Fertilizer plant explodes in West, Texas

Mixtilplix_sl said:

Awesome dad! "Hey kids how's about we go drive up to that burning fertilizer plant to get a better view!"
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Even if he knew it was a plant full of nitrate, they were still quarter of a mile out, easy. There was no way to predict THAT kind of explosion given the distances involved. I'm sure in the coming weeks we'll find this company violated several storage regulations on how much fertilizer they could store in a single area--every time there is one of these explosions, that's almost always the story afterword.

Looks like two (only way I can describe it atm) lightning bolts of fire came just to the left of the camera that looks like it could have hit him. Kick ass video he captured (at least from the gif not the actual upload lol) and I am glad he caught it, hope his kids are ok, that really shook me the kid pleading with the father to get out of there.

Supposedly the blast rattled windows 100 miles away.

That's pretty crazy. There were a bunch of houses in range as well as the nursing home that someone mentioned.

Here's where the guy seems to be. The yellow dot is the truck's location (school parking lot), and the red dot is the explosion site:


...and here's an overlay to show parts of town that would've felt about the same force as the guy in the truck:



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Spoiler because I can't seem to delete a bad attachment from this post and it shows up automatically if I don't insert it inline...

Texas seems to be lacking in zoning laws.

The structure on the right side of N. Reagan St is a two story apartment complex. The entire upper floor was destroyed by the blast, hoping everyone got out well before the blast. The structure on the left of that road was the old-folks home, no idea what its condition is now, but I'd think it took a heavy hit.

Big Phoenix_sl said:

Hah so about 100 yards give or take.

God bless rednecks.

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Looks closer to 200 yards. Most people would probably assume they were safe at that distance.

Holy shit that video is insane, I feel really bad for making a Biff Tannen joke on Facebook earlier. Last I heard there were no casualties...



EDIT: When I say last I heard I mean before posting that joke.

Desidero_sl said:

Looks closer to 200 yards. Most people would probably assume they were safe at that distance.

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I would assume I was safe if and only if I didn't know it was a fertilizer plant.