3 injured in explosions at gas facility. Flaming debris falls on Dallas, TX highways and buildings

[Ian David]

GLIDE Number: EX-20070725-12537-USA
Date / time: 25/07/2007 17:54:42
Event: Explosion
Area: North-America
Country: USA
State/County: State of Texas
City: Dallas
Number of Deads: None or unknow
Number of Injured: 3 persons
Damage level: Minor

Description:

A series of explosions at a gas facility sent flaming debris raining onto highways and buildings near downtown Dallas on Wednesday and seriously injured at least three people. Authorities evacuated a half-mile (0.8 kilometer) area surrounding the Southwest Industrial Gases, Inc. facility and shut down parts nearby Interstates 30 and 35. Video footage showed numerous small fires burning in the area as stacks of gas cylinders caught fire and exploded. The canisters held acetylene and propane gas, said Texas Commission on Environmental Quality spokeswoman Andrea Morrow. It was not immediately clear what caused them begin exploding around 9:30 a.m. By noon, fire crews were hosing down the charred metal wreckage to extinguish any lingering flames. Earlier, about a dozen cars burned in a nearby parking lot and a grassy areas of a highway median. "I thought it was artillery. It was just coming just boom, boom, boom," said witness Tony Love, a former Army soldier.

Parkland Hospital spokesman Robert Behrens said two people injured by the explosions had been brought to his hospital in serious condition. A third man was taken to Methodist Dallas Medical Center, hospital spokeswoman Sandra Minatra said. She did not give out his condition. According to the industry Web site gasworld.com, Southwest Industrial is a distributor that carries a range of gases, including acetylene, helium and hydrogen, as well as welding equipment. Calls to a phone listing for the company were not answered. At the edge of the evacuation zone is Dallas County's main jail and criminal courts building, but operations continued there uninterrupted, said Deputy Michael Ortiz of the Dallas County Sheriff's Department. Carol Peters, a spokeswoman for Oncor Electric Delivery, said about 30 buildings near the blasts were without power and would stay shut off until fire crews extinguished the blaze.

More:
http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/woalert_read.php?lang=eng&cid=12537


See also:

Tanks explode near downtown Dallas
KSWO, OK - 22 minutes ago
Associated Press - July 25, 2007 1:55 PM ET

DALLAS (AP) - Three people have been injured in fiery explosions today at a gas facility near downtown Dallas.

Fire Department Lieutenant Joel Lavender blames the accident on the malfunction of a "pigtail" connector, which is used to join the tanks during the filling process.

<snip>

Lavender says the company owner and manager were burned, plus a trucker suffered a back injury.

Health officials say the "clean burning fuels" are dissipating, but environmental authorities will monitor the site for air quality.

More:
http://www.kswo.com/Global/story.asp?S=6838483

[bdamomma]

1. could this incident be another infrastructure disaster

just like in New York with the steam pipe that blew up. the money is not going to where it should be going.

[seriousstan]

3. I guess you could always try reading the article

Fire Department Lieutenant Joel Lavender blames the accident on the malfunction of a "pigtail" connector, which is used to join the tanks during the filling process.

[leveymg]

2. There was a major explosion 3 days ago at the largest oil terminal in Saudi Arabia

There's been an unusual spike in such events in the U.S. and around the world in recent months. It has seriously impacted prices for refined product, particularly to the domestic market.

The same thing happened prior to and during the 1979-80 Iranian "oil shortage", which was not a real shortage of crude or of refined product. Pump prices doubled, nonetheless.

Business as usual, really.

[tammywammy]

4. Except this wasn't an oil refinery

[leveymg]

5. Nor was the transfer facility in Saudi Arabia

But, it all factors into the equation.