The Worlds Largest Inland Oil Refinery Explodes...And I Live Only 3 Miles From It

The Worlds Largest Inland Oil Refinery Explodes...And I Live Only 3 Miles From It

www.newswest9.com

BIG SPRING - There has been an explosion the Alon refinery in Big Spring.

Residents reported feeling a large blast just after 8:00a.m. Monday morning.

Our crew on the scene reports seeing flames and a huge plume of smoke coming from the facility.

We do not know if there are any injuries at this time. Emergency response crews are on the scene.

Interstate 20 has been shut down in both directions in the area

(visit the link for the full news article)

mod edit: thread moved and descriptive headline restored.

[edit on 2/18/2008 by Gools]

I live close enough that i could see the fire afterwards. I was showering, when the world started to shake and rumble.

Hopefully I can get back into my home later. My dogs were so scared they wouldn't come with me. So I had to leave them in their kennel.

Most of you may not see much validity in this. But the Alon refinery produced 70,000 gallons of gasoline every day. This is going to leave a mark on our damaged economy.

www.newswest9.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Were you evacuated?

I find it a little confusing an expolsion of this magnitude only left one person slightly injured.

Am I reading too much into that? Almost as if they new it was coming.

You had first hand knowledge of this and I'm hoping you can provide updates for us.

Hope you and the family are ok.

Becker

Do you think there may be a connection to the pipeline that exploded on the 15th?

Pipeline fire out after explosion near McCook

McCOOK, Texas — The fire from today's South Texas oil pipeline explosion -- has burned itself out.

Hidalgo County Emergency Manager Tony Pena says nobody was hurt in the explosion near McCook. Pena says the pipeline is owned by Hesco.

The cause of the fiery accident is sought.

Wind gusts of up to 40 miles an hour fanned the orange flames, which reached several hundred feet into the air and burned for several hours

source

I wonder if anyone is connecting the two events.

This is from the local CBS affiliate. It is on CNN as a news snippet....but not online yet.

There has been an explosion at the Alon refinery on I-20 outside of Big Spring.

It happened at 8:20 this morning and was felt as far away as Gardendale, Greenwood and Northeast Midland.

We are being told that I-20 has been shut down, Howard College has been evacuated and medical teams from across West Texas, including CareStar are on the way to help.

Now, residents living within a mile of the refinery are being asked to evacuate. Emergency management are not forcing this evacuation so residents are ask to leave on their free will. If you live within this area, please do so.

Stay tuned to CBS7 and CBS7.com for more details as we receive them.

www.cbs7kosa.com...

I have video from my sisters cell phone. She is getting it to me right now. I need someone to host it for me if they can (if anyone wants to see it). In the meantime, here is a picture:








It happened during shift change, and i know hundreds of people who work there. Like I said, i live just 3 miles away. My job is about the same distance. The explosion was so powerful, we have a huge crack in our wall.

Originally posted by Becker44
Were you evacuated?

I find it a little confusing an expolsion of this magnitude only left one person slightly injured.

Am I reading too much into that? Almost as if they new it was coming.

You had first hand knowledge of this and I'm hoping you can provide updates for us.

Hope you and the family are ok.

Becker

That is not right. Interstate 20 runs right in front of the refinery. I can guarantee you that more people are dead than just 1. A friend of mine reported that a body landed on the interstate in front of him, smoldering.

There must be hundreds dead. I am crying as i type this...so many dear friends of mine, all dead.

Wow, my sincerest condolences to you and your community.

This first thing I though after seeing the size of the blast was there will be many casualties.

This is shortly after the explosion. The fire had already consumed the fuel in the catcracker, creating the thick black smoke.

My whole life they have said "If that catcracker goes, the whole town could go with it". I never thought I would get the chance to see it for myself.

After the explosion i walked out my front door (almost forgot to put clothes on, actually, as i was in the shower) and saw a huge mushroom cloud, and a 300 foot wall of fire climbing up the side of the "catcracker". Needless to say, this scared the hell out of me. My wife had already left to get my son, so all i could do was sit and wait for her to return.


Here is a link to some video on CNN.com. The video is from a guy named Larry Bates (a real class a jerk, honestly...but good video nonetheless).




and the video:

www.cnn.com...

going to go home to check on the dogs...be back in a bit.

Here is another article:

Explosion Rocks West Texas Oil Refinery

BIG SPRING, Texas (AP) - An explosion rocked an oil refinery Monday in a violent blast that shook buildings miles away, authorities and witnesses said. There were no immediate reports of injuries.
"All I know is that it blew up," a Howard County dispatcher said.

The 8:30 a.m. blast sent black smoke billowing into the sky, shut down a major interstate and left residents rattled.

"It was extremely scary. You shook you were so scared," said Laura McEwen, the wife of Mayor Russ McEwen who lives about two miles from the refinery. "Our walls shook. It jolted your bed. It was like an earthquake."

source


[edit on 18-2-2008 by seawolf197]

reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan


Fox is reporting only one person slightly injured!!!!!!!

Your report is quite different. I hope we can get more from you.

Any power outages?

Becker

Your reporting is far better than any we are now getting from any news source. Our prayers are with you and your town. Be safe ,and thank you for the reports.

Hang in there, big guy.

I hope everyone's okay.

reply to post by Becker44


Becker, I believe you are spot on here with your assesment.

Something is wrong with the reports:

The refinery, owned by Dallas-based Alon USA, employs about 170 people and produces about 70,000 barrels a day. Company spokesman Blake Lewis said he didn't know how many people might be at the plant at the time.

source

If the plant employes 170 people total, and you divide that number by three shifts, you get over 56 people at least. Add a blast felt 3 miles away, and you get more than one slightly injured person.

I'm sorry but there is already an existing news thread on this topic: www.abovetopsecret.com...

Since we do allow one news thread and one forum thread on a topic, I'll move this one to Current Events rather than close it.
.

Sad news, hope your friends are all right.

Is their possibility of more exposions (hence the voluntary evac) or has the worst pretty much happened already?

hey everybody, i joined this place because of this story...

Im also about 2 miles from the plant and plenty of my friends dads work there with one friend even working there himself. One of my friends dad was right there when it happened and all he can remember is him and another guy were walking buy some gas gasket when it exploded throwing more than 20 feet away. He then lost consciousness and that is pretty much all he remembers. As for the other guy, i heard he received some pretty bad burns on his legs. Luckily, a guy i know that was supposed to be there was unable to go because his truck didnt start.

As far as injuries and why there werent many is because alot of them were off today for Presidents day. A guy i know is on the maintenance crew and they were actually scheduled to work on what exploded today, but they obviously didnt get to it.

I skipped my 8:00 class today and i was laying in bed, and it felt like an airplane crashed on my house. That is how bad the explosion was. People in neighboring cities as far as 50 miles away felt the blast.

I have always been told that if this place exploded then you can say goodbye to the whole town of Big Spring, but luckily that wasnt the case.

Well, just thought i would add my 2 cents.

wow guys, i really hope everyone is ok. keep us posted.

I live near the Fawley refinery which is the largest refinery in the UK.

Now I live about 5 miles away from it, the main hospital is 2 miles in the exact opposite direction.

Whats worrying is that hospital isnt listed as the emergency hospital for the refinery as I suppose they dont think it will be there.

I hope everythings ok and I know how it would feel as I live close to a place like that.

Mayor Russ McEwen and Judge Mark Barr both say there are 4 injuries, none life threatening.

Yes, there were quite a few that were off for Presidents Day...but 170 people only represent a portion of the employee's working there. Contractors, such as Sid Richardson, have employee's out there as well.

I hope that the count of only 4 injured holds up. I know so many folks from out there.

Until then, my area has been evacuated so my family is shacking up with mom.

yeah, im hearing only 4 injuries.

Like mentioned above, 170 people doesnt even come close to showing how many people are out on the grounds daily. Many contractors are out there.
Im about to go eat lunch with a buddy of mine who works out there so im gonna try to figure some stuff out. Casa blanca here i come. Im sure you know what im talking about Texan.