someone thought it would be cool to put a school next to this plant

Why on earth

now hank we got a school over here and an old folks home over here aaaaand here we have a fertilizer plant. anything bout this rubbin ya the wrong way?

i hear what you're sayin and i agree. now, i think if we just take down a section of this here woodland we could squeeze in an orphanage and pet shelter

Hunter

Zoning restrictions don't cover what may or may not be grandfathered in.

Granted, if the safety record of this fertilizer plant was poor then I agree it's dumb to build anything else nearby, but this could be a one time event for a business that's been around for 50 years as well. It's really a toss up.

Uriel

Oghulk wrote: »

My high school is right across the street from a pharmaceutical plant and right down the road from a M&M Mars factory.

Can you get me some cheap factory direct m&m s?

Quoth

Grandfathered does make sense, yeah

I have to say though, would not send my kid to that school

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Enc

Quoth wrote: »

I'm not trying to be dumb and naive but wouldn't it just be safer to not put schools next to things that have a higher than normal likelihood of exploding

Maybe not put apartments next to them either

We have zoning restrictions about that kind of stuff in this county

As a general rule, Texas has some of the weakest zoning conditions in the country. The entire city of Houston, for example, has no comp plan. Many local areas and counties also refuse to develop comprehensive plans due to a long history of "landowner rights" inherent in the local culture.

LTM

Quoth, don't feel bad, I feel the exact same way regarding the school being there. Apartments, whatever, you roll the dice and take your chances, but schools should not be anywhere near places like that.

Also, regarding the guy and his daughter who recorded the video. Why the hell would you bring your child to videotape a fertilizer plant on fire?

FFS, people.

wirehead26

Landowner's rights shouldn't be an issue here, common sense should be.

JayKaos

Probably didn't know it was a fertilizer plant. Could easily have just been driving somewhere and "oh hey there's something on fire check it out".

Druhim

He may not have known it was a fertilizer plant. Just saw a fire and and thought, "hey, crazy. I should film this with my phone." I doubt he heard about the fire, grabbed his daughter, and drove over.

There's also many potential industrial hazards that the average person isn't aware of, so even if someone knows it's a fertilizer plant they may well not understand why it's a major hazard during a fire.

M.D.

LTM wrote: »

Quoth, don't feel bad, I feel the exact same way regarding the school being there. Apartments, whatever, you roll the dice and take your chances, but schools should not be anywhere near places like that.

Also, regarding the guy and his daughter who recorded the video. Why the hell would you bring your child to videotape a fertilizer plant on fire?

FFS, people.

It's possible the guy didn't know it was a fertilizer plant?

Or maybe he just didn't know the things in the plant were highly explosive. Some people aren't as well informed as others.

anyhow, he shouldn't have brought a kid to a disaster area, that is completely foolish on his part.