BromicAcid
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Chemical Plant Explosion!!!!
About thirty minutes ago I heard what I thought was lightning, the walls shook and the sky lit up. This was followed by minor bolts of lighthing.
Turned on the 10 o'clock news and what do I see. The local chemical recycling plant EXPLODED! Minor explosions are currently shaking my house
and people in my area are being evacuated.... I have a gas mask, yay! Time to choose a cartige! They are letting it burn and burn it is, insane
fire! The sky is all lit up, they keep saying ammonia is coming off the fire and that it smells like 'rotten eggs'. I will post some
relevent news links as I can. Supposedly the inital fireball was a mile high...
It's in the Wayne/Romulus/Westland area, I applied for a job there once.
[Edited on 8/10/2005 by BromicAcid]
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neutrino
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One mile? I wonder if the media exaggerated this or if it really was a nuclear-scale blast?
Have a camera handy? This sounds like quite a spectacle.
P.S. Congrats on your 1337 post. 
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BromicAcid
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http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/index.html
http://www.wxyztv.com/
http://www.fox2detroit.com/default.htm
Local news stations, no video up yet, it's been getting worse since it started, lots of explosions now....
Now they're saying that it's a solvent fire with oil.
45 minutes into the news and a story is finally up on the website:
http://www.clickondetroit.com/news/4831186/detail.html
[Edited on 8/10/2005 by BromicAcid]
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BromicAcid
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Although the fire on TV looks smaller like it's dying down the poliece came down the street wanting me to evacuate, I may leave, I may not. Wish
me luck.
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Lambda
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Bromic, are you within a half a mile from the accident scene ?
Wich direction is the wind blowing ?
If it's blowing towards your house, then get out of there !
Rotten egg smell dosn't sound good. Your gasmask may have deteriorated, or may not be suitible for H2S.
[Edited on 10-8-2005 by Lambda]
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Sandmeyer
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so much power, so much pressure, so little catalyst, so much polymer, Dr. Ziegler what have you done to the world, muahahaha..
[Edited on 10-8-2005 by Sandmeyer]
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zoomer
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Lambda's right, if you were close enough to feel the explosion, you need to be elsewhere until the air clears. Literally.
Z
[Edited on 10-8-2005 by zoomer]
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BromicAcid
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Elsewhere? This is the one time I can experiment freely without a fume hood, any strange smells will fit right in 
They have people standing in front of the fire on television, within 1000 feet and they are telling me to get out of a mile radius.... I know the
smoke is kind of going up and coming back down but I cannot trust the information the news gives me regarding anything to do with
chemicals.
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Lambda
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Bromic, now at last you can make your favorite Mercaptan (or Thiols as they should be called)!. I like to call them Mercaptans, for it reminds me of
the Merry Captain of all smells. Try some Butylseleno mercaptan, or maybe just some plain skunck extract, Ethyl mercaptan. The Butyl mercaptan is a
real neighbourhood banger too.
CNN has not mentioned this accident as breaking news !. The main topics have been: Columbia space shuttle success, Mineworkers strike in South
Africa, Irak bombings, Iran and North Korea nuclear dispute, Isreal's Gaza withdrawl etc.
Just keep yourself safe Bromic !
[Edited on 10-8-2005 by Lambda]
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praseodym
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Lambda
Columbia space shuttle success
[Edited on 10-8-2005 by Lambda] |
I thought it was Discovery instead of Columbia. Columbia disintegrated about 2
years ago while entering the atmosphere back from a space mission.
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Lambda
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I hope that BromicAcid is ok. Maybe he did afterall leave his house for safety reasons, only to find out that he was not allowed to go back anymore.
Praseodym, you are right, the Columbia disintegrated while entering the atmosphere, but the Discovery did not.
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chemoleo
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It's made it to Yahoo!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050810/ap_on_re_us/chemical_pla...
| Quote: |
Explosions Rock Chemical Plant in Mich.
By JoANNE VIVIANO, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 19 minutes ago
ROMULUS, Mich. - A series of explosions rocked a chemical plant, causing a fire that lit up the night sky and prompted hundreds of residents to
evacuate their homes.
ADVERTISEMENT
Authorities said no serious injuries were reported from the fire which broke out late Tuesday at the E.Q. Resource Recovery Inc. plant.
Andrew Crawford, 18, who lives within a few blocks of the explosion site, was one of about 300 Wayne residents who went to a shelter at the local high
school.
"My backyard lit up orange," he said. "It was like a bomb went off."
Witnesses described a series of loud explosions at the plant that shook the ground and shot flames and smoke into the air. The company specializes in
treating, recycling and disposing of hazardous materials such as airplane deicing fluid and industrial paint solvents.
By dawn Wednesday, the fire had subsided, but flames and smoke could still be seen coming from several tanks.
The fire didn't threaten any homes and there was no risk of it spreading, officials said.
Dan Gilbert, a plant spokesman, said one of the facility's two tank farms had been mostly destroyed.
Eight employees were working at the plant when an emergency horn sounded, and they were all evacuated and none requested medical treatment, he said.
"They really couldn't tell us any thing real concrete that would tell us what caused this," Gilbert said. "As soon as the
situation stabilizes, we're going to start an investigation."
The multiple explosions had prevented firefighters from getting close enough to determine the cause or learn exactly what was burning, said John Zech,
city manager of neighboring Wayne.
Firefighters did not attack the fire because there were no lives in danger and no risk of the fire spreading, officials said. The had no estimate
Wednesday morning when the fire might burn itself out.
Romulus Public Safety Director Chief Charles Kirby had urged residents within a mile of the fire to leave their homes. The area included about 1,000
homes in Wayne and 150 others in Romulus, officials said.
By Wednesday morning, 20 residents had gone to Oakwood Healthcare System's hospitals in Wayne and Dearborn, where most complained of a burning
sensation in their mouths or difficulty breathing, hospital spokesman Tom Worobec said. Most were treated and discharged, he said.
Hazardous materials officials had tested the air quality and found no danger present, Kirby said. The U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency planned additional tests.
Romulus, about 25 miles southwest of Detroit, is home to Detroit Metropolitan Airport. Mike Conway, a spokesman for the airport, said Wednesday
morning that flights weren't affected by the fire. |
Never Stop to Begin, and Never Begin to Stop...
Tolerance is good. But not with the intolerant! (Wilhelm Busch)
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vulture
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Funny, but today there was also an accident at a belgian plant where titaniumtetrachloride vapor escaped. The fire department didn't know any
better than to hose it down with water...
One shouldn't accept or resort to the mutilation of science to appease the mentally impaired.
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Lambda
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What an absolutely brilliant aproache.
Vulture, was the never ending, long lasting and apparently unsolvable language barrier again involved in there communication ?
An outsider could't possibly understand what I am now talking about, neither can I explain it to them.
Maybe, by reading the Bible about what happened a few thousand years ago in Babalonia, will shed some light on this problem.
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BromicAcid
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The police came to my house last night and told me to evacuate, so I donned my gas mask and went to sleep so they would think I left. It was
strangely comfortable to sleep in a gas mask but hot without a fan or open windows. It was still on fire this morning and is still currently on fire.
The roads leaving my home were barricaded this morning and some where still barricaded on my way home just now. Ironically the areas worst hit by
the disaster were not in the evac area, the fallout fell mostly about five or ten miles north east of me, there was a black dust that I noticed
swirling about on the roads in that region, like charcoal powder.
Very crazy experience though, supposedly they recycled wing de-icer for the air lines and non-flammable waste.... sure
The video and other pictures from wxyz TV are amazing and avalible on their web site.
See attached picture from WXYZ Detroit Television Channel 7
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12AX7
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Made it to front-page Wisconsin today. Thank God there wasn't anything poisonous in the fire 
Tim
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zoomer
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Since you've decided to stay, if you hurry you might still be able to do the rotting fish experiment (for luminous bacteria) they've been
talking about in Organics.
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The_Davster
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Well after this is over there may be alot of decommissioned parts you might be able to find a use for, as long as they are not too damaged.
Good ol dumpster diving
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chloric1
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Glad your OK
Bromic, hey glad you are OK. I heard about the fire at 11 this morning here in Indiana. Up north in Anderson, they had a magnesium fire last January
that was huge! I was too busy with school,baby, and work to watch. I wonder what set off the liquids at the recycle plant? maybe it was electrical.
[Edited on 8/11/2005 by chloric1]
Fellow molecular manipulator
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vulture
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| Quote: |
Very crazy experience though, supposedly they recycled wing de-icer for the air lines and non-flammable waste.... sure
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Quite possible if you ask me, from what I can see on the chopper footage it's mostly BLEVE.
One shouldn't accept or resort to the mutilation of science to appease the mentally impaired.
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Fleaker
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Most explosions of that size are BLEVE (at least in civilian areas). I'm glad to hear you're alright, I heard about it on CNN earlier today
and remembered you lived in Michigan. Any more news on what actually caused it, or is it still smouldering?
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