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Driving to work listening to WEEI, Boston's local sports radio talk show - listening to the ongoing coverage of our own tragedy here in Boston - when a caller from Texas spoke about the explosion. My heart is aching more than ever, my thoughts and prayers to all affected by this awful tragedy. This has been quite a week but I know Boston will share our prayers with West, Texas.
We can pray together for the grieving people in our states, and across our nation. Sad week.
Have faith. These events are due to human and or technical error. Just like the situation in Boston...is an error in human thinking. We are not perfect creatures and sometimes we stumble and fall. I can not fully express my concern and sadness for those in Texas. Better days will come- the sun will shine. Be thankful for all you have and understand that the world is not falling apart..that we will continue. Look around at your friends and family- the faces of your children...Humanity is good and love is the glue that keeps us all surviving. Bless each other...let love prevail and fear not.
The years of communicating with my American brothers and sisters has taught me one thing- of the thousands I have interacted with via this wonderful medium...I have learned to love you guys. If you are loved you live...I sought perfection all my life and never found it..but what I did find was that we all strive for goodness...good is good enough..
Take care of what has to be taken care of. Then move on to better days....our lives are just beginning. The best is yet to come. I firmly believe in that.
Love to all of you..that's all I can say.
Oleg, you always have an interesting perspective on things. Thank you from this sad Texan.
WFAA in Dallas is saying they are hearing over 60-70 may have already perished from this from the EMS director in West.
Prayers and hugs to the people of the community of West
I was watching this last night as it unfolded, and I heard that quote from the EMS director about 60 -70 people being deceased already.
I found that to be somewhat irresponsible to report that so early into the tragedy. Even if it would turn out to be an accurate count EMS usually doesn't release such a statement in the initial stage of a working fire, explosion or other disaster, and I've worked in the emergency medicine field for over 20 years.
Oleg, you always have an interesting perspective on things. Thank you from this sad Texan.
You have no choice but to think this way- What are we to do? We can't give up and roll over and die. I have not been in Texas for almost 35 years. As a young guy I spent a wonderful week in El Paso. All I remember is that the woman were beautiful - swimming in a hot pool at midnight...and going down the hill into down for the best pizza I ever had. Texans seemed warm -calm and friendly- They enjoyed their lives..
Anyway my sad Texan...thanks for appreciating me- cos' I appreciate you. Love has just bounced back and forth over a distance of 4000 miles...Cry if you must - then wipe away the tears and carry on...Some day I will go back to Texas- I was very comfortable there- It was as if I belonged. I doubt that the good people of Texas have changed...thank you my friend...do your best.
I've stopped watching CNN and such on this. Our local news here in Houston has better and more true information.
How this community has pulled together to assist each other, how they have managed to literally lock the town down to get this tragedy in order has made me proud that I live in Texas.
I've stopped watching CNN and such on this. Our local news here in Houston has better and more true information.
How this community has pulled together to assist each other, how they have managed to literally lock the town down to get this tragedy in order has made me proud that I live in Texas.
That's one thing about us Texans... we step up and help our own when it counts.
Lots of prayers and sympathy for all involved from a Texan who happens to reside in Virginia Beach.
I'm 99% sure it was a horrific industrial accident. It was a fertilizer plant, people, and it was already on fire. It wouldn't be the first time explosive material exploded when the buildings containing it were on fire. Let's not jump to conclusions. Most of the time when you hear hoofbeats, it ain't zebras.
again it was NOT a fertilizer plant.....they DO NOT MAKE FERTILIZER THERE
they get fertilizer in bulk and they distribute it they do not manufacture.....their TCEQ permit calls them a fertilizer plant, but that definition includes a place that buys in bulk and sells in smaller quantities and does not manufacturer
so you can see that an actual manufacturing facility looks much more like a chemical refinery because it is a chemical refinery not a series of warehouses and storage facilities and there is no reaction tower, no cooling tower, no piping or anything else that would be required to actually make fertilizer specifically ammonium nitrate on site
and yes you can make ammonium nitrate in small batches or in a lab just like you can refine crude oil into gas and diesel in a lab or in a very small refinery or make biodiesel or ethanol in very small plants.....but you will go broke in a day doing that just like all small refineries for crude oil are now gone in the USA and ethanol plants under 50,000,000 gallons are broke or were never even considered to be built because fertilizer is a major global business requiring a massive investment and requiring large scale production (just like all other commodity chemical and petro production) to actually make money.....so it would be impossible for this facility to be in the production of fertilizer because it does not have the facilities or the capacity and even if there was a facility that small it would have been broke decades ago
the Texas City incident was a very unique set of circumstances as well (just as this incident was)
at Texas City they had 822 tons in one hold and 1400 tons in another for 2,222 tons total which would be 83.3 semi truck loads
also the ammonium nitrate (vs anhydrous ammonia) at Texas City was very different than today....it was mixed with small amounts of very fine clay, paraffin, rosin, and a hydro-carbon similar to paraffin in order to prevent clumping from absorbing water during transport on the ship
ammonium nitrate is itself very stable, but when mixed with a fuel like diesel like in OKC the fuel is the reactionary compound and the ammonium nitrate is actually the chemical that slows the reaction of that fuel just long enough so that an explosion can take place instead of just a large rapid burn with very little concussive power.....that is why when a car burns with a tank filled with 30 gallons of gas it does not knock down all the things around it when that tank goes off.....yes there is a SMALL explosion (unless you are watching TV or the movies), but that small explosion is followed by a large flame shooting out which is the remainder of the gas burning off after the tank was ruptured......this VS an large explosion with much less flaming after
if that gas had something mixed into it to slow the reaction long enough until all the gas in the tank reacted at the same time it would be much more of a powerful explosion with knock down power VS a small explosion and flame out.....same thing with gun powder.....which is why the Boston bombs (most likely make with gun powder or some low level explosive) needs to be contained in a pressure vessel because that contains the force long enough so that pressure builds, all of the material goes off together and you have knock down power
if you were to take the same amount of the explosive used in Boston and wrap it in a few sheets of paper towels and a bit of tape to hold them closed or if you were to put it in ziplock bags it would not explode in near the same fashion it would have a very small explosion and much more flame out after the initial reaction
so in the case of Texas City it WAS NOT just ammonium nitrate it was ammonium nitrate mixed with fine clay and three things that are fuels and combustible which is why that particular batch was able to explode from flame and when it was confined in the hold of a ship it had a pressure vessel as well
if you take your home miracle grow, scotts or peters fertilizer and hold a match to it or even a little torch it will not blow up.....it will not even flame up like gun powder....and if you pour water on it it will get cold not hot.....because regular ammonium nitrate not mixed with a flammable material is very stable.....the Texas City ammonium nitrate was mixed with 4 flammable materials.....fine clay particles, paraffin, rosin and another product like paraffin
and yes fine clay particles can be flammable and even explosive like all very find particles can be.....like when the grain elevators were exploding around Houston in the 70s and around the country and can still today if very fine grain dust is not vented properly and allowed to collect and meets an ignition source.....or like one of the propellants for the space shuttle is very very fine ground up aluminum or like smokeless gunpowder which has the main component as "nitro" which is very very fine cotton particles (which is why cotton gins can catch fire but do not explode.....because the dust is flammable, but it is not contained in a shell casing or other pressure vessel it is in a large gin building)
so this facility in West, Texas did not manufacture fertilizer they bought it in bulk and resold it and their primary product was anhydrous ammonia which is not an explosive and not a flammable according to the DOT and EPA......and even if they did have some ammonium nitrate at the facility it would be to redistribute/sell to local farmers after being bought in bulk and sold in smaller quantities and ammonium nitrate is not itself highly explosive (take your plastic container of miracle grow and kick it around the yard like a football) and it is not highly flammable on it's own in fact it slows the flammability of things it is mixed with (but increases the force of the reaction) so hold a torch to your miracle grow after kicking it around and it does react with water, but it COOLS when it does that it does not get hot, flame up, or explode and ammonium nitrate is no longer mixed with things like fine clay, tree sap, waxes, and distilates to prevent it from clumping or absorbing water because those things DO make it reactionary to flame
so while what went on in West, Texas is a terrible tragedy it, like most other terrible tragedies, will have it's own unique set of circumstances that lead up to what transpired and it cannot be compared to something that was done on purpose like OKC or something that happened with a product that had the same use (fertilizer), but that was a different product in a much different circumstance
that facility is not a fertilizer factory it is a CO-OP that sells fertilizer they do not make it
also they reported having 54,000 pounds of anhydrous ammonia on hand which is not the same as ammonium nitrate
normally the danger with anhydrous ammonia is not an explosion it is a leak because it is heavier than air and it sucks the moisture out of anything it comes in contact with including humans and especially human flesh and lungs as happened with the anhydrous ammonia tanker truck that overturned in Houston in 1976
the explosion would have come from either the tanks getting hot enough to explode from the fire (and thanks that hold 54,000 pounds would be large) or water from fighting the fire entered a tank (even a slight hole and a small amount of water) and caused the anhydrous ammonia to react with the water and boil and explode
so they were not making fertilizer there they were bringing it in and storing it and selling it and it is planting time right now so of course they had a great deal on hand and the fertilizer in question is not the same as what was used in OKC and it is generally not considered an explosive and the DOT does not consider it flammable unless particular conditions are met which in the case of this tragedy could have been met (boiling in a confined space like a large tank, particular concentrations, or mixing with oils or other flammable materials)....and since this is a CO-OP they would have had fuel tanks for diesel or trucks with diesel fuel tanks on them and some with gas tanks as well
prayers for all involved, but this is not a fertilizer plant and the type of fertilizer in abundance there is normally a hazard from something other than explosion
You are right in that anhydrous ammonia is not a flammable. It is an inhalant hazard. On its own it will not explode and should not even with water. Pretty much the only way it can explode or catch on fire is if it is mixed with another chemical or gas. Even a large amount of anhydrous ammonia is not flammable. Now the nitrate part of the mixture is a whole nother matter. When we carry anhydrous ammonia it is placard as an inhalant hazard and non-flammable.
again it was NOT a fertilizer plant.....they DO NOT MAKE FERTILIZER THERE
they get fertilizer in bulk and they distribute it they do not manufacture.....their TCEQ permit calls them a fertilizer plant, but that definition includes a place that buys in bulk and sells in smaller quantities and does not manufacturer
Let's not jump to conclusions. Let's wait for actual facts...y'know...for a change.
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