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Explosion at Texas fertilizer plant

ugahairydawgs

ugahairydawgs

macrumors 68030
Original poster
Jun 10, 2010
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Several confirmed dead so far, with dozens more feared to have the same fate. Some pretty unreal video of the blast was actually caught.


Been a rough few days.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
My brother in law is a firefighter here in the DFW area and last night he was called in to help with one of the more local departments who were on the scene. It's been a crazy night from what I've been told. Several homes have been destroyed and the damage is pretty extensive.
 
Certainly been a rough week. Not to be an ass but what the hell is a fertilizer plant doing in a residential neighborhood?
 
I don't so much think it was the loudness of the blast that caused her to lose her hearing. It was most likely the pressure differential and sound blast that cause the temporary hearing loss.

I heard a report on the radio this morning that this explosion registered on the richter scale at a 2.8. That is rather amazing (and disturbing) when you think about it.
 
Do we know if this was an accident or other yet? It just seems far to coincidental. The Waco anniversary is right round the corner.
 
I'm sure the next time dad asks who wants to go watch fire at an industrial plant whose materials are used in large bombs - the kids are going to ask if they could just stay home and toss lit firecrackers at each other. More fun, and safer too.

Sympathies to the families who have lost loved ones, their homes, their livelihoods.
 
dejo said:
I don't know for sure but could be that the neighborhood built up around the plant.
Click to expand...

OK, I'll restate my question. Who the hell builds up homes, schools and nursing homes near a fertilizer plant?
 
rdowns said:
OK, I'll restate my question. Who the hell builds up homes, schools and nursing homes near a fertilizer plant?
Click to expand...

West is not a large town. The plant was probably one of the major employers in town, so some people might want to have lived nearby.

As big as that explosion was, you probably didn't need to be very close to it for your house to sustain some damage.
 
ugahairydawgs said:
Several confirmed dead so far, with dozens more feared to have the same fate. Some pretty unreal video of the blast was actually caught.

YouTube: video
Click to expand...

Holy Crap. They are lucky they survived. MSNBC interviewed the local Congressman about the proximity of the plant to schools, homes, a nursing home. He said it was a 'wakeup call'. Really? This is not the first time a fertilizer plant has exploded. In many, many cases rules, regulations, zoning, are written in blood. From my time spent in aviation, this is definitely the case for airlines. It's been reported that the plant owner when going over emergency contingency plans, did not acknowledge this could ever happen. Of course, it would cost money such as buying out the surrounding neighborhoods or moving the plant somewhere else.
 
Wow, that was a pretty amazing video. Can't imagine how houses were allowed to be built so close to the plant.
 
rdowns said:
OK, I'll restate my question. Who the hell builds up homes, schools and nursing homes near a fertilizer plant?
Click to expand...

Do you live near a grain elevator, coal mine, wood mill, or flour mill? Those things can go off just like the fertilizer plant did in Texas. Anywhere there's lots of combustible dust in an enclosed space can explode like a thermobaric or fuel-air bomb.

Nuclear power plants are much much safer neighbors.
 
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