Fertilizer plant explodes in West, Texas

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ronne

ronne

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Tuco_sl said:
I know fertilizer can be explosive, but I would have never guessed that a fertiziler plant had that potential to explode. I just assumed that you could make a bomb by processing fertiziler. So yeah, I bear no judgement on a guy who stopped what looks like a mile away from a factory that's on fire.
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According to the internet, which obviously makes me an expert, part of what happens at those places is the capture of the gases and other chemicals the stuff exudes/breaks down in to. Some of those gases/chemicals being nitrate and other such highly explosive things.
 
Araysar

Loser Araysar

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If you look on the left, you can see something come in from the air right before the explosion

PROBABLY A MISSILE
 
ronne

ronne

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Seismograph of the blast

rrr_img_21540.jpg
 
Lithose

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Mixtilplix_sl said:
Awesome dad! "Hey kids how's about we go drive up to that burning fertilizer plant to get a better view!"
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Even if he knew it was a plant full of nitrate, they were still quarter of a mile out, easy. There was no way to predict THAT kind of explosion given the distances involved. I'm sure in the coming weeks we'll find this company violated several storage regulations on how much fertilizer they could store in a single area--every time there is one of these explosions, that's almost always the story afterword.
 
Burnem Wizfyre

Burnem Wizfyre

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Looks like two (only way I can describe it atm) lightning bolts of fire came just to the left of the camera that looks like it could have hit him. Kick ass video he captured (at least from the gif not the actual upload lol) and I am glad he caught it, hope his kids are ok, that really shook me the kid pleading with the father to get out of there.
 
Araysar

Loser Araysar

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Lithose_sl said:
Even if he knew it was a plant full of nitrate, they were still 3/4 of a mile out, easy. There was no way to predict THAT kind of explosion given the distances involved. I'm sure in the coming weeks we'll find this company violated several storage regulations on how much fertilizer they could store in a single area--every time there is one of these explosions, that's almost always the story afterword.
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Stupid government regulations
 
D

Desidero

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That's pretty crazy. There were a bunch of houses in range as well as the nursing home that someone mentioned.

Here's where the guy seems to be. The yellow dot is the truck's location (school parking lot), and the red dot is the explosion site:
rrr_img_21543.jpg


...and here's an overlay to show parts of town that would've felt about the same force as the guy in the truck:
rrr_img_21542.jpg



--
Spoiler because I can't seem to delete a bad attachment from this post and it shows up automatically if I don't insert it inline...
rrr_img_21541.jpg
 
Tarrant

Tarrant

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Ugh...huge apartment complex right next door. Those poor people...(goes for everyone involved of course)

ugh. been a bad few days.
 
Araysar

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good thing thing they have a hospital next door, unless that thing is in shambles too
 
Zindan

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The structure on the right side of N. Reagan St is a two story apartment complex. The entire upper floor was destroyed by the blast, hoping everyone got out well before the blast. The structure on the left of that road was the old-folks home, no idea what its condition is now, but I'd think it took a heavy hit.
 
Hekotat

Hekotat

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Holy shit that video is insane, I feel really bad for making a Biff Tannen joke on Facebook earlier. Last I heard there were no casualties...



EDIT: When I say last I heard I mean before posting that joke.
 
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