'True Blood' town evacuated after 6 million lbs. of explosives found

reply to post by Starwise


Hi starwise...I sure need to head for the hills and get outta dodge here...Between this Camp Minden mess, explosions, sinkholes, Barksdale AFB dealy, the Gulf oil spill/corexit....yikes! What next? It has been mentioned that there is seismic activity around Bayou Corne sinkhole as well. Local seismos supposedly but I haven't seen anything at usgs relevant. I know so much oil/natural gas wells and fracking goes on in this state, it is like a cookie cutter dealy. Gotta all sink or blow someday. Thanx for your reply and well wishes. Blessings to you.

reply to post by Protickall


Hi Protickall, Yep, ya need to be a True Blood Vamp to survive in Lousiana. Lol. I don't know much about explosives but if the forecast for this area relevant to storms/lightning occurrs near Camp Minden early this week...I wonder if that stuff will/can go "boom". Oh well, I guess I can kiss my "hienie" good-bye if so...or hitch a ride with Santa and go up north.

I like your signature...I used to like a band called Slaughter. Blessings. Shrevegal

Welcome to the "Port of Arkansas..."

reply to post by JBA2848


That is awful. I was planning to visit New Orleans this month. Is it safe? The thought of explosives is very frightening. I had no idea something like this would go on in the crescent city. Do they know what the explosives were for? If people are evacuating it makes me hesitant to visit. I can't go over this.

Here is what happens when 2,300 tons of ammonium nitrate explodes:
History.com

It happened in Texas in the 1940's, 581 people were killed and the ship's 1.5 ton anchor was found 2 miles away.

Six million pounds of high explosives going off in one shot would make that look small, but the explosives would need to be stored together in one spot.

I believe the six million pounds were there when the last explosion occurred, and they didn't go off. The place has bunkers to keep accidents relatively small and less disastrous.

Originally posted by LestatIsReal
reply to post by JBA2848

 

That is awful. I was planning to visit New Orleans this month. Is it safe? The thought of explosives is very frightening. I had no idea something like this would go on in the crescent city. Do they know what the explosives were for? If people are evacuating it makes me hesitant to visit. I can't go over this.

I wouldn't worry too much. There are a lot of places with such potential as this all over the US.

I can drive an hour and a half and be on three places with this kind of potential. One is a nitroglycerine manufacturing plant, one an active military base and one is an army depot. Two have bunkers for storage... The nitroglycerine plant does not.

Several industrial plants within 40 miles of me have explosion walls incorporated into their building and landscaping, due to the nature of the chemicals they work with.

One plant that recently closed had an evacuation zone and siren alarms located miles around the plant. Nothing explosive there though.... the chemicals that they had there were terribly toxic.

Oh dear, maybe you should be scared, wherever you may travel......

The explosives have been moved from one location to another. All outside.

Google maps shows the boxes outside behind a different building.
goo.gl...

But in recent pictures they are behind a different building.



Some body has been moving it around?

reply to post by butcherguy


Funny you pop up with the history channel link. Is that a conspiracy? We know how Red Jacket in Baton Rouge, LA loves to blow stuff up. You know the guys from Sons of Guns on the Discovery Channel. And he is a ATF agent or some thing along the lines. William Hayden owner of Red Jacket has a badge. He shows it on his show all the time. And the Doyline Police Chief Robert Hayden. Is there a conspiracy?

reply to post by JBA2848

Nice pic.

If I had to guess, someone in authority found some issues with method of storage after the recent explosion. If it isn't in a bunker it should be spread out in depressions in the ground, in as small amounts as possible.

One thing that they are doing that makes sense is stringing the explosives out in long thin runs tapered at the ends, to minimize the explosive effect.

UNHUH?
Just how FAR is that Doyline town from the great sinkhole??
The two would go together like nobys business oif that butane blew too....
3000 Kilotons of TNT and a whole gazillion litres of butane.......
Move over Edgar Cayce!

Originally posted by JBA2848
reply to post by butcherguy

 

Funny you pop up with the history channel link. Is that a conspiracy? We know how Red Jacket in Baton Rouge, LA loves to blow stuff up. You know the guys from Sons of Guns on the Discovery Channel. And he is a ATF agent or some thing along the lines. William Hayden owner of Red Jacket has a badge. He shows it on his show all the time. And the Doyline Police Chief Robert Hayden. Is there a conspiracy?

They do like to play with explosives.

The 'Call of the Wildman' Ernie 'Turtleman' Brown made a trip or two to Louisiana on his show, but he doesn't blow things up.... yet. He may start, if it would boost his ratings.

I think the gun shows blowing things up is just about boosting viewership, they have even blown a few things up on 'Pawnstars'.

reply to post by butcherguy


Hi butcherguy, You are correct. There are a lot of dangerous places in the country...various facilities that should have more oversight/investigation...and folks held accountable when something goes wrong due to negligence. it is also true that "shiite happens"...accidents and other unforseen circumstances.

The problem with the Camp Minden dealy is that the "product" was stored outside for so long...not safely tucked away in bunkers...and in card board containers. Should any of the containers have degraded, moving them may make the venture a more risky circumstance. One would think 6 million pounds of explosives should have been being monitored and kept track of...the amount reported keeps changing...seems odd is all. The explosion there in Oct. wasn't near said "product"...a good thing. Yet, it took all nite for the explosion area to be located...odd that.

The other worrisome thing is if storms/lightning that may be heading for the area do arrive...would a lightning strike near any of it cause a problem....if the containers have degraded and are in the process of being moved but not in bunkers yet. The news conference did say the entire scenario is a dangerous situation so I guess there are some concerns by officials.

I know officials seem very concerned and they are working hard and trying to resolve a bad situation. I feel sorry for the folks working there to resolve it and I hope they will be safe and well. They have families that love them I'm sure. Everyone is hoping all goes well without incident. I do hope that any parties involved in ineptness regarding this mess will be held accountable. Blessings,

reply to post by shrevegal
Oh, you are most definitely right. The pic that JBA2848 posted above is proof that things are not being handled well there. The stuff should be in a bunker, and the fact that they are moving it around leads me to believe that someone in authority is on their tails to straighten things out there.

The cardboard containers might be used to limit the effect of static discharge ignition sources, but I did notice what looked like metal covers for drums at the site of the explosion.

I hope that the matter is dealt with properly and soon for the sake of the local population there.

A star on your post!

Originally posted by zedVSzardoz
wow, that much of this stuff was bought and paid for, and NEVER used....wow. Wonder how much it costs the army to buy it and then pay to get rid of it?

Less than it costs to use it under false pretenses in unwinnable crusades in the Middle East.

Originally posted by JBA2848
The explosives have been moved from one location to another. All outside.

Google maps shows the boxes outside behind a different building.
goo.gl...

But in recent pictures they are behind a different building.



Some body has been moving it around?

I'm looking at Bing maps now. When it's in aerial mode you see the packages, and quite well defined. It's a lot more packages too. Even weirder, when you switch to birds eye, theres nothing there, but it seems to be an older capture.

I'll update this post with screen caps.


On this one you see WAYY more than on the pic posted by JBA. Looks like there was a whole lot of motion. Either that or this stuff hasn't been there too long.


Curiously though, this pic shows none. Anybody know how to see exactly when the cap was taken? eh.. I'll google it...

Seems the owner of the company Explo Systems Inc David Fincher has already paid off the person who would be in charge of over sight and investigations back in 2009.

images.nictusa.com...

He donated $2400 to this guy. David Vitter.

en.wikipedia.org...

Committee assignments
Committee on Armed Services
Subcommittee on Personnel
Subcommittee on SeaPower
Subcommittee on Strategic Forces
(Ranking Member) Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation, and Community Development (Ranking Member)
Subcommittee on Securities, Insurance, and Investment Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety, and Security
Subcommittee on Communications, Technology, and the Internet
Subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Insurance
Subcommittee on Oceans, Atmosphere, Fisheries, and Coast Guard
Subcommittee on Science and Space (Ranking Member)
Subcommittee on Surface Transportation and Merchant Marine Infrastructure, Safety and Security
Committee on Environment and Public Works Subcommittee on Clean Air and Nuclear Safety
(Ranking Member) Subcommittee on Oversight
Subcommittee on Transportation and Infrastructure
Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship

reply to post by unphased


On Bing Aerial view they are there. Bing Birds Eye it only shows up if you back away from the view. Close up it disappears and looks like a ghost town.

www.bing.com...
32.549038,-93.413095

Originally posted by neo96
Damn!

Considering how heavily regulated explosives are lot of illegal procurement going on.

propellants like those found are not classed as explosives A
but are class B
"Class B explosives." Possessing flammable hazard, such as propellant explosives (including some smokeless propellants), photographic flash powders, and some special fireworks.

many propellant explosives like reloading powders used in rifles and pistols have little or no regulations unless you have large amounts like this company did.

I think it was Russell Edgington who was responsible for that, , This is what happens when there is no More AUTHORITY !

Originally posted by AGWskeptic

Originally posted by stirling
What were they gona do with all that TNT they distilled from the ammunition.....??
Guncotton= cottonbatten with a dose of nitric acid poured over it.....basically......a very primitive form of explosive id think...?
Has the explosive formula for large ordinance changed so little since WW1?
Or just how dated is the stuff?
From wiki
en.wikipedia.org...

It's not actual guncotton, it's concentrated in pellet form.

Artillary shells do not contain powder like civilian gun ammo. The shells have 7 bags of pellets and the fire mission determines how many bags to use.

Short range might only be a charge 3 (3 bags) while a long range shot would need all 7.


When I was in we dug holes behind each gun and at the end of the day we just burned the bags we had removed from the shells. I have no idea what they do now, but it wouldn't shock me to hear they can't burn it anymore.

In the 90's we were still shooting rounds that were produced during the Korean war,

edit on 3-12-2012 by AGWskeptic because: (no reason given)

Very interesting! I knew that big naval guns were loaded that way,didn't realize field artillery was too. How do you do this exactly? I was under the impression that artillery shells were similar to huge rifle cartridges,in that the shell is secure in teh case until fired. So you remove the projectile, subtract x numbr of bags,reinsert the projectile and tehn load and fire? How is the projectile secured within the case? Is it loose enough that it can just be lifted out?
Sorry for the 20 questions,I jsut find this stuff very interesting.