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Fertilizer Explosion in Texas (Original Post) MadBadger Apr 2013 OP
Wow! That was a huge explosion! Pilotguy Apr 2013 #1
Lives up to the warning. limpyhobbler Apr 2013 #2
This is known as "too close for comfort". Spitfire of ATJ Apr 2013 #3
If there's a huge fire tblue Apr 2013 #4
It seemed they were at a safe distance.. I'm sure he wasn't intentionally taking a risk. Voice for Peace Apr 2013 #11
Wow, that was huge... Grassy Knoll Apr 2013 #5
Please get out of here! Paul E Ester Apr 2013 #6
This is what happens when you mix ignorance with chemicals.... ReRe Apr 2013 #7
Allowing hired guns CEOs to make all the decisions in our states and country fasttense Apr 2013 #8
Exactly... ReRe Apr 2013 #14
Anhydrous Ammonia is dangerous to work with. BillyRibs Apr 2013 #9
thanks for the first-hand perspective on these chemicals Voice for Peace Apr 2013 #10
Yes, they were watching the fire; the little girl may have suffered broken eardrums. Here is more: freshwest Apr 2013 #12
They have been controlling what is going out to the public... ReRe Apr 2013 #15
No telling how bad it is, or isn't. I remember the Jarrell tornado when I lived nearby. freshwest Apr 2013 #17
Who knows... ReRe Apr 2013 #18
The media eventually were given all the grisly details of Jarrell and the surrounding areas. The F-5 freshwest Apr 2013 #19
I too watched the Koresh raid... ReRe Apr 2013 #21
So does anyone know if the kid was alright? WhoIsNumberNone Apr 2013 #13
They were on the Today show. I read the kid is fine MadBadger Apr 2013 #20
They were CLOSE. It looks like they were videoing from the parking lot Hissyspit Apr 2013 #16

tblue

(16,350 posts)
4. If there's a huge fire
Thu Apr 18, 2013, 12:54 AM
Apr 2013

take your child in the opposite direction. I'd fear the fumes getting into my kid's system. Poor little girl. Who's the adult?

 

Voice for Peace

(13,141 posts)
11. It seemed they were at a safe distance.. I'm sure he wasn't intentionally taking a risk.
Thu Apr 18, 2013, 01:18 PM
Apr 2013

All the more shocking -- because you get a real sense
of what a distance the explosion traveled. I can't believe
the death toll so far is so low... when a whole apartment
building was destroyed?

ReRe

(10,597 posts)
7. This is what happens when you mix ignorance with chemicals....
Thu Apr 18, 2013, 01:39 AM
Apr 2013

.... And this is going to overtake all news today and days to come... 50-75 houses, nursing home, apartment complex... WTF?

 

fasttense

(17,301 posts)
8. Allowing hired guns CEOs to make all the decisions in our states and country
Thu Apr 18, 2013, 08:47 AM
Apr 2013

and you get really bad decisions like removing safety regulations and zoning controls for hazardous material manufacturing.

ReRe

(10,597 posts)
14. Exactly...
Thu Apr 18, 2013, 04:39 PM
Apr 2013

... "let them there free enterprises go, cause it can gall-darned regulate itself, yessiree, we'll do it, swear on our gran-mammy's grave. Fuck regulations of any kind. Safety regulations? Nope. Environmental regulations? Nope. Chemicals? Highly explosive? No problem. Quality/quantity control? Who needs gauges? It was just an accident."

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't regulations start going out the door big time under Ronald Reagan? I think even Jimmy Carter let some regulations on the Airline industry go in the latter 70s.

 

BillyRibs

(787 posts)
9. Anhydrous Ammonia is dangerous to work with.
Thu Apr 18, 2013, 12:06 PM
Apr 2013

That's why it is so well regulated in NJ. As a Licensed boiler refrigeration operator the Ammonia under my charge is regulated with the NJDEP, (Dept. of Environmental protection) TCPA, (Toxic Causality Prevention Authority) the Bureau of pressure vessel compliance. I am required to receive a 8 hour retraining in handling an Ammonia release and containment, take a pulmonary function test, and a respirator fitting each year. Jersey takes this stuff seriously! Every time I hear someone complaining about Ammonia or other toxic chemicals being so well regulated in Jersey, I point to things like this and say so this is what you want!?

 

Voice for Peace

(13,141 posts)
10. thanks for the first-hand perspective on these chemicals
Thu Apr 18, 2013, 01:16 PM
Apr 2013

I know that big government is wasteful and terribly
constipated.

However. I am not in favor of businesses regulating
themselves. There is still way too much cheat deceit
and greed, disregard for life.

freshwest

(53,661 posts)
12. Yes, they were watching the fire; the little girl may have suffered broken eardrums. Here is more:
Thu Apr 18, 2013, 02:41 PM
Apr 2013


That's the NBC story. The BBC story has details of the nursing home in which people were being moved because of the fire, but then the explosion collapsed on them:



I hope the little girl's hearing loss was temporary. There will be more fatalities and injuries. The wind was whipping the fire and spreading the ammonia, deadly for the lungs. Then the explosion complicated the situation. IIRC the first fatalities were firemen trying to put the fire out and an a policeman.

It's likely that workers were also injured. There are various industrial operations in these small towns providing off farm season employment. These are suburbs of Waco, which has modern medical facilities.

ReRe

(10,597 posts)
15. They have been controlling what is going out to the public...
Thu Apr 18, 2013, 04:53 PM
Apr 2013

... they will not let the media go out and survey the aftermath. Keeping news media holed up in that barn with that bunch of lowing constipated cows. I imagine it's beginning to stink to high heaven in there. They canned the first guy who came out and spoke to the media, as he estimated 60-70 dead. Next guy that came out lowered the death toll to 5-15.

They can take those 10 gallon hats and throw them in the fire. They DO NOT impress me.

They found the policeman and he was in the hospital early this morning.

freshwest

(53,661 posts)
17. No telling how bad it is, or isn't. I remember the Jarrell tornado when I lived nearby.
Thu Apr 18, 2013, 05:08 PM
Apr 2013

It was bad enough they kept people away because of what it truly was. Think of the Boston bombing but a much larger area. Shredded flesh of every kind, asphalt pulled up off the ground.

That was a F-5 on what had begun as a lovely day turned stormy. The main survivors were those who had the old fashioned storm cellars and used them. Going into the bathroom as often suggested does not save you when the force is such that it lifts the slab of houses into the air.

So what is going on is not really for media consumption eight now. These are humans, animals, homes torn to pieces. Screw the media and their ratings.


ReRe

(10,597 posts)
18. Who knows...
Thu Apr 18, 2013, 05:32 PM
Apr 2013

...can't trust what the company is saying (covering their ass), and can't trust the media. Guess we're just effed.

I guess I fall on the side of the media getting in. If we allowed government sanctioned killing to be shown, if we allowed battlefield scenes to be shown, if the public could see the aftermath of the carnage down in West, TX, maybe someone would wake the eff up in this country. The way things are going these days though, maybe there truly IS no hope for any of us.

freshwest

(53,661 posts)
19. The media eventually were given all the grisly details of Jarrell and the surrounding areas. The F-5
Thu Apr 18, 2013, 05:47 PM
Apr 2013
picked up the ultra heavy road construction vehicles along with wallets, human and animal skin and body parts and scattered them throughout the region - miles away.

The nails, glass, wood and metal shards from the buildings pulverized people's loved ones like a buzz saw and tore them into pieces. It all came out, but not in time to make advertising bucks off it.

I watched the Koresh raid in live time as the ATF went in and it was covered night and day on radio and television all the way to the end. These events were, as in West, more about humans and not about property or business.

What was done in Iraq was covered live time, when it suited the Bush administration. The MIC learned after the Vietnam era with nightly body bag counts announced by Rather, vets coming back in pieces and photo journalists feeding the public what was happening in Vietnam to take over media as Henry Wallace predicted they would.

We'll simply have to agree to disagree about this coverage in the small town of West, which I used to drive through once a month. Some things are not for public curiosity and not about politics.

JMHO.



ReRe

(10,597 posts)
21. I too watched the Koresh raid...
Thu Apr 18, 2013, 07:26 PM
Apr 2013

... live. I thought it was wrong, that they could have got Koresh and that they didn't need to kill all those innocent brain-washed people, especially the children.

We will have to respectfully disagree on this. Myself, I would rather know what is going on. Am against someone else making the decision about what I should and shouldn't know. I do agree about not letting them in right now for all the reasons you noted not to mention their own safety, but against the holding back of information, which I think IS going on by that company.

Hissyspit

(45,788 posts)
16. They were CLOSE. It looks like they were videoing from the parking lot
Thu Apr 18, 2013, 04:58 PM
Apr 2013
you can see here in the lower left:


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