Explosions at Waco TX fertilzer plant

http://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/world/explosion-at-fertiliser-plant-near-waco-texas/story-fnd134gw-1226623333230

moved over from Boston thread, 70 reported dead so far

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BIGU8LlCIAEjefB.jpg

photo from the famous Czech Stop, the only reason anyone had ever heard of West before today

Texas's history with refinery and plant disasters is terribly depressing.

its satisfying to me that this adheres to the same thread title template as the boston market one

local news is not announcing any confirmed deaths, but truly horrible. I stop at the Czech Stop (in the picture above) every trip to and from Austin. Best kolaches I've ever had. This week sucks.

http://www.wacotrib.com/news/fire/update-evacuations-ordered-in-west-after-fertilizer-plant-blast/article_51082f25-3238-5c50-9d12-3f11bafcf352.html

I'm hoping local reports that don't list large numbers of dead or injured are accurate. It was 8PM so the plant should have been pretty well empty.

me too.

Waco Tribune tweeted this less than an hour ago

WacoTrib.com ‏@wacotrib 51m
News from Hillcrest hospital CEO on West explosion: 61 patients treated so far. No deaths at this time.

hope that 70 deaths thing is missreported

already not the best day for the illusion of accuracy in breaking news reports.

someone needs to go Cronkite on this shit and soon

If the only dead are the police and firefighters on the scene it'll be a miracle.

yeah acab

deep breaths people, deep breaths

Dr. Bradford Holland ‏@DrBradHolland 10m
#westexplosion PACU is full. SICU is full. Still empty beds on the wards at Hillcrest. EVERY PATIENT WHO ARRIVED AT HILLCREST IS STILL ALIVE
Retweeted by WacoTrib.com

http://goo.gl/maps/h1MLd - map link

Really awful phone call on CNN a minute ago from a woman who's husband is a firefighter on the scene and who says that both of her dogs (outside at the time) were killed instantly during the blast.

oh no

I mean obv even I get that dogs not equal to people, but I spent most of the interview thinking "Jesus piers Morgan, you are handling this well but let this lady off the goddamn phone man"

Hannity/fox weirdly totally ignoring this story atm

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BIGUbldCUAA5UjF.jpg:large

ffuuuuuck

If I'd seen that from a distance without context I'd have shat myself.

Mayor saying that the blast zone was a 5 block radius, residential.

even with context jesus christ on a cracker

latest from Dallas news - 200 injured, 40 critically, and they are going door to door to make sure everyone's accounted for.

fuck

mayor says 6 or 7 firefighters still unaccounted for who went into the plant

just devastating.

that video al leong linked is fucking terrifying - at the beginning i was thinking "i don't think i'd want to be that close to all those toxic fumes...".

Hurry up and end shitty shitty week

From Dallas News (behind paywall):

The fertilizer plant that exploded Wednesday night in West, Texas, reported to the Environmental Protection Agency and local public safety officials that it presented no risk of fire or explosion, documents show.
West Fertilizer Co. reported having as much as 54,000 pounds of anhydrous ammonia on hand in an emergency planning report required of facilities that use toxic or hazardous chemicals.
But the report, reviewed Wednesday night by The Dallas Morning News, stated “no” under fire or explosive risks. The worst possible scenario, the report said, would be a 10-minute release of ammonia gas that would kill or injure no one.
The second worst possibility projected was a leak from a broken hose used to transfer the product, again causing no injuries.
The plan says the facility did not have any other dangerous chemicals on hand. It says that the plan was on file with the local fire department and that the company had implemented proper safety rules.
Advisories on safe handling of anhydrous ammonia generally state that the chemical is not considered an explosion risk when in the air as a gas. They add, however, that it can explode in certain concentrations inside a container.
“Emergency responders should not mix water used for firefighting directly with anhydrous ammonia as this will result in warming of the product, causing the liquid to turn into a vapor cloud,” says the website of Calamco, a growers’ cooperative in California.Explosive hazards with fertilizer are more commonly linked to ammonium nitrate, which is widely used both in agriculture and as an explosive in construction and mining. A mixture of ammonium nitrate and fuel oil was used to make the bomb that destroyed the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City 18 years ago Friday.

I'm watching my local news stream if anyone else wants to not be able to sleep either:

http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/Explosion-Rocks-Fertilizer-Plant-During-Fire-203508011.html?_osource=SocialFlowTwt_DFWBrand

CNN reporting at least 3 confirmed dead

Mayor saying that the blast zone was a 5 block radius, residential.

― O_o-O_O-o_O (jjjusten), Wednesday, April 17, 2013 11:45 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

christ.

you could say this about a lot of things, no doubt, but should they have people living that close one of these things?

I believe this apartment complex was roughly 500+ feet from the explosion:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BIHCctDCAAAfKmw.jpg

oh for some reason I assumed that was the fertilizer building :/

yeah i doubt theres much of the fertilizer building left, based on the size of the explosion

They've been showing helicopter footage of the plant from earlier tonight and it looks like it's just a burning heep of slag.

Have to admit, I breathed a sigh of relief to learn that the Czech Stop didn't get destroyed. We also go there every time we pass through West.

lol :)

press conf about to start http://www.ustream.tv/channel/occupy-austin1

kinda loving the cattle in the background

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BIHp71qCcAAO7M3.jpg:large

Christ thats terrible.

this probably isn't a planned attack, right?

I don't think there is any way to call that right now, but as was noted upthread, Texas has a history with this sort of thing.

Yeah fertlizer factory = accident waiting to happen, tbqh.

But the waco timing, and the OKC one this evening.... weird.

i wouldnt be so deterministic.

those place have strict safety regulations: someone/something screw-up.

xpost

Was Bush nearby?

May explain why a fire happened in the first place too I suppose.

From what I've read, the company filed a risk self-assessment that said "no risk" and government agencies only do an inspection every 20 years or so.

supposedly last inspection was 1985. god forbid the owners be prosecuted with 1/100th the fervor that we will prosecute the boston bomber, who killed fewer people.

on purpose

who killed fewer people on purpose

i'm all for prosecuting the criminally negligent, but i'm also ok with, like, the legal concept of "intent"

yeah i know. i'm just saying, it's unlikely the owners of this place are gonna get any real punishment.

Aside from regrets to their graves, the ill-regard of the community they were part of for 55 years, and likely loss of their business (would you insure the Adairs)?

Regardless of the legal consequences (and the the civil liability lawyers are lining up), they're kinda screwed.

gbx otm.

Nah, fuck that. That "No Risk" self-assessment was some "Fuck you, pay me" shit and I do not think the dudes in charged will (maybe can) be punished by the criminal system sufficiently.

ctrl-f: tons

yeah, the intent is to make money without caring if people die in the process, in fact tricking employees and local community to make them believe it is safe, which is barely better than outright killing people imo

Aside from regrets to their graves, the ill-regard of the community they were part of for 55 years, and likely loss of their business (would you insure the Adairs)?

if the West Texas Plant was owned by a parent company that also owns other facilities, then they definitely deserve to be investigated so that their other (likely half-compliant) facilities are as safe as they can be.

it has been really frustrating to try to find out information about who actually owns the plant, how many employees, etc.

http://www.thevindicator.com/news/article_0d5e78ba-ab68-11e2-81ab-0019bb2963f4.html

Sorry. Somehow glosses over your questions about a parent company.

glossed

A Texas taxable entity searchshows that Donald and Wanda Adair are the president and vice president of Adair Grain, the parent company of West Fertilizer. This article says Donald bought the company in 2004, and the plant had 13 employees.

http://www.phmsa.dot.gov/staticfiles/PHMSA/DownloadableFiles/Press%20Releases/west_fertilizer_rpt_redact.pdf

Manager Ted Uptmore's other business:

http://www.countryworldnews.com/news-archives/CTX/2001/CT1220_auction.php

The foreman at the time was named Jerry Sinkule, but all I can find about him is that his dad died in 2006.

ugh, you all are so great. THANK YOU. i'm angry about my declining google search skills - what search parameters did you use?

There's bits and pieces of it in the news, but I started by running the plant's address through some stuff I have at work. Dont' feel too bad. There's so much info about this in the news and very little of it seems to focus on the owners of the plant. Like, even the articles that I found about them being inspected or fined or whatever didn't even mention the owner's names until paragraphs in.

Wiki'd "west fertilizer explosion" -> saw that it was owned by Adair Grain -> googled "texas corporation search" -> found taxable entity search on Comptroller's site -> searched for Adair Grain and pulled up Donald and Wanda's names -> google newsed "donald adair"

although I could have just google newsed "west fertilizer" + "owner" and and found Donald's name in the first result, damn

striking page 1 from a couple of days ago

http://d3j5vwomefv46c.cloudfront.net/photos/large/760449924.jpg

in the boston marathon thread there was a lot of resentment of ppl pointing deaths not proportionally represented by the news cycle but idk, i found this piece pretty strong

http://www.thenation.com/blog/173964/boston-west-newtown-whom-bells-toll-whom-alarms-ring

wilfull violation of safety rules resulting in death, a crime with the motive "profit"...

yeah would love for some dem in congress to tie this in w/ kermit gosnell and call for legislation giving our regulatory structure the funding and authority it needs to do its job properly

Like they're gonna fuckin do that though.:(

Can anyone link me to an article that fully explains what safety violations if any caused this explosion and/or what rules would prevent this? Or do we not know enough about the cause of the explosion yet. Because so far what I'm reading is vague -- saying they had "numerous safety violations" could mean slippery floors or workers not wearing proper gloves.

Read and learn, company man: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West,_Texas_explosion

Had 1250x the usually approved amount of ammonium nitrate, from that article me, Johnny One-Note, posted earlier this week.

btw since you wished death on me in the past, amateurist, plz STFU for life about my posts.

okay wtf

At the time of the explosion, the facility had a permit to store nearly 54,000 pounds (27 short tons; 24 t) of anhydrous ammonia.[7] Despite this, company officials filed an emergency planning report with the EPA stating there was no fire risk or explosion hazard involved at the plant.[12][13]

According to a filing with the EPA in late 2012, the company stated that it stored 540,000 pounds (270 short tons; 240 t) of ammonium nitrate and 110,000 pounds (55 short tons; 50 t) pounds of anhydrous ammonia on the site.[14]

that second figure is waaaaaaaaaaaaay bigger than the permit allows

http://www.thenation.com/blog/173964/boston-west-newtown-whom-bells-toll-whom-alarms-ring

wilfull violation of safety rules resulting in death, a crime with the motive "profit"...

― rather ugged man (zvookster), Tuesday, April 23, 2013 11:51 AM (4 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

this was great, thank you. i stopped subscribing to the nation years ago b/c they had a few too many dumb columnists and there were always a bunch of really asinine editorials. but they can produce some good stuff.

"btw since you wished death on me in the past, amateurist, plz STFU for life about my posts."

huh? did i respond to one of your posts here?

oh i see, the bluebirds. you have a problem with bluebirds? and i don't feel like i have any obligations to you.

but anyway....

morbs has wished and outright threatened violence and death on half of ilx am i wouldn't feel obligated to treat him w/ any abundance of decency. i might advise patience though, that problem should sort itself out soon enough.

wtf?

jfc stop it

auto-FP

go peddle that kind of poison NOWHERE jesus wtf

if y'all are going to be shitty shitheads to one another, maybe start a beef thread or something

Sightseeing airplanes flying nearby had their wings shorn off,[4] forcing them out of the sky. T

I keep coming back to this detail in the wiki for the Texas City explosion.

wow I missed that O_O

seriously, completely uncalled for

http://www.local1259iaff.org/jimbelldoc.htm

Someone said there was a plane a little way from where we were standing. It was 50 feet northeast from where I was; it fell in back of Mr. Mitchells house. So Sgt. Pickens and I went over to the place and there were two persons in the plane, bones was stuck out of their back and legs were all broken up. We had a time pulling them out for his legs were wrapped around the foot peddle and brake.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ammonium_nitrate_disasters

reading this one would wonder why fertilizer manufacturers are sited in populated areas, especially in half-empty places like texas

From the LA Times:

Explosion in West, Texas, causes few hard feelings

Despite having had some of the worst industrial accidents in U.S. history, Texas has a long-standing tradition of shunning regulation.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-texas-safety-20130425,0,5824787.story

uh, some kinda odd things going on with one of the first responders, Bryce Reed. he was arrested this morning and charged in federal court with possession of an explosive device. there's been no official word of a connection with the west texas plant explosion, although it was also announced earlier today that they were opening up a criminal investigation on the explosion.

and then there's Reed's strange behavior:

But the sister of the Cyrus Reed, the firefighter Bryce Reed eulogized last month, told the newspaper that her family had been “fooled by Bryce Reed.”

“He convinced us that he and Cyrus were very close, like brothers,” Sarah Reed said. “But I want people to know they are not brothers, and he is not part of our family.”

Sarah Reed told the Morning News that she and her family had gone through Cyrus Reed’s computer and cell phone records and, as the paper put it, “found that the two first responders might not have been as close as the suspect led the public to believe.” Furthermore, Sarah Reed said, she had asked police to guard Cyrus Reed’s apartment, because she was concerned that Bryce Reed had been stealing from it.

While Friday’s trouble was public, Bryce Reed’s recent Facebook posts suggest he had also been dealing with personal criticism about his action’s since the explosion. In one post on Tuesday, he also mentioned that, on top of everything that had happened in recent weeks, his wife had left him:

"I have not been paid by the media, by press, I made nothing for delivering my brothers eulogy, and made NOTHING off of this tragedy. I was a shoulder to cry on, I found a GREAT new family, and was blessed to get to tell them about their son. THIS IS NOT ABOUT ME!!! IT IS ABOUT 12 HEROS THAT DIED TO SAVE LIVES!!!!! I am blessed to be alive. Period. I lost a lot in this and there have been INCREDIBLY kind people who are taking donations so I can get a HOME AND LIFE back, however, never would I PROFIT from anyones death. I loved and still love Cyrus A. Reed, and he loved me. I did and will do what I thought was right. Was I emotionally devistated? Hell yes I was. Have your brother die, your town explode, your crew be emotionally wrecked, and in the midst of it have your wife leave you because you are lost in your own emotions: ALL IN THE SAME WEEK, and see how you fare. People I am doing my BEST to hold myself together, but please for the love of God quit picking me apart. I have to bury yet ANOTHER friend tomorrow. God Bless"

holy shit

don't want to jump the gun on anything...if it's true that he's just a good guy paramedic who lost close friends and saw terrible shit and then his wife left him, then i can see him losing his grip on reality right now and not making much sense.

the thing between bryce and cyrus is weird. they have the same last name, bryce keeps referring to cyrus as his "brother", he's talking about how how "found a GREAT new family, and was blessed to get to tell them about their son", and about how cyrus loved him, and yet cyrus' sister seems freaked out and eager to place distance between the two? i dunno, the whole story is weird.

yeah it's hard to know what it all ~means~ but it's a little unsettling, even just on a 'dude is having a hard time with all of this' level

Investigators announced Thursday they are ruling the cause of the fire at West Fertilizer Co. that erupted in a deadly explosion as “undetermined,” but say the investigation is continuing and they have not ruled out: criminal activity, a problem with one of the company’s electrical systems or a golf cart that had been on the property.

http://www.wacotrib.com/news/west-fire-cause-undetermined-but-suspected-sources-narrowed-to-criminal/article_8e852384-4ef4-5490-b062-8daec1db71cf.html

a...golf cart?

if it was an electric one maybe one of the batteries shorted......... ..... ?

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-AldKviFvXl0/T1_VZ3IqBuI/AAAAAAAAAZM/BaMyXb44Cio/s1600/March+madness,+Gopher+%28Caddyshack%29.jpg