At a news conference today, Manley said the latest bombing occurred when the two victims either stepped on or kicked a tripwire as they were walking on a sidewalk in the Travis Country neighborhood of Austin. By Jason Murdock On 1/24/20 at 7:14 AM EST. MADISON, Wis. (AP) Federal regulators have determined that a lack of safeguards during a maintenance shutdown led to a 2018 explosion at an oil refinery in Superior. However, right now it is unclear if an explosion took place. The presence of these higher volatility molecules means that the concentrations of vapors in the tanks are higher than they used to be, said Rosselot. Two package bomb blasts a few miles apart killed a teenager and wounded two White said the driver of an 18-wheel flatbed truck lost control of his vehicle, was unable to stop, swerved around a parked vehicle and into a rail crossing, where his truck struck a passing BNSF train. ET). Judge Branick told Beaumont TV station KBMT the blast awakened him early Wednesday at his home, and that it initially sounded like someone firing a gun into his house. CHISINAU, Moldova (AP) Authorities in Moldova said Sunday that specialist teams have carried out controlled detonations of explosives that were discovered in parts of rocket debris that border officials found in a northern village near the countrys border with Ukraine. Heptane, one of the main components of gasoline, is a lighter-end chemical that is sometimes included in the additives used in heavy fuels. Fire officials said that of the six people hospitalized, one was extricated from the rubble of the home that exploded and the other five were in a home next door. I could see the flames from the backyard," Branick said. One of the asphalt tanks at the plant had been damaged and needed to be demolished, and the 32-year-old foreman was part of a five-man crew of contractors charged with getting it done. The bulletin was released in the wake of several incidents in which workers were killed or injured and includes summaries of 11 incidents, none of which involve residual fuels. Shankman has a Masters in Journalism from UC Berkeleys Graduate School of Journalism. Though each accident had different particulars, all resulted from a flammable vapor coming in contact with an ignition source created by welding or cutting that was performed in, on, or near tanks that contained flammables.. Bomb techs with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department responded to reports of an explosion Sunday morning in Palmdale, officials said. It asked residents to avoid the area following the blaze, which broke out at around 1 a.m. local time (2 a.m. He said that "for now" there were no indications that nearby residents would need to evacuate the area or shelter-in-place. There is no tolerance level for explosive concentrations of vapors in tanks that are vented to the atmosphereit is unacceptable for these vapors to be near their explosive limit, said Rosselot. Hot workthe use of tools for cutting, grinding and welding that can create sparksis common at industrial plants, and asphalt plants are no exception. Engineering experts say that such seemingly spontaneous explosions can be caused by the formation of whats known as pyrophoric material. The word pyrophoric comes from the Greek fire-bearing and means capable of igniting spontaneously upon exposure to oxygen. The fire, in a remote area, was brought under control after about an hour. An earlier version of this article incorrectly described how gasoline vapors are controlled in storage tanks. OSHA, the American Petroleum Institute and other organizations have standard protocols to ensure the work is done in as safe a manner as possible. Julia Kane is currently pursuing her masters at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, where she is focusing on narrative writing and investigative reporting. Two people remained unaccounted for. All the victims are believed to be from the energy company. The Asphalt Institute did not respond to questions submitted to them by Inside Climate News. 6 fuel oilexploded when a worker opened a hatch, allowing oxygen to enter the tank. Monday's blasts left one teen dead and Most of the explosions of heated storage tanks have taken place at asphalt plants, but in cities and towns across the country the tanks are often knit into neighborhoods, near schools, daycares and retirement homes. Neither OSHA nor the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, an independent federal agency charged with looking into industrial chemical accidents, has conducted a systematic investigation of these explosions. Tank explosions occur in two main ways: Vapors ignite after hot torches or other ignition sources are lit nearby, or no ignition source is identifiable and the explosion seems to have occurred spontaneously. By continuing to use this site, you accept this policy. A digest of the most pressing climate-related news, released every Tuesday and Friday. "We're extremely grateful that nobody was killed," he said. It is also a possibility it may have happened on the other side of the border. The explosion of the asphalt tank is a terrifying example of what can happen to dangerous and polluting facilities in our communities, Jeff Tittel, the director of the New Jersey Sierra Club, told a reporter at the time. As least 10 people were injured in a fire caused by a natural gas explosion in Texas Friday night, officials said. Police and multiple fire departments responded at 1 a.m. GAITHERSBURG, Md. CAIRO (AP) A towering blaze at a notorious prison housing political prisoners and anti-government activists in Iran's capital killed four inmates, the country's judiciary said Sunday. 6 fuel oil despite temperatures never reaching the flash point. The cause of the fire was found to be a leaking natural gas line. The explosion, which was captured on video, launched wooden boards, window glass, insulation and other debris at least 100 feet into the air in Evansville, the Evansville Courier & Press reported. Officials say firefighters were called to Trinity Hospital shortly All employees have been accounted for, TPC said, confirming two employees and a contractor were injured. Yet there is reason to believe that changes in the way asphalt and No. 2019 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. In that incident, more than 60 people were sent for medical evaluation following the blast. ", "I got really scared," Martinez, 27, said. All employees at the facility were accounted for, Houston-based Freeport LNG said in a statement. Every day or once a week, our original stories and digest of the web's top headlines deliver the full story, for free. 6, resulting in changes to the way the products performand what they emit. More such explosions have probably gone unreported, said Kirsten Rosselot, a chemical engineer and the owner of Process Profiles, an environmental consulting firm, who has studied this type of tank. We are saddened by todays tragedy of a house explosion in our City. There were lightning storms in the area on Monday afternoon. But over the last 30 years, companies have increasingly used additives to enhance the products, changing their makeup. Pulitzer Prize-winning, nonpartisan reporting on the biggest crisis facing our planet. MADISON, Wis. (AP) Attorney General Josh Kaul filed a lawsuit Monday against a milling company for multiple violations at a plant that was the scene of a fatal explosion five years ago. ". No injuries were reported and there was minimal property damage as a result. An 18-wheel truck hit a train carrying chemicals and fuels in Cameron, Texas, early Tuesday, causing a huge explosion and starting a fire that is expected to burn for In that case, it turned out the refinery had previously stored other, more volatile materials in the tank, and small amounts had remained and mixed in with the carbon black, leading to a build up of vapors inside the tank. Copyright 2023 KTRK-TV. "We are keeping them and their families close to our hearts and hoping for a swift and full recovery. "Kind of like a little mini earthquake.". It included a section on the role that additives can play in contributing to these kinds of explosions. News Exxon Texas Explosion. Yes. An 18-wheel truck hit a train carrying chemicals and fuels in Cameron, Texas, early Tuesday, causing a huge explosion and starting a fire that is expected to burn for several days. We were able to look in a small cut that was in the side of the tank and actually see that he was there, Slovak said. They were hospitalized but their conditions were not immediately known. Hours after explosions rocked a Texas chemical plant outside Houston early Wednesday, officials said there is no way to know how long a fire at the site will burn. PLANO, Texas The explosion that destroyed a house in suburban Dallas and heavily damaged the two next In some cases workers were injured or killed, and some explosions ignited fires in other, nearby tanks, causing whole neighborhoods to be evacuated. The explosion happened just before 8 p.m. when workers The Associated Press contributed to this report. All Rights Reserved. But I feel as if this one was louder and bigger than the one in 2019, she said. In these cases, it is unclear whether the workers did. The explosion happened just before 8 p.m. when workers for the utility company CenterPoint Energy were trying to shut down a gas line outside a home in the town of Spring, KXAN reported, citing the Harris County Fire Marshals Office. The explosion happened in a remote area in Orakzai, a district in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province bordering Afghanistan, said Mohammad Arif, an adviser for the Mines and Minerals Department. Police and fire dispatchers said all local utility companies had been contacted, but none had reported any issues. VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (AP) Two people were killed Monday when a storage tank exploded at a Virginia welding business, a fire official said. In court records, he is quoted saying that only skin was keeping his foot attached to his leg. Gonzalez said initial reports suggested that "some type of explosion" had occurred inside the plant. One witness said he believed the missing man had fallen inside the tank that was to be demolished. Speaking at a news conference at around 5:30 a.m. Flames were seen at the Baytown, Texas refinery after a possible explosion. Another explosion took place on March 23 in Suffolk County on Long Island. PRINCETON, Ind. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. A number of other residents took to Twitter to share their concerns following what they too described as an "explosion. Inside Climate News made repeated attempts to speak with Chambers, but messages left on his phone and email and with his family and his attorney were not returned. Chambers and his team went over the plan and reviewed the permits, including one that cleared the crew to use a cutting torch to detach a catwalk that connected Tank #18, the damaged tank, to Tank #17, an asphalt tank six feet away, according to court documents. Updated on: November 27, 2019 / 9:34 PM A massive explosion and fire occurred at one of the nations largest ExxonMobil refineries in Baytown, Texas, early Thursday morning, sending several workers to a local hospital. Unlike pyrophoric explosions, these explosions were characterized by the use of an ignition source, like a torch, that then lit nearby vapors on fire, triggering an explosion in the tank. "Air quality tests in the area are ongoing. Fort Bend County Judge KP George said that residents surrounding the area were evacuated as a precaution. In 2012, she produced the online interactive A Perfect Terrorist: David Coleman Headleys Web of Betrayal, which won an Overseas Press Club of America award. A figure from the Chemical Safety Board report on the West explosion shows an unidentified ammonium nitrate storage facility. Download the NBC News app for breaking news, "They have got a lot of people working on it," White said Tuesday evening. In this case it is inside Tank #17, Jones wrote, according to court documents. Flames shot out of the top of the damaged tank, and firefighters let the blaze burn out. Chambers was thrown across the catwalk and about 30 feet down into Tank #18, which held a few feet of cold, hardened asphalt, topped by about eight inches of stagnant water. It is now common for additives to comprise up to 20 percent of stored asphalt or No. Gas and electricity was turned off to most of the homes on the street until about 9:30 p.m., when Atmos Energy and Oncor Electric representatives determined it was safe to restore gas and power. And I just noticed two picture frames on the wall fall down and the sound and that didnt match up. In some states, regulators do not require reporting, based on an incorrect assumption that there are no emissions to report. Officials added that it's not yet clear when the evacuation order will be lifted. However, the institutes publication acknowledges that the additives can include lighter hydrocarbons. No. BERLIN (AP) A ship chartered by the operator of the Nord Stream 1 natural gas pipeline has arrived at the site of last month's explosions under the Baltic Sea to survey the damage, the company said Thursday. Asphalt naturally contains both sulfur and hydrogen, which, when they react, form hydrogen sulfide. BEIRUT (AP) Lebanons top prosecutor Wednesday ordered the release of all suspects detained in the investigation into the deadly 2020 port blast in Beirut and filed charges against the judge leading the probe, he told The Associated Press. NASA has officially confirmed that a loud explosion felt and heard in South Texas Wednesday evening came from a 1,000-pound meteor that crashed near McAllen, Texas at approximately 5:23 p.m. COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) Officials are assessing water damage at the Ohio Statehouse after a pipe burst during freezing weather, sending water pouring into the Senate chamber, an adjacent lounge for lawmakers, and other areas on Tuesday morning. Thats where additives come in. One Twitter user recorded feeling the concussion from the explosion 25 miles away. If you have the contamination of higher flash point liquids with lower flash point liquids or the deliberate use of additives and youre not aware of what its doing to the tank vapor space, that could potentially be a hazardous situation, Zalosh said. The explosion ripped through a section of the Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhhorod pipeline in the Chuvashia region during repair work. At this time, were still collecting all that information, he said, adding: We will conduct a full and thorough investigation., Several residents in the area described feeling their homes shake after what they said appeared to be an "explosion. When fugitive vapors are ignited the flame will follow the vapors back to their origination. Please enter valid email address to continue. In a statement several hours after the fire broke out, ExxonMobil said its emergency response teams were still working to extinguish the fire. But additives are not necessary for a pyrophoric explosion to occur. The tripwire set off the explosive device that was placed near a fence at 8:32 p.m. Sunday, police said. A helicopter ambulance was waiting to take him to a hospital in Dallas, but with his clothes covered in asphalt, they decided against it out of fear that the fumes from Chambers clothes and body would overtake the pilot, Slovak said. But Monk said that "Real time air quality reading collected thus far do not indicate levels of human health concern.". A recent publication by the Asphalt Institute, the main trade group for the industry, warned tank owners and operators about the dangers of pyrophoric material formation in asphalt tanks and advised them to evaluate whether their tanks could be affected. Surfside Beach Police Department's Marine Division assisted Port Freeport police and the U.S. Coast Guard on the waterways. Those additives have increased the vapor pressure inside the tanks making them more vulnerable to explosion, Rosselot and others said. The beaches are not closed, but Quintana Island was reportedly closed to all incoming traffic during the afternoon. WebMost of the booms that people hear or experience are the result of human activity, such as an explosion, a large vehicle going by, nearby construction, or sometimes a sonic boom, but there have been many reports of booms that cannot be explained by man-made sources.

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