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?

Hang on, I must have driven past the Czech Stop when I've done the Dallas/Waco run.

I've been to plenty of those places in my line of work, but most of them only have combustible materials on site, not explosive. The difference between charcoal particulate matter and gunpowder, I guess.

Also, my first reaction to hearing this is "whoa, an actual airborne toxic event"

Although there is no suggestion that the events are related, 'Fahrenheit 9/11' filmmaker and author Michael Moore has tweeted: “This is the anniversary week of the Columbine massacre, the Oklahoma City bombing, the Virginia Tech massacre, the Bay of Pigs, and Waco.

Like two days ago in response to something else. This fuckin newspaper.

Michael Moore, twitter historian.

This fuckin everybody.

he's right though, weird fuckin week

wacko week

Like a national devil's night.

someone needs to go Cronkite on this shit and soon

Seriously. I know I sound like a crotchety old lady but I miss actual journalists reporting the news.

This week can't be over soon enough.

April is the cruelest month

wacko week

that was a joke..

... it's been a hard day

wacko week was a nostormo joke and it still is

all rights reserved

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc7/418774_182852108488004_1777999345_n.jpg

The above picture was taken five years ago.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,331039,00.html

Shit, I meant this one:

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

Alice In Chains + Will Smith suddenly rose to the top of the suspects list

lol

Show me a pic of Will Smith with Dr. Pantera and then we'll be on to something.

in the meanitime...:

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-sinkhole-swallows-3-cars-20130418,0,4497819.story

are you talking to yrself pplains?

http://i49.tinypic.com/25tb3w6.jpg

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tLWw24OQFdQ&feature=youtu.be

http://i.imgur.com/xDi97JN.jpg

Never live near a fertilizer plant.

Never live near a fertilizer plant in Texas.

Dramatic post-explosion video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skOJNFSVjRk

The apartments are bad enough. Who puts a school and a nursing home there? GOD TEXAS WHAT THE FUCK?

zoning laws restrict freedom

Parent of the year:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ROrpKx3aIjA

Super shitty move. I hope she regains her hearing. Lucky it wasn't worse for her.

Wait I don't get it why are we clucking at this dude?

Michael Moore has tweeted: “This is the anniversary week of the Columbine massacre, the Oklahoma City bombing, the Virginia Tech massacre, the Bay of Pigs, and Waco.

... Hitler's birthday

Waco had better get ready for a lot of wild speculation and half-baked conspiracy theories.

xposts He wasn't to know it'd go off bigger bang, was he?

I know if I was driving down the street with my daughter and saw a fertilizer plant on fire, I'd stick around and record it.

Gosh, imagine the cool pictures he could've gotten had this been a gasoline refinery on fire. The rainbows!

Wait I don't get it why are we clucking at this dude?

― charlie 4chan, internet detective (Hurting 2), Thursday, April 18, 2013 10:56 AM

cuz he doesn't know the right way to hold the cellphone when filming

Mohey Saleh 9 minutes ago
hold the phone sideways when you record video!!!

Waco had better get ready for a lot of wild speculation and half-baked conspiracy theories.

― Andrew Farrell, Thursday, April 18, 2013 11:01 AM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

OH this morning from the crazy, FOX-loving Breitbart-soaked ACORN-blaming right-wing VP who heads our office:

"It just does seem really suspicious that this happens on the 20th anniversary of Waco. You know, when the government murdered dozens of innocent people."

After she said that I got up and very loudly shut my office door.

Safety inspectors and OSHA are restricting our economic freedoms

I know if I was driving down the street with my daughter and saw a fertilizer plant on fire, I'd stick around and record it.

Gosh, imagine the cool pictures he could've gotten had this been a gasoline refinery on fire. The rainbows!

― pplains, Thursday, April 18, 2013 11:07 AM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

and how do you know he knew what the fire was?

I'd bet that relatively few people around that town knew that there was a fertilizer plant there or that it could be supremely dangerous, but when in doubt, assume fire bad.

supremely? wtf.

I'd bet that everybody around that town knew that there was a fertilizer plant there.

Something was seriously messed up in their safety protocols because that shit doesn't just explode, even when around a fire, iirc.

http://i.imgur.com/ojSMFK4.jpg

Seemed like a safe distance at first. I'm guessing most people couldn't fathom an explosion that big. Well, maybe they can now.

oh man, don't get me started on rendering plants. those don't explode, they just smell godawful

what jeff said. I mean when the video first started I sure didn't see it coming, I wasn't thinking "get out of there man!"

Even knowing it was a fertilizer plant?

Yes?

Fertilizer bombs don't use just fertilizer and an ignition device, I mean.

i assume the fertilizing plant stunk really bad

You can't stand too close to a burning fertilizer plant.

The plant, which was founded in 1958 and generates an estimated $2 million in annual sales, reported to the Environmental Protection Agency and local public safety officials that it presented no risk of fire or explosion, according to documents cited by The Dallas Morning News.
The company, which employs up to 20 workers, reported having as many as 54,000 pounds of anhydrous ammonia in stock in an emergency planning report required of facilities that use toxic or hazardous chemicals. But the report, according to the newspaper, 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, which again would cause no injuries, the report indicated.

Kind of thinking the firefighters might have sprayed water all over instead of whatever they were supposed to :(

monday-morning parenting = pretty obnoxious in a situation like this imo

yah mh OTM, read the end of that quoted bit upthread

worst case scenario should have been your neighborhood smelling like cat piss

something really messed up happened

Kind of thinking the firefighters might have sprayed water all over instead of whatever they were supposed to :(

Perhaps it's more likely that the heat from the fire raised the temperature of the storage tanks to a point where the liquid ammonia explosively vaporised?

i.e. pretty much like throwing an aerosol can on a bonfire

Czech Stop is open and serving the rescue workers. Best news today.

Not a good view on Google streetview, but Adair Grain/West Fertilizer had both big horizontal pressure tanks for the anhydrous ammonia and broad silos for solid material: grain, OR ammonium nitrate (the same chemical at the Texas City disaster. A fire from the NH3 could readily ignite any (NH4)(NO3) on site.

photo from the famous Czech Stop

oh shit

this is sus

not really? at least not until I see something p definitive to prove otherwise

Another angle:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTVUA-jJ11I

chriiiist

god almighty damn

hold the phone sideways when you record video!!!

srsly!

I do like that I am pretty sure when the video cuts off that dude is saying "hey dumb fuck get in the truck!"

http://i.imgur.com/s7m5WWO.gif

I never knew about this: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/04/18/17805986-chemical-blast-brings-echoes-from-ship-explosion-disaster-66-years-earlier?lite

wow that's awful, I had no idea

One of the propellers on the High Flyer was blown off, and found almost a mile inland...

http://mw2.google.com/mw-panoramio/photos/medium/67012012.jpg

crikey

No employees were in the factory at the time of the explosion, according to owner's son

http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/04/18/4785034/son-of-fertilizer-plant-owner.html

Finding forensic evidence to figure out what started the original fire is going to be a real tester.

they're saying investigation could take 6 months to find a cause

been at work and still haven't been able to watch any of these videos, but the compiled reactions are raising expectations

The fact you can actually see the shockwave in the last video, air being pushed so fast it ripples, is still an amazing thing to me.

y'all knew about this right?: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax_Explosion

Now I do. Wow.

A resulting cloud of white smoke rose to over 3,600 metres (11,800 ft).[43] The shock wave from the blast travelled through the earth at nearly 23 times the speed of sound and was felt as far away as Cape Breton and Prince Edward Island.[44] An area over 160 hectares (400 acres) was completely destroyed by the explosion,[42] while the harbour floor was momentarily exposed by the volume of water that vaporized. A tsunami was formed by water surging in to fill the void,[45] which rose up as high as 18 metres (60 ft) above the harbour's high-water mark on the Halifax side.[46] Imo was carried onto the shore at Dartmouth by the tsunami.[47]

My mind has never been able to fathom the scale of that.

There used to be a commercial that aired (Canadian Heritage Minute series) about a man who worked on the railroad warning incoming trains via telegraph(?) about the Halifax fire/explosion. It killed him but saved a lot of lives. So many feelings being reminded of that (& because my husband works a similar job). Xp

Surprised no mpls people have mentioned this one:
http://www.mnhs.org/library/tips/history_topics/73washburn.html

Flour mill goes up, completely levels building and blows out windows for a long distance, felt miles away.

There could be a whole topic on industrial explosions.

Press conference momentarily. Will update if they have anything interesting to say.

Obligatory namecheck of the 1988 PEPCON rocket fuel plant explosion in Henderson, NV
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PEPCON_disaster

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOPP4ZBgnoA

I am legit fascinated by this stuff -- I think we should have a dedicated thread!

Thread for talking about industrial explosions, accidents/craziness of the past

love the dude at 1:10 who rolls up to start slapping sense into fools to gtfo

Port Chicago.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Chicago_disaster

This video O_O

http://www.dallasnews.com/video/?vcid=24745624&freewheel=90850&sitesection=dallasnews

!!

I'm seriously going to start raving in the street soon -- CONFIRMS 5 DEAD / CONFIRMS 50 DEAD / CONFIRMS 35 DEAD

I'd rather have 'unconfirmed' until there's an agreed number, I mean jesus christ. Especially for people who have family in the area or are wondering what's going on, it's just irresponsible

ooops I guess I cut out the bit about looking at Google News and seeing conflicting headlines lol, sorry if context was unclear

No, your point totally stands

The rush to be first...

beat their heads in with typewriters

I mean, I see it all the time it's not like it's new to this but it's just GETTING to me after all the horrifying stuff that's happened this week

Any combustible particulate matter in the air becomes explosive, especially when you decrease the size of the particle. That's how fuel-air bombs work. My very first job was working t a historical village with a grist mill, and I had to constantly tell people not to smoke inside as igniting the air would kill us all

see my post about the flour mill above! But yeah, it's amazing how it seems like things like grain silos are innocuous and they're total death traps. In grain farming country, people die every year from either getting sucked under grain or a silo igniting. If you've never seen a grain dust explosion, it's worth searching out or recreating with a coffee can, corn starch, and a flame. Amazing explosion from nothing.

see also hay sheds/silage

lots of farm horror stories from that
but yeah, grain silos r scary

The idea flour is explosive is doing my head in.

Only the

Bah, bloody phone - only the really good stuff!

WEST, TEXAS --The mayor of this city said 35 to 40 people are believed to be dead in a massive fertilizer plant explosion “because they are unaccounted for and still missing.”

see my post about the flour mill above! But yeah, it's amazing how it seems like things like grain silos are innocuous and they're total death traps. In grain farming country, people die every year from either getting sucked under grain or a silo igniting. If you've never seen a grain dust explosion, it's worth searching out or recreating with a coffee can, corn starch, and a flame. Amazing explosion from nothing.

― Dr. Adorbius (mh), Thursday, April 18, 2013 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

In my Boy Scout troop, our big discovery was that powdered hot chocolate mix, when poured over a campfire, would have spectacular results.

feels like it makes sense, tons of energy in starches/sugars

mh's anarchist cookbook

full of tasty recipes

my 7th grade science teacher did a cool demo

also she did a demo where she filled a balloon with hydrogen and lit it on fire with a match on the end of a yardstick

in retrospect, she may have just been a pyro

I built a hydrogen generator for a 7th or 8th grade science project where you could ignite a soap bubble fill with the stuff.

I was definitely a pyro.

Cobra never killed so many GIJoes as did my fireworks, hair mousse, and lighter.

Jim Roberts ‏@nycjim

Fertilizer plants must tell US when they have more than 400 lbs of ammonium nitrate. Texas plant had 270 tons. http://reut.rs/13nAwwT

A minor oversight, no doubt

The idea flour is explosive is doing my head in.

Only when the individual particles of flour are suspended in air, with plenty of oxygen surrounding each one. This allows the combustion of each particle at maximum speed, so they more or less all burn simultaneously, releasing heat and gases. The gases expand rapidly explaining the explosive nature of the combustion, while the heat spreads the combustion to the adjacent particles.

def had The Friend who was good for that sort of thing. (wd-40 experiments, fireworks, increasingly bulky and dangerous pvc cannons, etc.) powdered non-dairy creamer was what we used. spectacular.

i haven't posted in any of the various This Shitty Week threads but man. glad everyone around here is okay.

conspiracy theorists having a field day this week

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-uBLF5I_7Y

these ppl are cunts

the people who believe that the government is faking a series of tragedies in order to justify a crackdown on civil liberties need to come to terms with the fact that the government is taking advantage of a series of real tragedies in order to justify a crackdown on civil liberties.

i don't know if the right word is "justify"

i think cracking down on civil liberties is a sincere, albeit horrible, response

sincerely meant to line pockets

what up bro

http://www.waltons-walls.co.uk/images/IMG_1112a.jpg

^surely ought to have only one note

oooooooooooooooh

Some pretty amazing photos in The Atlantic, along with a URL whoops:

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2013/04/texass-fertilizer-plant-explosion/100501/

I have been trying to figure out how many full time employees work(ed) at the plant. I keep coming up empty. Anyone have any ideas on how I could find out?

As someone who used to work for a site with a URL that contained "arkansassports," I can sympathize.

http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/infocus/tex042213/s_t14_41012670.jpg

i think this is the guy who shot that footage from his truck (see above). poor kid.

also the plant was basically obliterated

http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/infocus/tex042213/s_t17_66921494.jpg

is that his kid? xp

yeah.

Has anyone estimated the size of this explosion as the equivalent of how many pounds of TNT or other common explosive? I am curious how this stacks up to, for example, one bomber payload dropped on Tora-Bora or one cruise missile in Bagdad. It seems like that would be instructive and educational.

fucking hell

I say this because one of the most common reactions to the pics of this disaster has been to marvel at the force of the blast, the wreckage it caused and the death and havoc it caused. But people almost never think about the explosive power of the weapons we use in war. This would apply as much to an aerial bomb delivered by any attack airplane, including a Syrian airplane on Syrian civilians, but as it happens, the USA seems to own and use such weapons with greater regularity than any other country, and it seems like USA citizens should have a better grip on what this means.

For what its worth, the guy with the injured child on his phone isn't the one who took the "parent of the year" footage above. That was this guy:

http://pmchollywoodlife.files.wordpress.com/2013/04/derrick-hurtt-tsr1.jpg?w=600

those atlantic photos really give you a scary sense of the force of the blast, jeez

http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/infocus/tex042213/s_t21_66922480.jpg

^ a playground across the street

Awesome place for a playground at that.

http://i.imgur.com/QoKpd7x.jpg

Went looking for Terminator 2 dream sequence jpgs, but that got a little too real.

The arial shots are amazing, the place is just completely... gone.

you should see the helvetica shots yeah yeah i know

hurrr

i understand that the facility in question wasn't "supposed" to be dangerous. so the fact that schools and residences eventually grew up around it isn't all that surprising, or even irresponsible. either the plant owners/managers were completely dishonest about what they were storing and how they were storing it, or the emergency responders didn't understand what they were dealing with. or both. in any case, from what i understand, no one had any real reason to imagine this sort of event was even possible. which points to a colossal failure of regulatory oversight more than anything else.

I have been trying to figure out how many full time employees work(ed) at the plant

I got the impression no one, or no one much. was at the plant at the time as it was evening or night. Not sure, but I thought I'd read that somewhere.

yeah, that's what i've gathered, too. no one was on duty. the on-site casualites were all first responders.

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