Fertilizer plant explodes in West, Texas

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Soygen

Soygen

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We need one more explosion for the 'Explosion Thread Trifecta'.
 
Gravel

Gravel

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Ronne_sl said:
I wouldn't stand and watch it, but that's because I got burned (hah!) by doing so once before. Some dudes 2 story garage was going up structure fire style and the whole neighborhood was watching. Then, and I didn't know this could happen, his apparently massive fucking collection of half-empty paint cans starting exploding out of the roof of the thing and raining burning blobs of molten slag down across like a 2 block area. Ruined a ton of roofs/siding and caught some trees on fire etc. I've got a scar on my back from a bit of can landing on me and fusing with my skin. I like to tell bitches it's a bullet wound.

So yea, no more gawking for me.

tl;dr cool story bro
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Like 2 years ago my neighbor's house burned down. As cool as it would've been to watch, he had lots of ammunition and propane tanks stored in it. That stuff eventually started exploding. Yeah, fuck being near a fire. You don't know what's in that fire that might end up killing you because you thought it'd be fun to watch.
 
BrutulTM

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Ammunition exploding isn't usually all that dangerous. Without a gun barrel to direct the bullet they are just firecrackers, but I suppose if there was a large amount of it in a small area it could add up to a decent explosion.
 
Furry

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im about 100 miles away and didnt notice a thing. Huge tragedy, but i would of stood there and watched too. Anyone saying otherwise had something important to do- not some sort of special knowledge.
 
mkopec

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My guess is that those initial firefighters and others were not there spraying the blazing inferno with water, but maybe looking for people which were hurt so they could get them the fuck out of there?
 
AladainAF

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You also have to keep in mind re: training of the VFD in West. We're talking about a town of 2,100 here. You're not going to have the same kind of training there as you would in a big city. I think to the layman, when theres a fire, you put water on it. They probably should have had some level of special training around an potential (now reality) incident at the plant, but even so in a town with 2,100 people, you're just not going to get the same quality. Period.

It's unfortunate.
 
G

gn0me_sl

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I'm pretty sure if I saw a chemical plant engulfed in flames I wouldn't stand around taking video with my kids. Then again I can't speak for every idiot drunk redneck in Texas.
 
McCheese

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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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This sums up my thoughts (and probable actions, if I had been there) as well.

I think most educated people understand that fertilizer can exlode, but I, personally, had no clue that the explosion could be THAT powerful. The videos of it are insane. I would think that standing as far back from it as the people in the couple videos I've seen would be a safe distance.

Then again, I, like most people, have never experienced a real explosion so I have no concept of how powerful/dangerous the shockwave from even a minor explosion can be.
 
Tuco

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Between this incident and Ronne's cool story bro about flaming paint projectiles I learned a lot about getting the fuck away from burning buildings.
 
mkopec

mkopec

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McCheese_sl said:
This sums up my thoughts (and probable actions, if I had been there) as well.

I think most educated people understand that fertilizer can exlode, but I, personally, had no clue that the explosion could be THAT powerful.
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Yeah, from that video it sure looks to be far away enough. And in reality it was, no one really got hurt other than a bit of hearing loss, right?

Edit: And in all reality I would of probably done the same, expecting not to get hurt from that distance. And my two boys would of loved the ultimate fireworks show.
 
R

Remmy

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I have experience working at chemical processing plants myself. If you ever see anything scary happening like that I can't recommend rubbernecking. Even if things seem safe a slight change in the wind can carry death towards you. Pretty much pack up your loved ones and get out of town is the safest option.

This was a local anhydrous ammonia spill. I believe the camera's taking the footage are located about 1/4 of a mile from the local grade school. Luckily there was no class that day.


 
Soygen

Soygen

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^ That's like some shit out of a horror movie.
 
Hekotat

Hekotat

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Yeah I worked in Silicon wafer manufacturing for 12 years and some of the shit I learned from HAZMAT training in that industry scared the shit out of me. They gave me a little pocketbook that shows what each chemical code is an all the harmful shit about said chemical, how much death is rolling down our highways in semi's is terrifying.
 
Brad2770

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In 1989, there was a plant that exploded in Pasadena, TX. The school I was going to was less than three miles from the explosion. I was outside during lunch time and even though I was shielded by the building, the blast was very loud. Definitely one of the loudest things I have ever heard. We ran out into the field next to the school and saw this massive black plume of smoke. It was one of the scariest things I had ever seen. The "Air Raid" sirens started going off and the teachers started ushering us into the school. I was 12 years old. I thought we were just bombed and I was going to die.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillips_Disaster_of_1989



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