Though there were workers at the plant at the time, no one was injured. FORT BEND COUNTY, Texas -- Emergency crews brought the flames from a pipeline explosion in Texas under control about an hour after the blaze occurred. Whereas some highly volatile materials can have low flashpoints, like gasoline at -40F or ethyl alcohol at 55F, asphalts can be listed as high as 450 or 500F. You have no clue whats being distributed and being released in the air that could possibly be extremely harmful and toxic.. She joined InsideClimate in the fall of 2013, after helping produce documentaries and interactives for the PBS show Frontline since 2010 with 2over10 Media. In the years since, companies increasingly have mixed additives into residual products. Police brought in an explosives detecting dog, though the dog did not discover any explosives or hazardous materials, and police determined that the site was not a crime scene. Seven or eight homes in the "very rural area" are affected, and those residents could be displaced for several days, White said. As least 10 people were injured in a fire caused by a natural gas explosion in Texas Friday night, officials said. Who knows how many tanks around the country are an explosion hazard but have yet to get a spark?. The dramatic scenes of the nighttime fire have reverberated across Iranian social media. BEIRUT (AP) Two soldiers were killed and three were injured in an explosion in northern Iraq, Iraqi state news said Thursday. 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. 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. They were hospitalized but their conditions were not immediately known. Firefighters responded to Neptune Welding on Virginia Beach Boulevard just after 11 a.m., news outlets reported. (AP) A body was found in a Maryland garden-style apartment building a day after an explosion and fire there and investigators are looking into the possibility of a criminal, intentional act, officials announced late Thursday. The county has previously sued ExxonMobil, accusing the company of violating the federal Clean Air Act. In some states, regulators do not require reporting, based on an incorrect assumption that there are no emissions to report. The Harris County Sheriff's Office said deputies were responding to the incident and that "some injuries" had been reported. In this case it is inside Tank #17, Jones wrote, according to court documents. 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. Officer Kyle Tranovich of the Caernarvon Township police department said a skeleton crew of only six people was working in the TIMET Morgantown plant due to the holiday before the 2:30 p.m. GRASS VALLEY, Ore. (AP) A small town in central Oregon was evacuated and five people were hurt due to a hemp manufacturing plant fire Sunday. NUSA DUA, Indonesia (AP) President Joe Biden said Wednesday it was unlikely that a missile that killed two in NATO-ally Poland was fired from Russia, but he pledged support for Poland's investigation into what it had called a Russian-made missile. 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. TPC officials know that at least three tanks have been damaged, but firefighters have not been able to fully assess the harm, Monk said. The bulletin included several key lessons from those accidents, including avoiding the work if possible, monitoring the atmosphere for gas and identifying any potential hazards prior to starting work. Atmos Energy Corporation, one of the largest natural gas distributors in the nation, was helping with the investigation. TPC EXPLOSION: Home video from early morning explosion in Port Neches! These additives are often proprietary chemicals or lighter hydrocarbons that would normally be further refined into diesel. Six people were hospitalized after a home in a Dallas suburb was leveled by an explosion Monday afternoon, fire rescue officials said. She worked as a co-producer, field producer or associate producer on the Frontline films League of Denial (2013); Money, Power and Wall Street (2012); A Perfect Terrorist (2011); Dr. Hotspots (2011) and Law and Disorder (2010). The local news outlet reported that 20 nearby homes were damaged, but there was no word of any serious injuries or deaths. Several of our residents were injured," Plano Mayor John Muns said in a statement, reportedKXAS-TV. When my husband pulled into our garage, the roof in our garage had caved in.. No. WebShortly before 9 a.m. this morning, loud noises disrupted work in a nitric acid unit at the Invista Chemical Plant in Victoria, Texas. "Once the fire is extinguished, we will be able to determine how much product is left in the cars and work to safely remove them from the site," Wallace said in a statement. BAGHDAD (AP) A heating gas tank exploded in a residential complex in northern Iraq on Thursday, killing six people, Iraqi Kurdish officials said. Firefighters who arrived at the scene managed to contain the flames, Fox affiliate KRIV reported. 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. TOWN OF MAPLE GROVE, Wis. (AP) Investigators are recommending criminal charges against two teens in connection with a bonfire explosion at a party in northeastern Wisconsin last month that resulted in critical burns to some in attendance. Overturned gas tanker explodes, killing 1 person. A dredging vessel in Corpus Christi hit a submerged pipeline, sparking an Plano Fire Rescue said on Twitter that an explosion was confirmed at the site, but they did not know the cause. KHOU reports that Mike White, the Jefferson County Emergency Management coordinator, said there are a few chemicals housed at the facility, including Butadiene. However, in many other cases, the causes were either not identified or not publicly released because of the restrictions imposed during litigation., Zaloshs study concluded that flammable vapor concentrations measured in storage tanks of residual fuel oil and of asphalt have shown the presence of flammable concentrations even when the liquid is well below the flash point.. On Nov. 19, 2014, in La Crosse, Wisconsin, an employee used a torch to heat a clogged valve, igniting flammable vapors in a mostly empty asphalt tank and causing it to explode. 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. Dan Gearinos habit-forming weekly take on how to understand the energy transformation reshaping our world. 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. 2023 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Satellite Information Network, LLC. 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. A fourth person was also being transported to hospital, he said. recent investigation by Inside Climate News, Lawmakers Urge Biden Administration to Permanently Ban Rail Shipments of Liquefied Natural Gas, In Pennsylvania, Home to the Nations First Oil Well, Environmental Activists Stage a Peoples Filibuster at the Bustling State Capitol. First published on November 27, 2019 / 5:31 AM. Webtoday: 2.5 in Mentone , Texas , United States. In many cases, there was hot work or torch heating on or near the tanks, wrote the author, Robert Zalosh. In court records, he is quoted saying that only skin was keeping his foot attached to his leg. 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. The company declined to respond to detailed questions sent by Inside Climate News, citing its ongoing lawsuit with Chambers, said Alisa Rhyno, a spokeswoman for the company. BAGHDAD (AP) The death toll from a heating gas tank that exploded in a residential complex in northern Iraq has risen to 15, an civil defense official said Friday. An asphalt tank at a plant owned by Rason Asphalt exploded in the early afternoon, causing a loud blast that rattled nearby homes. 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. For more on this story, follow Erica Simon on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. / CBS/AP. A fire burns at ExxonMobil's refinery in Baytown, Texas, on Dec. 23, 2021. Shortly after 4 p.m., they declared the situation was under control and contained to the immediate affected area of the plant. ". July 21, 2021, 8:49 PM PDT. MOSCOW (AP) An explosion during repairs on a section of a Europe-bound natural gas pipeline in western Russia killed three people on Tuesday but didnt affect export supplies, officials said. These kinds of explosions in asphalt tanks have been documented at least since the 1980s. 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. Chantal Da Silva is a breaking news editor for NBC News Digital based in London. An investigation is underway at Freeport LNG in Surfside Beach after reports of an incident Wednesday. Bomb techs with the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department responded to reports of an explosion Sunday morning in Palmdale, officials said. It is also a possibility it may have happened on the other side of the border. In a statement several hours after the fire broke out, ExxonMobil said its emergency response teams were still working to extinguish the fire. TOWN OF MAPLE GROVE, Wis. (AP) Authorities investigating a bonfire explosion over the weekend in eastern Wisconsin said Monday that as many as 40 people might have been injured in the blaze, including some who were seriously hurt. Video footage from the scene shows debris and lumber scattered across the home's yard and into the street. Our #1 newsletter delivers the weeks climate and energy news our original stories and top headlines from around the web. 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. As black smoke wafted from the nearby tank, two men ran over and let Slovak know that someone was missing. Harley said the experience was reminiscent of a similar incident in July 2019, when an explosion and fire broke out at the same facility. Deep inside the asphalt tank, Chambers lay, suffering from third degree burns to his face, back and abdomen and a shattered right leg. WebIf you or loved one has been injured in a serious accident in a chemical plant refinery accidents, call our San Antonio Plant & Refinery accidents lawyers today. There was a pipeline explosion today in Fort Bend County, Texas, and flame could be seen from 30 miles away. 2019 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. After the explosion in Ennis, Tank #17 was left damaged beyond repair and in need of removal. On Wednesday afternoon, there was a second massive explosion, forcing officials to issue a mandatory evacuation for the four-mile radius surrounding the plant. People in the surrounding neighborhood were forced to evacuate and seek shelter in a nearby community center until fire crews extinguished the flames four hours later. On June 30, 2020, a tank holding asphalt mix at the Blueknight Energy Partners terminal in Gloucester City, New Jersey exploded. The blast was so powerful that it sent the 12-foot diameter lid of the tank flying, before it landed on an employees car. 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. 6 fuel oilexploded when a worker opened a hatch, allowing oxygen to enter the tank. We deliver climate news to your inbox like nobody else. But I feel as if this one was louder and bigger than the one in 2019, she said. U.S. Polyco later determined it to be operator error, according to court documents, but did not give any details about the incident. 6 fuel oil. This story has been shared 128,919 times. 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. Sabrina Shankman is a reporter for InsideClimate News focusing on the Arctic. 6 fuel oil were negligible because of the heavy nature of the products. The explosion happened in Wallis, Texas, about 50 miles west of Houston. Six people were sent to the hospital and four are missing after a Texas pipeline exploded Friday. 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. It is a colorless gas with a gasoline-like odor, used to produce synthetic rubber products like tires, plastics and other chemicals. 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. It's about 70 miles south of Houston. All employees at the facility were accounted for, Houston-based Freeport LNG said in a statement. At least one house was damaged in the blast, and residents were evacuated from the area, according to the outlet. The tripwire set off the explosive device that was placed near a fence at 8:32 p.m. Sunday, police said. It was very startling, said Harley, who asked that her last name be withheld. An earlier version of this article incorrectly described how gasoline vapors are controlled in storage tanks. 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. Across the street, at the U.S. Polyco plant, Patel saw smoke. 6 fuel oil has a lower flash pointcompanies list it between 140F and 200Fand is stored around 130F. Harley said she was personally concerned about the potential impact incidents like this one and the fire in 2019 could potentially have on air quality. An internal, floating roof is used to keep oxygen out and vapors in. It was so loud.. The noise caused a flurry of reaction on social media,with one person questioningif it was a sonic boom from military aircraft. The Surfside Beach Police Department said the facility had experienced "some sort of explosion," but no evacuation orders had been issued. ABC-7 reported the loud boom heard and felt in east El Paso as well as the Lower Valley was in fact an explosion. 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. (AP) A fiery explosion that injured more than a dozen people at a Maryland condominium building was ignited by a resident who intended to kill himself and died in the blast, police said. A gas explosion in an apartment building Saturday killed at least nine people, including four children, on the island of Sakhalin in far eastern Russia, according local authorities. 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. A shelter-in-place order was also issued, affecting around 5,000 people in the area. As a recent investigation by Inside Climate News showed, those increased emissions are going largely unreported by companies. PALMDALE, Calif. (AP) Would-be thieves tried to blow up an ATM in Southern California, but didn't get away with any cash, authorities said. Four injured in refinery fire at Baytown, Texas. Gonzalez said initial reports suggested that "some type of explosion" had occurred inside the plant. The plant in Port Neches in southeast Texas, about 80 miles east of Houston, makes chemical and petroleum-based products. In that incident, more than 60 people were sent for medical evaluation following the blast. A Texas pipeline explosion sparked a fire that could be seen from 30 miles away. WebIncident at Freeport oil and gas company under control, officials say Explosion rocks neighborhood near Philadelphia, 4 confirmed dead Kansas fire caught on video after 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. Plano Fire Martinez said she stayed up for hours, watching the scene unfold. The explosion ripped through a section of the Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhhorod pipeline in the Chuvashia region during repair work. At least 37 people were injured and treated for non-life-threatening injuries, ", I was just laying in bed and then all of a sudden I felt. In the March fire, prosecutors filed five water pollution charges against the company that owns the petrochemical storage facility after chemicals flowed into a nearby waterway. Several residents on El Paso's eastside heard a loud explosion on the morning of December 30, 2021. 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 collision between a freight and passenger train occurred near Tempe, some 380 kilometers (235 miles) north of Athens, and resulted in the derailment of several train cars. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. OSHA, the American Petroleum Institute and other organizations have standard protocols to ensure the work is done in as safe a manner as possible. We've received your submission. PLANO, Texas The explosion that destroyed a house in suburban Dallas and heavily damaged the two next With more than 2 billion gallons of asphalt or residual fuel, much of it No. By continuing to use this site, you accept this policy. A fire at an ExxonMobil oil refinery in Texas left several people injured early Thursday after what officials and local residents suggested may have been an explosion. Speaking at a news conference at around 5:30 a.m. The tanker had brake failure along a major road in the Ofu council area in Kogi state on Thursday night when it collided with a vehicle obstructing the highway, causing a fireball, a police spokesman told The Associated Press. QUINTANA, Texas (KTRK) -- No injuries were reported Wednesday after what police initially described as an explosion at a liquefied natural gas terminal near Freeport. The asphalt in this case was a combination of asphalt and diesel fuel. DENVER (AP) A man who put three failed explosive devices inside a worship hall of Jehovahs Witnesses in suburban Denver before killing his wife and himself there on Christmas morning is suspected of causing an explosion at a union building, police said Wednesday. It asked residents to avoid the area following the blaze, which broke out at around 1 a.m. local time (2 a.m. Monday's blasts left one teen dead and There were lightning storms in the area on Monday afternoon. A meteor fell in Mission, Texas today around 5-5:30 pm, making a loud bang, shaking house in a 10 mile radius. ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) An explosion and fire near an illegal oil refinery site in Nigerias Niger Delta region killed at least 12 people Friday, police said, although local residents reported a much higher death toll. When fugitive vapors are ignited the flame will follow the vapors back to their origination. Copyright 2023 KTRK-TV. The first explosion occurred just after 1 a.m. Wednesday. The impact sent debris flying through the air as frightened homeowners scrambled for cover. At a press conference Wednesday night, Jefferson County Judge Jeff Branick said that there were also a number of smaller explosions throughout the day. "It was like a weird feeling, like a wave and then there was a rumble in my apartment and then the next thing I know, all my pictures in my living room are on the floor. Most surrounding homes also sustained damage. 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 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. Our first priority is people in the community and in our facilities, the company said. The explosion that injured Chambers was unexpected, but similar accidents had occurred in other places. The Baytown Fire Department said its crews had not responded to the incident. At least three people were transported to hospital by air ambulance as authorities responded to the major industrial accident in Baytown, just over 25 miles east of Houston, officials said. The accident occurred Saturday in the township of Huejutla in Mexicos Gulf coast region known as the Huasteca. Every day or once a week, our original stories and digest of the webs top headlines deliver the full story, for free. 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. One man who lived near the terminal told a local news crew that he heard a loud boom at about 12:49 a.m. and saw that the top of the tank was engulfed by flames. For decades, companies and regulators assumed that emissions from asphalt and No. But over the last 30 years, companies have increasingly used additives to enhance the products, changing their makeup. On the way to the scene, ABC Houston affiliate KTRK's helicopter noticed the flames could be Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. 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. 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(AP) One worker was killed and four others were injured in an explosion at an industrial facility in western Kentucky, officials said. 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. "They are indicating that it could take up to two or three days to actually extinguish the entire fire.". Davis said industrial hygiene staff were monitoring the air quality at the site and fence line following Thursday's fire. 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. More:Texas SWAT commander killed, 4 officers injured in standoff with gunman; suspect captured. HARRIS COUNTY, Texas An explosion at an ExxonMobil plant in Texas injured four people early Thursday, according to the Harris County Sheriffs Office. Two people remained unaccounted for. In some cases workers were injured or killed, and some explosions ignited fires in other, nearby tanks, causing whole neighborhoods to be evacuated. 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. Police and multiple fire departments responded at 1 a.m. GAITHERSBURG, Md. Asphalt naturally contains both sulfur and hydrogen, which, when they react, form hydrogen sulfide. We deliver climate news to your inbox like nobody else. Troy Monk, TPC's Director of Health, Safety and Security, said at the press conference that all three of the injured workers have been released from the hospital. Were asking all of you to keep the victims in your prayers.. They cut a hole through the tank wall to extract him. MINOT, N.D. (AP) A small explosion and fire disrupted care on the third floor of a Minot hospital. 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. This is the second in a series of articles. ", "I got really scared," Martinez, 27, said. Download the NBC News app for breaking news, "They have got a lot of people working on it," White said Tuesday evening. The personnel were killed when an explosive device detonated during a security operation in the Khan area of the Tarmiyah district. Nederland Volunteer Fire Department - NVFD, Inc. 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