Fertilizer plant near Waco TX, explodes. Get JMC there, stat.

[Boyiee]

Have they given any details as to the cause yet?

My guess would be fire.

I meant like accidental or intentional

Fire has no emotion therefore we can't answer that.

lol, I love you two.

Cail I've been seeing the same thing on LODD's since like 10PM-ish. As for the Darwinism, people love watching fires and always get way too close. But there aren't too many things that can happen as catastrophic as that explosion, even Propane BLEVE's aren't nearly like that. We had a Propane stockyard go several years ago, and like 10 tanks blew by the end of the night. Nothing like this. That explosion is just unreal, it's like a MOAB going off. He's close, but he's not overly close, and for it to be that massive I wouldn't call darwinism. After all, there were still Police Fire and EMS quite close working the scene. Even with fear of an explosion of contents they would still be somewhere close enough for an explosion like that to kill them.

[BaneTheBrawler]

jesus christ brill lol.


also jesus christ at that video. We almost had something like that happen here, though I doubt it would have been quite as big, since the plant itself wasn't manufacturing things that can explode. But a huge factory here caught on fire, all the workers got out, and they evacuated the town because the huge propane/etc tanks at the plant were in danger of exploding. They ultimately didn't, because the plant personnel managed (iirc) to seal them off and the firefighters managed to keep them cool enough, but it was a close thing. I do know, though, they they were improperly set up and there was some other stuff that was done wrong that led to the fire. I suppose if it had exploded it would have taken a lot more other stuff with it. It was right in the middle of town, on the main street, completely surrounded by homes/businesses. And we had firefighters from all over, some even from Wisconsin I think, and I'm sure they would have been hurt/killed.

Anyway, it was pretty devastating in a town of ~3000, and no one even died. The company decided not to rebuild (It's still an empty lot). Just the sheer loss of jobs was enough to fuck with people. I can't imagine how this is going to affect that town. Fucking sucks.

[archibaldcrane]

When I was a kid, a refrigerated dairy warehouse caught fire. The streets ran deep with melted butter and cheese, ruined one of the fire trucks on the scene.

http://www.nbc15.com/news/headlines/...121153104.html

Berggren says the butter fueled the flames,and created challenges.
"Two - three feet of butter you're wading through... some of our lines got cut off... we couldn't find where our equipment was."
A photographer captured him in the giant mess.
"Once the walls caved in, it came out like a river," Berggren says of the butter.

[Tarage]

When I was a kid, a refrigerated dairy warehouse caught fire. The streets ran deep with melted butter and cheese, ruined one of the fire trucks on the scene.

http://www.nbc15.com/news/headlines/...121153104.html

"It's cool guys, I got this."
http://thebottomline.as.ucsb.edu/wp-...en-butter1.png

[Helm]

Man what have you guys done to this thread... lol (I approve)

[Outlaw]

Okay what the fuck. I just watched the video in the OP now...who the fuck sits that close to an AN factory and records it while it's on fire? I'm assuming they started evacuating people, but that is not somewhere I would be near AND he had his kids in the fucking car, what the fuck.

We don't even stand that close to 500 lbs bombs without being behind cover and that's a fucking factory. What the fuck.

At least the kid learns the valuable lesson that their father is an idiot.

I saw the guy interviewed. He said they thought it was the school that was on fire. There is (was) a school right next to it. Still pretty dumb I guess to get close to a large fire.

[Kyte]

....which once again begs the question, "Zoning, how does it work!?!"

[Athas]

So this was definitely an accident right?

[Niiro]

All the fire and explosions aside...

I don't even want to imagine the smell.

[Mazmaz]

I thought you guys meant like... the truck driver should have zoned out...

[Abandon]

brill, haha

[archibaldcrane]

....which once again begs the question, "Zoning, how does it work!?!"

Seriously.

[Boyiee]

Someone didn't play enough Sim City growing up.

[Outlaw]

So this was definitely an accident right?

They said their investigating just to be on the safe side but likely it was. The stuff is highly flammable and it can give off fumes that are too. The least little spark would be enough to set the whole thing off.

Edit: Just read this too. I bet their safety standards slipped again.

State officials said the plant had been at the site since 1962. Its state authorization lapsed at some point, but after a 2006 complaint about a smell of ammonia in the air, it came back into compliance, and there have been no more issues.

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013...jured-160?lite

[Cail]

Last report I read said 5 Firefighters, 1 Fire Chief, 4 Medics, 1 police officer, and 1 unknown firefighter (freelance?) all killed

[Sepukku]

....which once again begs the question, "Zoning, how does it work!?!"

I work in underwriting/home appraisals and Texas doesn't believe in laws and doesn't really believe in zoning. Large swaths of Texas is unzoned; including all of Harris county around Houston. There is probably more acrage of unzoned land in Texas than the rest of the country combined.

[BaneTheBrawler]

Maybe this will help change that.

[shidobu]

was getting txt msgs from friends i played mmos with "YOU OKAY? I HEARD SHIT BLOWING UP IN TEXAS"

[Byrthnoth]

Maybe this will help change that.

Naw. Regulation is the reason that their profit margin is so low that they are forced to build their plant near the town so that they can pay their workers a little less. It simply cannot be the answer.

[BaneTheBrawler]

well, yeah, but forlorn hope or not, the ramparts much be charged. or something. i dunno. i just wanted to say "forlorn hope"