Explosion at fertilizer plant north of Waco, Texas

I had friends affected by this. That's why I'm upset by your disrespect.

 

You are a liar. You don't have friends.

And yes, justtxyank, you can call it a meltdown. It's not fun being accused by a ********er like bigtexxx of dancing on the graves of those who were killed in this tragedy. All because I made a general comment about today's modern Republican party and his hissy fit that Obama hadn't planned a trip there yet.
So yeah, I'm ****ing pissed off at this *******.

 

How insulting is it to dance on people's grave? pirc1 was clearly out of line with his comments.

 

The only thing that's disgusting and disrespectful is your insulting rhetoric while some of us try to have a rationale discussion here.

You've gone way over the line here. You need to stop trolling man. If you really wanted to honor the people who died and suffered, and if they are indeed your friends, how do you think they would feel with you using their suffering to make your cheap-shot political scores?

 

Keep digging that hole. Your credibility is now gone

http://www.ammoniumnitrate.org/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn6hb3kZ2NI

I mean, how do you explain the Texas city explosion then? God, you just can't admit you are ever wrong can you?

 

Bigtexxx is trying to make you meltdown. That's his goal. Don't give him the pleasure and fall for his game.

 

Why can't either you or RM95 have an adult conversation based on fact and reason? You could have avoided a lot of pain in this thread if you simply tried to articulate what regulations would have been present in other states (besides Texas) that would have prevented this tragedy from happening. Until you're able to do that, you're doing nothing but grave dancing, as I've said countless times before. You two would rather curse and call me names than think critically.

 

Thios statement is correct. The previous statement you posted is not. Do you understand the difference between the two of them?

The previous statement said "any ignition source" , and "combustion". you need sustained high heat, and then it decomposes. Combustion and burning refers to a reaction with oxygen. Again, it is rated as "0 = Will not burn"

Ammonium Nitrate is less flammable than an iPad. Here is the excerpt from the book the wiki writer used. No where does it say what he said.

Spoiler

Heating ammonium nitrate can present a severe explosion hazard. When
heated above 210°C, its decomposition is exothermic, producing nitrous oxide
and water vapor. In closed confinement, heating the molten mass can cause a
pressure build-up. Above 300°C, there is rapid evolution of nitrogen, water vapor and oxygen—two mols solid producing seven mols of gaseous products.
This can cause a dangerous explosion. In the presence of readily oxidizable
substances, such as fuel oil soaked into the pores of the solid or finely divided
metal, the ignition is self-sustained—occurring at lower temperatures, and
the explosivity is enhanced. Also, it can explode dangerously in a fire. At ordinary temperatures, the compound is stable and safe to handle. Calcium carbonate, phosphate or other substances are mixed with fertilizer grade ammonium nitrate to reduce its explosivity. There are many cases of loss of human
lives from ammonium nitrate fire or explosion.

Your confirmation bias has failed you. The reasonable question is, if it is so stable, why are there so many accidents? The answer is, because we need food in large amounts to feed people, we need tons of ammonium nitrate.

 

The point I am trying to make is you don't store this crap anywhere near a potential fire or you get what happened here or in Texas city. If you are saying this stuff was stored safety in the open air and wasn't the cause of that explosion, time will tell. But if they really had 270 tonnes of it and were "storing" it, then yell yeah it's explosive with a nice toasty fire warming it up.

Whether or not you can light the stuff with a match is immaterial.

 

Government run plants never blow up.

Signed,
Chernobyl

 

The thing is, there is no chemical at this plant that is a fire hazard. We have no idea what started the fire, but whatever it was, was reasonably unexpected.

It is obvious storing so much of it was a factor. We don't know how much they had but I doubt it was not 270 tons which is what they reported to having last year. However much they had was too much at one time.

I only say they didn't have 270 tons because a similar amount exploded in France and made this giant crater

In Texas City they didn't understand the nature of an oxidizer like AN. They closer the ship up which increased the internal heat, and then pumped in super heated steam which also increased the internal heat. This heated the chemical so hard it exploded. Typically to make AN explode you need to have a fuel mixed up with it very well. In OKC they used diesel fuel. Use an ignition source to burn the diesel fuel, they fuel burning heats the AN to very high temps, the AN rapidly devoles from a solid to a gas at a ratio of 2 to 7. This is called a binary explosive, because on their own neither diesel fuel or ammonium nitrate, is an explosive.

 

It wasn't stored outside in a open air pile. It was in a building, which is another factor in this explosion. Like almost all of these types of accidents, it is never one factor.

 

Might be a criminal action now - this is a bit of a bizarre and weird twist.

http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2013/05/bryce_reed_texas_paramedic_arrest.php?ref=fpa

Texas Paramedic Showed Signs Of Deeper Turmoil Since Blast


Several times in the past week, Bryce Reed posted on Facebook about how hard recent days have been.

“Integrity is so hard, especially when it is attacked,” Reed wrote in a post time-stamped 2:55 a.m. on Monday. “I am so sick of being strong. I am so sick of crying. You try to do the right thing, and get kicked for it. I’m so done. I seek no accolades or commendations, I simply wanted to honor the fallen.”

Six and a half hours later, he wrote another post.

“Last night was very hard, but I know I worried a lot of you and I am so very sorry,” Reed wrote. “I am incredibly emotional right now, and it seems like every time I turn around somebody is critiquing me. I’m vertical/breathing so I really cant complain, but I would encourage all of you to follow this: LOVE, not fake love, but LOVE one another.”

Reed, a volunteer paramedic in West, Texas, had been among the first people on the scene of the April 17 fertilizer plant fire and explosion in the town, which left 15 people dead and around 200 others injured. In the aftermath of the tragedy, Reed spoke with several media outlets about his experience at the scene. At a public memorial last month for the 12 people killed responding to the fire at the plant, Reed appeared in a videotaped eulogy for Cyrus Reed, a volunteer firefighter from Abbott, Texas, who Bryce Reed referred to as his “brother,” though the two were not related.

Whatever prompted the anguished Facebook posts, things took another turn on Friday, when Reed was charged in federal court with possession of a destructive device. According to an FBI affidavit, an Abbott resident had “unwittingly” taken possession of pipe bomb components from Reed on April 26. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Western District of Texas said Friday that authorities would not speculate “at this time” about any connection between the destructive device and the explosion. Yet that statement was issued several hours after Texas authorities announced they were launching a criminal investigation into the explosion.

Speaking to The Dallas Morning News, Reed’s stepfather, Gary Nelson, said there was “not a chance” that Reed was involved in the explosion.

“He’s been tore up about it,” Nelson said.

Nelson said Reed’s family is “100 percent behind him.”

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

Then, on Wednesday, Reed wrote that he was going to take a break from Facebook to “reflect.”

“I assure you that I’m ok,” he wrote. “God bless you all, and please if you heed nothing else I have said, love one another. God bless. Bryce.”

Reed’s attorney, Jonathan Sibley, did not immediately return a request for comment from TPM. The Morning News, meanwhile, reached Bryce Reed’s wife, Brittany Reed, early on Friday. She declined to comment.

“I can’t,” Brittany Reed told the newspaper. “No comment, no comment, no comment right now.”

 

Meant to put this in the more civilized thread...

 

The US Chemical Safety Board said Thursday a West, Texas, fertilizer facility that exploded earlier this year fell between the cracks of the US safety regulation network that needs to be updated.

 

As a former Land Planner, I just wonder how a fertilizer plant ended up between a school and a retirement home. I assume it was there first but what idiots develop around it?

It certainly illustrates the logic of zoning when free marketers argue against it.