Deadly Texas fertilizer warehouse blast preventable: U.S
 

DALLAS (Reuters) - A deadly 2013 fertilizer warehouse explosion in Texas that claimed at least 14 lives could have been prevented, U.S. safety investigators said on Tuesday.

Between 40 and 60 tons of ammonium nitrate exploded 22 minutes after a fire broke out at the West Fertilizer Co warehouse on April 17, 2013, leveling a neighborhood in the town of West, 70 miles southwest of Dallas.

The ammonium nitrate, which the company supplied to farmers to use as fertilizer in the region, was stored in wooden bins within a wooden building that did not have a sprinkler system, said Rafael Moure-Eraso, chairman of the U.S. Chemical Safety Board.

"(The fire and explosion) resulted from the failure of a company to take the necessary steps to avert a preventable fire and explosion and from the inability of federal, state and local regulatory agencies to identify a serious hazard and correct it," Moure-Eraso said.

The fertilizer should have been stored in fireproof structures to protect it from possible ignition sources within a concrete building with a sprinkler system to suppress a blaze, he said.

Many U.S. fertilizer warehouses store ammonium nitrate in wooden bins, the board said.

The CSB said the state of Texas and federal regulators had much to do to strengthen rules to prevent explosions like the one in West, which injured 236 people.

"Our findings so far show that there is a patchwork of federal and state regulations with huge gaps that allowed this accident to happen," said Johnnie Banks, the board's lead investigator.

Volunteer firefighters battling the blaze did not know the risks they faced from fertilizer stored at the warehouse, because of lax regulation of volunteer training and inadequate preparations for fires at chemical facilities, he said.

Firefighting associations and the chemical industry offer differing guidance on how to fight a fire involving ammonium nitrate. Some say a large blaze should be allowed to burn while others say the flames should be doused with water.

full article...

reminds me not to make fun of Thai people anymore for cutting a bomb open with a blowtorch...

I'm pretty sure most people outside of Texas already knew it could have been avoided or at least contained. Doing things like building 2 schools and a nursing home less than 1000 yards away from a fertilizer plant, is usually high on the list of helping prevent bad things from happening.

I've been here in Texas for a few weeks now and some of the places here make me feel like I've lost years off my life visiting. Hill & wine country is great and has a lot of nice places to visit, but the beaches and coastal cities are horrible aside from Padre Island.

From the article:

So when it all comes down to it once again the government has failed in enforcing regulations already on the books. If nothing else the local Fire Marshal should've known that this was unsafe.

It proves that both are just collecting a paycheck.

' inability of federal, state and local regulatory agencies to identify a serious hazard and correct it," '

from the same article.. why would the federal, state, and local regulatory agencies not be able to identify it?

The state of texas has blood on its hands and no amount of bs rhetoric can hide it. As a retired process engineer and 15 years as a safety engineer from Texas, I can tell you regulations for dangerous materials is an absolute. Only the foolish will tell you different. Texas needs to depoliticize this issue and fix the regulations and start the process of immediate inspections for this industry before the politicians let another town be blown off the map. any politician that argues against this must be forced to live next door to one of these plants. Valuable lessons were learned form texas city and we need to follow them. I had a cousin killed there during the explosion , so i don't take this matter lightly.

And yet when I owned tire/auto repair stores in San Antonio OSHA would fine us for; cut in power cord on a mechanics personal radio, not having an exit sign next to a 10'X20' bay door, not having proper OSHA literature near employee time-clock (if they don't send it how do we know we are supposed to have it?) , etc ?..


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before you open they school you on that stuff. but you probably heard that voice on charlie brown they use for adults :1orglaugh ignored instruction. :2 cents:

Of course it was preventable... but the conservatives in power are very lax on regulations in this state.

funny - i always thought the US would make it so much easier for startups cause you could start in your garage...