Fertilizer Plant explodes in West, Texas -- 60-70 dead
- Thread starter NitroHonda
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Reconstruction of site planned for investigation.
Investigation retraces lines of Texas plant explosion | Fox News
Investigation retraces lines of Texas plant explosion | Fox News
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I actually have a theory on this. A friend of told CNN that Bryce has said that the explosives belonged to Cyrus..... I somewhat believe that.
In the memorial service. Bryce gave a very strange speech. One strange line from the speech was. "Cyrus loved fire. He loved it to a fault."
Also, yesterday the investigators listed 3 possible causes. Electrical, Intentional and a golf cart.
I am not buying the golf cart as a potential cause.
diehardbiker
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If it were run by electric, then I can easily believe that. It is because it runs on electric motor and there is two bushing in between shaft where the electric power is fed into, has plenty plenty of sparks there. It does makes sense to me.
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1) I have been around golf carts all my life. Generally they don't spark, they smolder. I have seen an over heated axel start a grass fire once though.
But....
2) This cart was sitting on a concrete floor in the seed room and had not been operated. Usually when a rare cart fire occurs, the cart is being operated. I have seen battery chargers burn at the receptacle....but usually that is a melting burn, not flaming burn.
diehardbiker
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You can't see it really. But give you an idea if you got electric drill, and look in back of the drill where there is ventilation to keep the drill cool, and if you run it, you WILL see sparks. All electric motors DOES produce sparks. The only electric motor would not cause explosives are the one that don't have ventilation out of motor and it is much more expensive than regular motor.
See for yourself
Here is link
http://www.ohioelectricmotors.com/dc-motors-used-in-hazardous-applications-1633
I HIGHLY doubt that golf cart got these kind of motor, and drive these kind of cart in explosive environment is SCARY! I don't have balls to do that.
Maybe I could explain where everybody will understand that this is no joking matter. Supposedly your in a house with mixture of 15% Natural Gas, 70% of oxygen, and misc of gases (Approximately mixture ratio prime for exploding), would you want to flip a light switch? Would you want to unplug appliances? Would you want old fashion telephone set to ringing? and so on? Same principle, when you hit the go pedal, there is switch in it, when you turn the key on the cart to turn it on, and you think nothing happens? Think again!
See for yourself
Here is link
http://www.ohioelectricmotors.com/dc-motors-used-in-hazardous-applications-1633
I HIGHLY doubt that golf cart got these kind of motor, and drive these kind of cart in explosive environment is SCARY! I don't have balls to do that.
Maybe I could explain where everybody will understand that this is no joking matter. Supposedly your in a house with mixture of 15% Natural Gas, 70% of oxygen, and misc of gases (Approximately mixture ratio prime for exploding), would you want to flip a light switch? Would you want to unplug appliances? Would you want old fashion telephone set to ringing? and so on? Same principle, when you hit the go pedal, there is switch in it, when you turn the key on the cart to turn it on, and you think nothing happens? Think again!
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It wasn't being operated.....it was parked. The plant was closed.
I know quite a bit about golf carts. I have several and I repair my friends carts all the time. They are really quite simple.
Also of note, this was the seed room, not an explosive environment. The fire burned for 32 minutes before there was an explosion.
diehardbiker
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Maybe it has faulty electric wiring and can start fire even when parked. Fire actually started before Kaboom. Investigators already knows more than you and I know, and would they elaborate their investigation? I don't think so.
It wasn't being operated.....it was parked. The plant was closed.
I know quite a bit about golf carts. I have several and I repair my friends carts all the time. They are really quite simple.
Also of note, this was the seed room, not an explosive environment. The fire burned for 32 minutes before there was an explosion.
diehardbiker
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Read the red font below. Anything can happen around electrical system. And yes, there is history of golf carts starting fires.
Crime not ruled out in Texas blast, authorities say
Thu May 16, 2013 3:28 PM
WEST, Texas — Investigators have completed their scene investigation but not ruled out criminal activity as the cause of a massive explosion at a fertilizer plant that killed 15 people and flattened part of a tiny Texas town, officials said Thursday.
The April 17 blast at West Fertilizer injured 200 and leveled part of the tiny town of West. Officials have spent one month combing through debris and speaking to hundreds of witnesses.
“At this time, the state fire marhsal’s office and ATF are ruling the cause of this fire is undetermined,” State Fire Marshal Chris Connealy said at a news conference Thursday. A criminal investigation continues.
Possible causes of the fire that triggered two explosions have been narrowed to a 120-volt electrical system at the plant, a golf cart or an intentionally set fire, officials said.
The golf cart was parked in the seed room and had been recalled by its manufacturer. All that was found of it were a brake pad and an axle.
“There’s a history of golf carts actually starting fires,” said Brian Hoback, national response team supervisor for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The batteries hold a charge and when they fail they can ignite the materials around them.
Kelly Kistner, assistant state fire marshal, said investigators estimated that between 28 and 34 tons of ammonium nitrate on the site exploded. But there were about 150 tons of the chemical on the site at the time, including 100 tons in a rail car that did not explode. The chemical that exploded was stored in wooden bins. Kistner said the ammonium nitrate was the equivalent of 15,000 to 20,000 pounds of dynamite.
Investigators had ruled out other possible causes, including smoking or a weather-related fire.
Officials have determined that ammonium nitrate exploded, but they do not know what started the initial fire. The fire created the conditions for an initial smaller explosion, which Kistner said was only “milliseconds” before the larger explosion.
Bryce Reed, a paramedic who responded to the blast, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a charge he possessed bomb-making materials, but authorities have stressed they have nothing linking Reed to the blast. Federal investigators allege Reed had materials for a pipe bomb that he gave to someone else.
The dead included 10 first responders and two volunteers trying to fight the initial fire, which was reported 18 minutes before the blast. The explosion registered as a small earthquake, sent debris flying more than a mile away, and left a 93-foot-wide crater at the site of a fertilizer storage building on site.
Rachel Moreno, a spokeswoman for the Texas State Fire Marshal’s Office, said the death toll had officially reached 15 with the determination by a local justice of the peace that an elderly man who died after being evacuated from the nursing home had been an explosion-related death. The nursing home’s medical director previously had said the man died of his pre-existing ailments.
That left investigators from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Texas State Fire Marshal’s Office with an investigation some compared to an archaeological dig. The agencies brought in dozens of agents to sift through remnants of the site, stacking any piece of debris that might be useful on blue tarps and hauling away the rest.
Two months before the explosion, the plant reported it had the capacity to store as much as 270 tons of ammonium nitrate, though how much was actually on site when the blast occurred is unknown.
Ammonium nitrate is a chemical used as a fertilizer that also can be used as a cheap alternative to dynamite. It was the chemical used in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
The fire marshal’s office had previously ruled out several possible causes for the initial fire, including another fertilizer stored on site, anhydrous ammonia; a rail car on the site that was carrying ammonium nitrate; and a fire within a storage bin of ammonium nitrate.
Daniel Keeney, a spokesman for Adair Grain Co., which owned and operated West Fertilizer, has said the company is cooperating with authorities, but declined to comment further.
Crime not ruled out in Texas blast, authorities say
Thu May 16, 2013 3:28 PM
WEST, Texas — Investigators have completed their scene investigation but not ruled out criminal activity as the cause of a massive explosion at a fertilizer plant that killed 15 people and flattened part of a tiny Texas town, officials said Thursday.
The April 17 blast at West Fertilizer injured 200 and leveled part of the tiny town of West. Officials have spent one month combing through debris and speaking to hundreds of witnesses.
“At this time, the state fire marhsal’s office and ATF are ruling the cause of this fire is undetermined,” State Fire Marshal Chris Connealy said at a news conference Thursday. A criminal investigation continues.
Possible causes of the fire that triggered two explosions have been narrowed to a 120-volt electrical system at the plant, a golf cart or an intentionally set fire, officials said.
The golf cart was parked in the seed room and had been recalled by its manufacturer. All that was found of it were a brake pad and an axle.
“There’s a history of golf carts actually starting fires,” said Brian Hoback, national response team supervisor for the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. The batteries hold a charge and when they fail they can ignite the materials around them.
Kelly Kistner, assistant state fire marshal, said investigators estimated that between 28 and 34 tons of ammonium nitrate on the site exploded. But there were about 150 tons of the chemical on the site at the time, including 100 tons in a rail car that did not explode. The chemical that exploded was stored in wooden bins. Kistner said the ammonium nitrate was the equivalent of 15,000 to 20,000 pounds of dynamite.
Investigators had ruled out other possible causes, including smoking or a weather-related fire.
Officials have determined that ammonium nitrate exploded, but they do not know what started the initial fire. The fire created the conditions for an initial smaller explosion, which Kistner said was only “milliseconds” before the larger explosion.
Bryce Reed, a paramedic who responded to the blast, pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a charge he possessed bomb-making materials, but authorities have stressed they have nothing linking Reed to the blast. Federal investigators allege Reed had materials for a pipe bomb that he gave to someone else.
The dead included 10 first responders and two volunteers trying to fight the initial fire, which was reported 18 minutes before the blast. The explosion registered as a small earthquake, sent debris flying more than a mile away, and left a 93-foot-wide crater at the site of a fertilizer storage building on site.
Rachel Moreno, a spokeswoman for the Texas State Fire Marshal’s Office, said the death toll had officially reached 15 with the determination by a local justice of the peace that an elderly man who died after being evacuated from the nursing home had been an explosion-related death. The nursing home’s medical director previously had said the man died of his pre-existing ailments.
That left investigators from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the Texas State Fire Marshal’s Office with an investigation some compared to an archaeological dig. The agencies brought in dozens of agents to sift through remnants of the site, stacking any piece of debris that might be useful on blue tarps and hauling away the rest.
Two months before the explosion, the plant reported it had the capacity to store as much as 270 tons of ammonium nitrate, though how much was actually on site when the blast occurred is unknown.
Ammonium nitrate is a chemical used as a fertilizer that also can be used as a cheap alternative to dynamite. It was the chemical used in the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing.
The fire marshal’s office had previously ruled out several possible causes for the initial fire, including another fertilizer stored on site, anhydrous ammonia; a rail car on the site that was carrying ammonium nitrate; and a fire within a storage bin of ammonium nitrate.
Daniel Keeney, a spokesman for Adair Grain Co., which owned and operated West Fertilizer, has said the company is cooperating with authorities, but declined to comment further.
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Umm, yeah I was aware that they haven't ruled out the golf cart, hence my mention of it. :eyeroll: I am not going off of articles that have a random quote here and there. I am IN West almost every day. I attend the pressers. I assist the families and I eat dinner with townspeople ....family style. I have a pretty good grasp of what is going on here.
add in my knowledge of golf carts and my history of work at disaster sites including 100's of fires and.....well.....Have you ever even seen a seed room. Toured a plant?
Idle cart fires, even electrical, result in a smoldering, melting heavy black smoke "fire". On the rare occasion when a golf cart results in a structure fire, the cart is normally parked in small enclosure and is the result of issues with the charger. Not the case here.
NitroHonda
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Umm, yeah I was aware that they haven't ruled out the golf cart, hence my mention of it. :eyeroll: I am not going off of articles that have a random quote here and there. I am IN West almost every day. I attend the pressers. I assist the families and I eat dinner with townspeople ....family style. I have a pretty good grasp of what is going on here.
Have you ever even seen a seed room. Toured a plant?
Idle cart fires, even electrical, result in a smoldering, melting heavy black smoke "fire". On the rare occasion when a golf cart results in a structure fire, the cart is normally parked in small enclosure and is the result of issues with the charger. Not the case here.
Some warehouses that I stripe... they do not allow electric stripers so I have to use Co2. Why? Explosion hazard. I say they're morons because the paint I use is highly flammable. I have to ground my machine at all times when spraying concrete. Sometimes their "safety" procedures go against mine. I once sprayed nitrogen in a boiler room. It is what THEY had on their spec sheets. I tried to plead with them but they would not budge.
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Yeah, one of my family members had to spray with CO2 in their warehouse as well. Which is kind of funny since they run electric and gas fork lifts and carts in there all the time.
BTW I was right in the TSD neighborhood a couple of weeks ago. I went to the fundraiser at La Barbeque.
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