I did not know a fertilizer plant was capable of going BOOM in that capacity.
But that's my own ignorance, I assume smarter people already knew this.
Good, reliable rule of thumb: If a building is blasting out a gigantic fireball in an obviously uncontrolled fashion, do not posistion yourself and/or offspring on open ground so as to stare at it.
I mean the absolute worst case repercussion of strictly following that rule is that you and your children miss out on some ballin' uncontrolled fireball gawkin'
Hobnail on
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EncA Fool with CompassionPronouns: He, Him, HisRegistered Userregular
Also, looking at the area, the surrounding areas are all farmland, with the town of West being mostly a narrow strip of residential single family homes on pretty large parcels. The Middle School, the Plant, and all of the other commercial and industrial uses in the area are located on a even narrower strip bounding the eastern side of the town, which seems pretty consistent with a development plan in most rural areas.
The school isn't exactly adjacent to the facility. The parcels border each other, but have what looks to be a considerable amount of acreage (mostly sports fields) between the plant and the school buildings. While terrible in this scenario, it's not exactly a high risk potential danger to the middle schoolers.
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.
Does the video description say he drove up to it or something? I feel like he was just driving by and saw a fire and was all "I am a good distance away from that fire and feel pretty safe I will pull over and film this"
And since he was saying something 'it'll probably collapse soon' he probably didn't know it was a fertilizer plant and not just a warehouse or something
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.
For instance, that fertilizer chemicals can be so combustible. It's not uncommon knowledge, but it's not as well known as say, an oil refinery being on fire
I did not know a fertilizer plant was capable of going BOOM in that capacity.
But that's my own ignorance, I assume smarter people already knew this.
Good, reliable rule of thumb: If a building is blasting out a gigantic fireball in an obviously uncontrolled fashion, do not posistion yourself and/or offspring on open ground so as to stare at it
If a building is erupting with flames and I'm not downwind and several-hundred feet away I'm gonna watch it. It's not gonna catch the grass on fire and leap over to burn us alive. And unless you know it's a fertilizer factory you don't expect them to explode with such force. It's really easy for us to judge knowing it blows up like that.
I guess my criticism of the guy making the video is based off two assumptions that might be wrong:
1) Waco is small enough that anyone from there would know it was the fertilizer plant burning.
2) That after OKC, there's a solid majority of people that understand the components of fertilizer are volatile, especially when stored in giant pressurized tanks.
I might be both biased, and overestimating the public's knowledge of explosives.
BeastehTHAT WOULD NOTKILL DRACULARegistered Userregular
edited April 2013
holy shit that video
that poor girl what if her eardrums blew and now she's deaf because her dad decided to stop and watch a fire
Beasteh on
+8
EncA Fool with CompassionPronouns: He, Him, HisRegistered Userregular
Yeah, guy filming is not dad of the year material. He will be carrying that guilt for the rest of his life, though hopefully only that he endangered his daughter rather than deafened her.
I guess my criticism of the guy making the video is based off two assumptions that might be wrong:
1) Waco is small enough that anyone from there would know it was the fertilizer plant burning.
2) That after OKC, there's a solid majority of people that understand the components of fertilizer are volatile, especially when stored in giant pressurized tanks.
I might be both biased, and overestimating the public's knowledge of explosives.
I had no idea okcupid spread such awareness of potential industrial accidents
I guess my criticism of the guy making the video is based off two assumptions that might be wrong:
1) Waco is small enough that anyone from there would know it was the fertilizer plant burning.
2) That after OKC, there's a solid majority of people that understand the components of fertilizer are volatile, especially when stored in giant pressurized tanks.
I might be both biased, and overestimating the public's knowledge of explosives.
I had no idea okcupid spread such awareness of potential industrial accidents
No one in that town could have expected an explosion of that magnitude to have occurred. That video seems like it was a few miles away, he probably thought that he was a safe distance away. He wasn't expecting 60,000 lbs of high-pressurized ammonia to explode. No one was.
I guess my criticism of the guy making the video is based off two assumptions that might be wrong:
1) Waco is small enough that anyone from there would know it was the fertilizer plant burning.
2) That after OKC, there's a solid majority of people that understand the components of fertilizer are volatile, especially when stored in giant pressurized tanks.
I might be both biased, and overestimating the public's knowledge of explosives.
Why would anyone assume that something that was used as a bomb in one situation wouldn't be stored in a less-dangerous way by people not intending to use it as a bomb?
the guy, whatever his reasons for being there, is at a pretty respectable distance for what appears to be going on, which is a big-ass fire
that an explosion will reach out half a mile and pop your eardrums isn't really something that you could be expected to avoid unless you explicitly knew about the fertilizer in the first place, and even if you did know it could explode, it still seems unlike it'd hurt you that far away and even then, he seems to have gotten away with his ears intact
rubbernecking is natural and these people just hit the one-in-a-billion chance that it will bite you in the ass no matter how careful you are
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.
Does the video description say he drove up to it or something? I feel like he was just driving by and saw a fire and was all "I am a good distance away from that fire and feel pretty safe I will pull over and film this"
And since he was saying something 'it'll probably collapse soon' he probably didn't know it was a fertilizer plant and not just a warehouse or something
I didn't really intend for it to be an argument, I just stated my opinion about the dude filming and the assumptions behind it.
Do with it what you will.
I agree that he's a minor part of this story, which should focus on the content of that BBC link, and the criminal amount of negligence used at that plant which led to this "accident".
That fact that fertilizer goes boom isn't exactly common knowledge. It isn't suprising that a small town dad would think that he is a safe distance away.
On a different nte I'm afraid of what happened to the people at the nursing home. Old people are so fragile
+1
Magus`The fun has been DOUBLED!Registered Userregular
Judging from this thread, if an accident happens anywhere else in the world, it's a terrible awful event.
If it happens in Texas, what a bunch of fucking idiots, right?
Depends if it being Texas in any way could've 'helped' this happen such as state regulations being noticeably lower than other places. Though even then it would just be a good reason to show why those things are helpful, rather than make statements about Texas as a whole.
I say this as someone who isn't particularly fond of a lot of the stuff that comes out of Texas.
EncA Fool with CompassionPronouns: He, Him, HisRegistered Userregular
Look, Texas has the government that it wants to have. Sometimes that's good (they have a lot of individual liberties most states only allow in the boonies), sometimes that's bad (poor firefighter coverage, lack of local planning, etc). Regardless of the government of the state people are people. They are the same as Floridians, Bostonians, or wherever else you want to mention: some are good, some are bad. Some make noble decisions like going in to fight the fire without pay (like most of the firemen affected by the blast), some endanger their kids by rubber necking from an assumed safe distance.
All are people, none of them deserved this, and just because many places consider Texas backwards politically doesn't mean the good people of West in any way deserve condemnation, shame, or anything less than the same sympathy and support we gave earlier in the week for Boston (or anywhere else in the world when disasters strike).
Yes, it is possible that with more/any urban planning this might have been mitigated, but probably not. Shit happens everywhere regardless of how well your comprehensive plan is drafted. So maybe lets focus on not shaming or bringing politics into this.
Judging from this thread, if an accident happens anywhere else in the world, it's a terrible awful event.
If it happens in Texas, what a bunch of fucking idiots, right?
Depends if it being Texas in any way could've 'helped' this happen such as state regulations being noticeably lower than other places. Though even then it would just be a good reason to show why those things are helpful, rather than make statements about Texas as a whole.
I say this as someone who isn't particularly fond of a lot of the stuff that comes out of Texas.
I think you missed my point. You know what I do after events like this, where people lose their life, sustain injury, and see their property destroyed? I withhold my judgment and opinion about what went wrong until more facts are known.
And whether you like what comes out of Texas or not, I didn't say "gosh what a bunch of shiftless layabouts at the Boston Marathon for not recognizing those bombs".
So, in conclusion, fuck y'all, I'm out.
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I don't think what people are saying in here is really unique to this happening in Texas. It is, as should be expected, people that are understandably concerned about a disaster (and everyone in here still absolutely sees this as a disaster) and in an information void, are grabbing what details are available to try to make sense of it. Some of those details may be outright wrong, or our understanding of the ramification of those details may be very skewed, leading people to speculate and make assertions that they probably don't have the knowledge and experience to make. It's unfortunate, but it's also all too human.
I'm kind of surprised folks in the US don't know fertilizer can be explosive to be honest. I was a kid when the Oklahoma City bombing occured, but I still remember them talking about fertilizer being one of the main components.
I do hope this spurs other places to check up on safety procedures for buildings near plants like this. One tragedy is enough, let's make sure any uncontrolled plant fires include immediate evacuation of the surrounding areas in the future.
Judging from this thread, if an accident happens anywhere else in the world, it's a terrible awful event.
If it happens in Texas, what a bunch of fucking idiots, right?
...what?
someone asked "why is a potentially explosive fertilizer plant located next to a school"
one person responded "TEXAS"
a number of others chimed in and explained that yes this sort of thing is quite possible to happen in texas and in this area in particular due to a differing attitude regarding zoning laws and grandfathering in of properties and lack of resources and etc.
nowhere in any of that is someone denigrating or insulting the intelligence of people who happen to live in texas
Posts
I did not know a fertilizer plant was capable of going BOOM in that capacity.
But that's my own ignorance, I assume smarter people already knew this.
Good, reliable rule of thumb: If a building is blasting out a gigantic fireball in an obviously uncontrolled fashion, do not posistion yourself and/or offspring on open ground so as to stare at it.
I mean the absolute worst case repercussion of strictly following that rule is that you and your children miss out on some ballin' uncontrolled fireball gawkin'
https://www.paypal.me/hobnailtaylor
The school isn't exactly adjacent to the facility. The parcels border each other, but have what looks to be a considerable amount of acreage (mostly sports fields) between the plant and the school buildings. While terrible in this scenario, it's not exactly a high risk potential danger to the middle schoolers.
Does the video description say he drove up to it or something? I feel like he was just driving by and saw a fire and was all "I am a good distance away from that fire and feel pretty safe I will pull over and film this"
And since he was saying something 'it'll probably collapse soon' he probably didn't know it was a fertilizer plant and not just a warehouse or something
For instance, that fertilizer chemicals can be so combustible. It's not uncommon knowledge, but it's not as well known as say, an oil refinery being on fire
If a building is erupting with flames and I'm not downwind and several-hundred feet away I'm gonna watch it. It's not gonna catch the grass on fire and leap over to burn us alive. And unless you know it's a fertilizer factory you don't expect them to explode with such force. It's really easy for us to judge knowing it blows up like that.
1) Waco is small enough that anyone from there would know it was the fertilizer plant burning.
2) That after OKC, there's a solid majority of people that understand the components of fertilizer are volatile, especially when stored in giant pressurized tanks.
I might be both biased, and overestimating the public's knowledge of explosives.
https://www.paypal.me/hobnailtaylor
that poor girl what if her eardrums blew and now she's deaf because her dad decided to stop and watch a fire
I had no idea okcupid spread such awareness of potential industrial accidents
ban dichotomy
Have you complained to the thread owner yet?
hope the death count stays low
i suspect that man hasn't played it
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
Why would anyone assume that something that was used as a bomb in one situation wouldn't be stored in a less-dangerous way by people not intending to use it as a bomb?
that an explosion will reach out half a mile and pop your eardrums isn't really something that you could be expected to avoid unless you explicitly knew about the fertilizer in the first place, and even if you did know it could explode, it still seems unlike it'd hurt you that far away and even then, he seems to have gotten away with his ears intact
rubbernecking is natural and these people just hit the one-in-a-billion chance that it will bite you in the ass no matter how careful you are
If it happens in Texas, what a bunch of fucking idiots, right?
Do with it what you will.
I agree that he's a minor part of this story, which should focus on the content of that BBC link, and the criminal amount of negligence used at that plant which led to this "accident".
Steam
On a different nte I'm afraid of what happened to the people at the nursing home. Old people are so fragile
Depends if it being Texas in any way could've 'helped' this happen such as state regulations being noticeably lower than other places. Though even then it would just be a good reason to show why those things are helpful, rather than make statements about Texas as a whole.
I say this as someone who isn't particularly fond of a lot of the stuff that comes out of Texas.
Steam Profile | Signature art by Alexandra 'Lexxy' Douglass
Steam
All are people, none of them deserved this, and just because many places consider Texas backwards politically doesn't mean the good people of West in any way deserve condemnation, shame, or anything less than the same sympathy and support we gave earlier in the week for Boston (or anywhere else in the world when disasters strike).
Yes, it is possible that with more/any urban planning this might have been mitigated, but probably not. Shit happens everywhere regardless of how well your comprehensive plan is drafted. So maybe lets focus on not shaming or bringing politics into this.
I think you missed my point. You know what I do after events like this, where people lose their life, sustain injury, and see their property destroyed? I withhold my judgment and opinion about what went wrong until more facts are known.
And whether you like what comes out of Texas or not, I didn't say "gosh what a bunch of shiftless layabouts at the Boston Marathon for not recognizing those bombs".
So, in conclusion, fuck y'all, I'm out.
we also talk about other random shit and clown upon each other
absolutely horrifying, thoughts are with the town
I do hope this spurs other places to check up on safety procedures for buildings near plants like this. One tragedy is enough, let's make sure any uncontrolled plant fires include immediate evacuation of the surrounding areas in the future.
...what?
someone asked "why is a potentially explosive fertilizer plant located next to a school"
one person responded "TEXAS"
a number of others chimed in and explained that yes this sort of thing is quite possible to happen in texas and in this area in particular due to a differing attitude regarding zoning laws and grandfathering in of properties and lack of resources and etc.
nowhere in any of that is someone denigrating or insulting the intelligence of people who happen to live in texas