As is often the case in explosions without injuries or fatalities, there was no official investigation into the cause by the fire department or any state or federal regulatory agencies. Some industry experts believe that the changes in the volatility of the heavy fuel oils from additives may be behind many explosions in tanks containing asphalt and No. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. I could see the flames from the backyard," Branick said. The hole in the sewer undermined the soil beneath the gas pipes, causing them to sag and then crack open. Thus it was the combination of the two circumstances which caused the disaster. Jefferson County Emergency Management coordinator Mike White told the Beaumont Enterprise that five residents were being treated for minor injuries, mostly related to shattered glass. 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. TOWN OF MAPLE GROVE, Wis. (AP) Sheriff's investigators in Wisconsin are willing to forgo any possible underage drinking violations in order to get more information about a bonfire explosion that injured more than a dozen people, including some critically, officials said Tuesday. In 2019, an explosion caused a massive blaze in the area that processes polypropylene. TPC EXPLOSION: Home video from early morning explosion in Port Neches! Five days after a home exploded in Westworth Village, Atmos Energy said there was "no evidence" to suggest its system was involved. COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AP) A Swedish prosecutor wants a supplementary crime scene investigation" at the site of explosions that damaged two natural gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea and said Friday that a preliminary probe concluded the cause was suspected gross sabotage.". In these cases, it is unclear whether the workers did. ET, Rohan Davis, a refinery manager at the ExxonMobil site, said that all four people in hospital appeared to be in stable condition. 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. As black smoke wafted from the nearby tank, two men ran over and let Slovak know that someone was missing. Vaggelis Kousioras - stringer, AP. It is also a possibility it may have happened on the other side of the border. The dramatic scenes of the nighttime fire have reverberated across Iranian social media. The Surfside Beach Police Department said the facility had experienced "some sort of explosion," but no evacuation orders had been issued. ON December 30, 2021, it was reported that there was a mass explosion in El Paso, Texas. BEIRUT (AP) Scores of protesters Thursday scuffled with riot police in Beirut as they tried to break into the offices of Lebanons judiciary, after the countrys chief prosecutor filed charges against the judge investigating the massive 2020 port explosion and ordered the release of all suspects in the case. Shankman has a Masters in Journalism from UC Berkeleys Graduate School of Journalism. PLANO, Texas The explosion that destroyed a house in suburban Dallas and heavily damaged the two next door, injuring six people, may not have been an accident, 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. By The Associated Press. 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. We are saddened by todays tragedy of a house explosion in our City. These kinds of explosions in asphalt tanks have been documented at least since the 1980s. Port Neches, Texas Two explosions at a chemical plant in Texas put 60,000 people under evacuation orders Wednesday. On Wednesday afternoon, there was a second massive explosion, forcing officials to issue a mandatory evacuation for the four-mile radius surrounding the plant. It wasnt long before sirens began wailing and fire engines arrived on scene. Nearly a year later, Gloucester City Fire Marshal Patrick Hagan said the explosion is still under investigation, but that pyrophoric material buildup in the tank is one of the hypotheses about what caused it. ICN provides award-winning climate coverage free of charge and advertising. (AP) A house explosion in southwestern Indiana that injured three people has been traced to a heater that began leaking natural gas during maintenance work, authorities said. This article was produced in collaboration with Berkeley Journalisms Investigative Reporting Program. In states that do require that emissions be reported, companies estimate them, typically using a formula developed by the petroleum industry that is often wrong and leads to underestimates of vapor pressure and the levels of air pollution the tanks are emitting. It was so loud.. Shutterstock As least 10 people were injured in a fire caused by a natural gas explosion in Texas Friday night, officials said. MAP EMAIL Bomb techs with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department responded to reports of an explosion Sunday morning in Palmdale, officials said. Police and fire dispatchers said all local utility companies had been contacted, but none had reported any issues. They were hospitalized but their conditions were not immediately known. U.S. Polyco has countered that R-Tex Services, Chambers employer, was at fault. The soldiers were traveling in an army vehicle a day earlier in the Makhmour district when an explosive device detonated, the state Iraqi News Agency reported. 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. 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All Rights Reserved, One killed in Jackson Heights apartment building fire, At least five died, including two children, in devastating Rockland County fire, Federal judge upholds demotions of FDNY chiefs, Retired NYC firefighter helps Spirit crew put out fire that broke out on plane. MINOT, N.D. (AP) A small explosion and fire disrupted care on the third floor of a Minot hospital. In some cases workers were injured or killed, and some explosions ignited fires in other, nearby tanks, causing whole neighborhoods to be evacuated. "However, we havent found anything yet. Shortly after 4 p.m., they declared the situation was under control and contained to the immediate affected area of the plant. The Asphalt Institute did not respond to questions submitted to them by Inside Climate News. Another explosion took place on March 23 in Suffolk County on Long Island. 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. Hot workthe use of tools for cutting, grinding and welding that can create sparksis common at industrial plants, and asphalt plants are no exception. Inside a tank, asphalt is often heated to about 300F, meaning that technically, it should be well below the point at which it could light on fire. The employee suffered minor burns, and the tank lid was blown into the air and landed 150 yard away. The fire, in a remote area, was brought under control after about an hour. OSHA, the American Petroleum Institute and other organizations have standard protocols to ensure the work is done in as safe a manner as possible. As a recent investigation by Inside Climate News showed, those increased emissions are going largely unreported by companies. He said that all other personnel at the facility, which houses a chemical plant, an olefins plant and a 560,500 barrel-per-day oil refinery, according to Reuters, had been accounted for. Two people remained unaccounted for. Witnesses in the area described hearing a noise that sounded like a thunderstorm and say they saw a big fireball in the area of the plant. GAITHERSBURG, Md. The explosion happened Wednesday while a truck was pumping waste chemicals from the Quick Turn Anodizing facility in Guthrie, Todd County Emergency Management Director Daniel Smith told news outlets. For decades, companies and regulators assumed that emissions from asphalt and No. But Monk said that "Real time air quality reading collected thus far do not indicate levels of human health concern.". Though that is closer to the flash point, it still allows for a buffer. A construction crew was working with explosives to extract material when the explosion occurred. Officials say firefighters were called to Trinity Hospital shortly before 2 p.m. Tuesday where the explosion and subsequent fire and smoke caused patients and staff to evacuate the third floor. At 12:12 p.m., as he stood with one foot on the catwalk and the other on the lid of the Tank #17, Chambers lit his cutting torch, sending sparks flying. The explosion happened in Wallis, Texas, about 50 miles west of Houston. The February explosion had no obvious causeno nearby sparks or fires. If you add something that has a different explosive limit, youre going to change the properties of the mixture, he said. We deliver climate news to your inbox like nobody else. It also apologized for any disruption or inconvenience that this incident may have caused the community. Surfside Beach Police Department's Marine Division assisted Port Freeport police and the U.S. Coast Guard on the waterways. When my husband pulled into our garage, the roof in our garage had caved in.. LONDON (AP) The death toll in an explosion and fire at an apartment building on the English Channel Island of Jersey has risen from five to seven, police said Tuesday. Courtney Wallace, a BNSF spokesperson, confirmed that an investigation is underway and said 13 of the train's 110 cars derailed, 10 of which continued to burn Tuesday evening. When hydrogen sulfide interacts with oxidized iron inside a tank (in the form of rust, for example), it can form a new compound called iron sulfidea pyrophoric substance that, when exposed to air, can ignite. The noise caused a flurry of reaction on social media,with one person questioningif it was a sonic boom from military aircraft. 6 fuel oil, another heavy oil, have exploded at asphalt plants or terminals around the United States, according to news reports and filings from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. As least 10 people were injured in a fire caused by a natural gas explosion in Texas Friday night, officials said. The explosion happened in Wallis, Texas, about 50 miles west of Houston. The Associated Press contributed to this report. like, a wave," Sarah Martinez, who lives right across from the plant with her 4-year-old son, told NBC News. A large explosion was reported early Thursday at an Exxon/Mobile refinery in Baytown, Texas, after what local sheriffs deputies called a major industrial accident. At least four people were injured, according to the Harris County Sheriffs Office. 2023 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Satellite Information Network, LLC. We had two tanks right next to each other that we were dealing with: one with fire, one with rescue, Slovak said. RELATED: Explosion rocks mysterious Georgia monument called satanic by some, America's Stonehenge by others. 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..