Massive Explosion In Texas, Video

Every time I see an interview down there, I keep thinking of the King of the Hill episode where the Megalomart blows up. (And Boomhauer's 911 call ... Dang ol' MegaLoMart Dang ol' boom. man).
 
flyingron said:
Every time I see an interview down there, I keep thinking of the King of the Hill episode where the Megalomart blows up. (And Boomhauer's 911 call ... Dang ol' MegaLoMart Dang ol' boom. man).
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Ah Boomhauer,

My favorite Ranger, well maybe after Walker:wink2:
 
What I think everytime I see an interview with the locals is "Goddang, that's where I want to live."

Seriously, that just feels like one of the coolest towns I've ever seen. Very much like Edgewood, NM.
 
N801BH said:
Very Interesting report... I wonder if the plant operator purposely didn't notify the proper authorities of the actual amount of fertilizer..

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/201...of-chemical-that-would-trigger-oversight?lite
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I'm most interested in what the local FD first responders knew about what was at that facility when they arrived. If the management/owners grossly misrepresented what they had on-hand there, they should probably be at least charged with manslaughter for the deaths that occurred.

Again *if* there was gross negligence reporting the hazards present at the site, and the management didn't waive-off the responders due to the hazards present, I'm having a hard time figuring that this as any less a crime than what happened in Boston.
 
N801BH said:
Very Interesting report... I wonder if the plant operator purposely didn't notify the proper authorities of the actual amount of fertilizer..

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/201...of-chemical-that-would-trigger-oversight?lite
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Whoa. I did not know if you have over 400 pound of ammonia nitrate you are suppose to notify the feds! :eek: I buy it 500 - 1,000 pound at a time minimum, a pickup load. Maybe my dealer notifies them. :dunno: I better not even ask! That would set alarms off for sure. I use it on my pastures and yard. Back in the day we used it for clearing stumps. Dig a hole under said stump, add a few ingredients, set it off with a blasting cap, go find stump. :D
 
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Geico266 said:
Whoa. I did not know if you have over 400 pound of ammonia nitrate you are suppose to notify the feds! :eek: I buy it 500 - 1,000 pound at a time minimum, a pickup load. Maybe my dealer notifies them. :dunno: I better not even ask! That would set alarms off for sure. I use it on my pastures and yard. Back in the day we used it for clearing stumps. Dig a hole under said stump, add a few ingredients, set it off with a blasting cap, go find stump. :D
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Not just "the Feds".... the DHS. Yep, more than 400 pounds and you're on the radar of Homeland Security.
 
wsuffa said:
Not just "the Feds".... the DHS. Yep, more than 400 pounds and you're on the radar of Homeland Security.
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I have been buying it for decades. Pretty much the same amounts at the same times, and nothing has gone boom in this area. :D

We used a back hoe on stumps today, faster, costs less, easier move and to fill in the hole left by the stump too! The neighbors don't freak out either. :lol: Buying blasting caps today might raise a red flag today. :lol:

Crazy how the world has changed. I remember a movie you could watch produced by the government (USDA) on how to blow up stumps with fertilizer & diesel.
 
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N801BH said:
Very Interesting report... I wonder if the plant operator purposely didn't notify the proper authorities of the actual amount of fertilizer..

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/201...of-chemical-that-would-trigger-oversight?lite
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I have yet to understand how reporting the amount of fertilizer would have avoided the explosion.
DHS is interested in the diversion of Ammonia nitrate into the hands of terrorists. They care about proper accounting, securing the stockpile against theft and sabotage etc.

What this facility was likely lacking was a fire-marshals inspection. Heck, if we want 120 people in the ballet school gym, we need to get the place inspected (the other possibility of course is that the facility did get inspected but the official was lacking the qualification to assess risks from the particular chemicals stored).
 
weilke said:
What this facility was likely lacking was a fire-marshals inspection. Heck, if we want 120 people in the ballet school gym, we need to get the place inspected (the other possibility of course is that the facility did get inspected but the official was lacking the qualification to assess risks from the particular chemicals stored).
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Or the official was not provided accurate information on what was stored there.

The lack of municipal planning that goes into having a fertilizer plant located in a situation like this is astonishing:

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=31.815876,-97.088006&num=1&t=h&gl=us&z=16

Seriously, less than 500' from the homes and school? I don't know who was there first. Certainly isn't a lack of open land in the area.

Edit: I just researched more, and based on a 1971 topographic map, both the plant and the houses were that close together dating back at least that far. The plant was reported to be there since 1962.
 
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SkyHog said:
What I think everytime I see an interview with the locals is "Goddang, that's where I want to live."

Seriously, that just feels like one of the coolest towns I've ever seen. Very much like Edgewood, NM.
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They are genuinely nice there, Nick. Mostly Czech background. I used to date a girl whose family was from West. Very strong neighborly instinct. I guarantee you, this happened down the road in Aquilla or Abbott, the people of West would be all over it.
 
Jeff Oslick said:
Or the official was not provided accurate information on what was stored there.
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The way I understand it, they did report the ammonia nitrate to the state, who in turn provides the databases to county emergency planners and fire departments.
The failure to report the uninformed press is harping about involves the required reports to DHS (the homeys).

The lack of municipal planning that goes into having a fertilizer plant located in a situation like this is astonishing:

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=31.815876,-97.088006&num=1&t=h&gl=us&z=16

Seriously, less than 500' from the homes and school? I don't know who was there first. Certainly isn't a lack of open land in the area.

Edit: I just researched more, and based on a 1971 topographic map, both the plant and the houses were that close together dating back at least that far. The plant was reported to be there since 1962.
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Well, this is TX, they are not big on municipal planning. Evil goverment can't interfere with free enterprise, you know.

It sounds like the plant/storage yard has been there for a long time and a lot of the buildup happened later (the school next to the plant looks like an 80s building). So rather than 'how can they allow that fertilizer plant there' it's more of a 'how can they allow building a school that close to the plant'.
 
My gut feeling is the Adair family is VERY powerful in the local and state politics and they have been getting a "free" pass for years... The locals in West were not going to say a frickin word or their reputation would be toast.....

Unfortunately... That is exactly what happened..:redface::(..

Ps... I wonder if this clan of Adairs is the same as the world famous "Red Adair" who put out oil well fires using explosives..:dunno::dunno::rolleyes2:
 
weilke said:
The way I understand it, they did report the ammonia nitrate to the state, who in turn provides the databases to county emergency planners and fire departments.
The failure to report the uninformed press is harping about involves the required reports to DHS (the homeys).
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The concerning report I've heard/read is a reporting claim that there was no significant fire hazard present. *If* the operator actually made a statement to that effect, well....
 
Jeff Oslick said:
The concerning report I've heard/read is a reporting claim that there was no significant fire hazard present. *If* the operator actually made a statement to that effect, well....
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Well, they were sort of correct. The MSDS lists Ammonium nitrate as 'not combustible' yet the key hazard is listed as 'explosion' :confused: .

It's not that easy to get ammonium nitrate to go off by itself, a lot easier if you mix it with a substrate it can oxidize. It will blow if subjected to pressure and heat, e.g. from a blasting cap or after it is hit by explosive ordnance.

In a prior life I studied chemical engineering. During one of our inorganic chemistry classes, we had to analyze unknown substances. You allways hoped that the sadistic teaching assistant had not mixed a perchlorate or ammonia nitrate into your salt-mix.
 
We drove through there a couple times over the weekend, not much happening.
 
What we don't know yet was whether the explosion was from the ammonium nitrate or an anhydrous ammonia reaction.
 
Jeff Oslick said:
What we don't know yet was whether the explosion was from the ammonium nitrate or an anhydrous ammonia reaction.
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Interesting before and after pictures:

http://photoblog.nbcnews.com/_news/...ore-and-after-fertilizer-plant-explosion?lite

This should get you an overhead aerial shot of the plant:

http://ionenewsone.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/west-texas-explosion.jpg?w=640&h=439

This is the same overhead area in the most recent google maps picture.

https://maps.google.com/maps?q=west...2.929688&t=h&hnear=West,+McLennan,+Texas&z=19

Looks like the epicenter of the blast was in that darker grey roofed warehouse, more specifically the part with the higher roof away from the liquid storage (where mixing machinery to combine AN, potash and other components of the custom fertilizer would be located).

http://binged.it/13rAsMI

The vertical tank farm is bowled over but has grey blast marks on the side towards the warehouse. The vertical tanks between the warehouse and the anhydrous tanks are caved in on the side facing the warehouse. The horizontal (anhydrous) tanks look intact.

From my armchair google investigator perspective 1000miles away, my money is on AN stored in the warehouse being the main source of explosive energy.
 
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With all the shrapnel around, I'm not sure that we can say there wasn't another anhydrous tank, now reduced to a thousand bits. I expect the investigators should be able to pin this down relatively quickly. We also haven't heard if there might be a survivor who will know more about the sequence of events.
 
Jeff Oslick said:
With all the shrapnel around, I'm not sure that we can say there wasn't another anhydrous tank, now reduced to a thousand bits.
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Given how anhydrous acts, you wouldn't typically install an anhydrous tank indoors. If I am right, and the epicenter of the blast was in this warehouse,

http://binged.it/11g9c1Q

it wont be the anhydrous.
 
[email protected] said:
What's "AN"?
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Ammonia Nitrate

A very common component of fertilizer used in agriculture. However, if you add diesel fuel, you get something called ANFO (ammonia nitrate fuel oil) which is a common mining or quarrying explosive.
 
weilke said:
Ammonia Nitrate

A very common component of fertilizer used in agriculture. However, if you add diesel fuel, you get something called ANFO (ammonia nitrate fuel oil) which is a common mining or quarrying explosive.
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works good on federal buildings too
 
Anyone from KC long enough remembers the 1988 explosions that killed 6 KCMO firefighters. At a highway construction site, someone had set two semi trailers on fire about 3am. FD showed up, but didn't realize there were 50,000lb of ANFO inside (about 20k lb in one, 30k lb in the other). Blew two huge craters, and people up to 40 miles away felt the shock. Everyone at work the next day was asking, "Did you feel it?" I used to live about 4-5 miles away from that site, and drove right past it to/from work each day. I moved farther away about a year before it happened.

http://www.firefighternation.com/ar...irefighters-killed-1988-kansas-city-explosion

I think that was about 10x more that what was used in Oklahoma City.
 
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