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Massive Explosion in Beirut

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  • jordanmills

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    Crater pic, before and after

    A7vVGmcI.jpg
     

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    OLDVET

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    Anyone remember the West explosion? It was the same ammonium nitrate that caused that blast.
    My company investigated the surrounding structural damage and found houses 1.5 miles from the epicenter of the blast that had roof damage. The explosive force also caused a ground ripple (earth quake) that measured three miles in diameter.
    The cause of the explosion was a fire at the storage facility. The local fire departments showed up to put the fire out. No one, at the time, knew better than to add water to ammonium nitrate. The resulting vaporous gases are very explosive.
    Fourteen local firemen died instantly in the blast. I had a chance to meet the Fire Chief on one of my visits.
    He was in the storage area with his back to the fire when the explosion happened. He says he remembers turning around to adjust a water pressure gauge when the blast happened. He received a broken pelvis and broken upper right leg bone. He is the only person in the compound to survived.
    Be careful with your fertilizer!!
     

    oldag

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    Anyone remember the West explosion? It was the same ammonium nitrate that caused that blast.
    My company investigated the surrounding structural damage and found houses 1.5 miles from the epicenter of the blast that had roof damage. The explosive force also caused a ground ripple (earth quake) that measured three miles in diameter.
    The cause of the explosion was a fire at the storage facility. The local fire departments showed up to put the fire out. No one, at the time, knew better than to add water to ammonium nitrate. The resulting vaporous gases are very explosive.
    Fourteen local firemen died instantly in the blast. I had a chance to meet the Fire Chief on one of my visits.
    He was in the storage area with his back to the fire when the explosion happened. He says he remembers turning around to adjust a water pressure gauge when the blast happened. He received a broken pelvis and broken upper right leg bone. He is the only person in the compound to survived.
    Be careful with your fertilizer!!
    It is the ammonium nitrate itself that detonates. When heated, it reaches a state where it will detonate rather than burning or exploding.

    They did not put enough water on it to cool it.
     

    etmo

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    Jerusalem Post has a long memory for these kinds of things, and notes that Hezbollah once kept three metric tons of ammonium nitrate in a storehouse in London, until MI5 and the London Metropolitan Police found it in 2015.

    https://townhall.com/tipsheet/katie...ainst-israel-in-nuclear-style-attack-n2573756

    And they also remember how the Hezbollah leader once gave a speech about how they would blow up Israel's ammonia tanks in the Israeli city of Haifa, and other "oh yeah" moments showing how Hezbollah has been all about this kind of attack for over a decade:

    https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/n...el-with-same-chemicals-as-beirut-blast-637582

    IOW, not fertilizer, very high probability this was for a terrorist attack, hard for me to weigh the probabilities between Mossad blowing up their stash vs simple incompetence. Occam's Razor tells me incompetence and stupidity, but the Mossad has a very nice rep blowing up stuff belonging to Middle Eastern terrorist regimes.
     

    Renegade

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    The local fire departments showed up to put the fire out. No one, at the time, knew better than to add water to ammonium nitrate. The resulting vaporous gases are very explosive.

    Adding H2O to AN cools it. That is how a cold compress works. If you then heat this mixture, it gives off NO.

    Every FD should know how to handle the chemicals stored within its jurisdiction. To not know and fail to train rank/file, is wholesale incompetence at upper management.
     

    Darkpriest667

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    Adding H2O to AN cools it. That is how a cold compress works. If you then heat this mixture, it gives off NO.

    Every FD should know how to handle the chemicals stored within its jurisdiction. To not know and fail to train rank/file, is wholesale incompetence at upper management.


    I'm guessing OSHA doesn't operate in Beirut

    I wonder where th MSDS was on site :D
     

    Axxe55

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    Lost in East Texas Elhart Texas
    Apparently not in West, Texas either.

    From what I remember, the facility in West hadn't been inspected in some years. I think IIRC, it had sort of fallen through the cracks for inspections. That doesn't negate the responsibility in any way for what happened though.

    And here is my standing on that. In many industries, there are inherent dangers that go with them. Whether someone is looking over our shoulder and inspecting our procedures, or not, it's still the responsibility of everyone involved to monitor safety procedures and make sure they are being followed at all times. From the top, all the way to the bottom.
     
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