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. in Texas As refineries have gotten more efficient at squeezing every valuable drop of more profitable petroleum products, like gasoline or jet fuel, from crude oil, the products at the bottom of the vacuum stack, like asphalt or No. 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. Though there were workers at the plant at the time, no one was injured. Please be aware that there is a mandatory evacuation for everyone within a 1/2 mile of the TPC plant in Port Neches. Texas has seen multiple petrochemical industry blazes this year, including a March fire that burned for days near Houston and another that killed a worker at a plant in nearby Crosby. Police and fire dispatchers said all local utility companies had been contacted, but none had reported any issues. MADISON, Wis. (AP) Federal regulators have determined that a lack of safeguards during a maintenance shutdown led to a 2018 explosion at an oil refinery in Superior. The February explosion had no obvious causeno nearby sparks or fires. ET). By Jason Murdock On 1/24/20 at 7:14 AM EST. She said her windows, air conditioning unit and television started rattling following what she believed was an explosion. 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. 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. Six days earlier, a similar incident in Stafford, Texas left one man injured and another dead. In court records, he is quoted saying that only skin was keeping his foot attached to his leg. 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. The Surfside Beach Police Department said the facility had experienced "some sort of explosion," but no evacuation orders had been issued. Who knows how many tanks around the country are an explosion hazard but have yet to get a spark?. The Associated Press contributed to this report. (AP) Twelve people were injured, two of them critically, in an explosion and fire at a Maryland apartment building Wednesday and the residents of one unit have not been accounted for, a fire official said. 6, resulting in changes to the way the products performand what they emit. The Harris County Sheriff's Office said deputies were responding to the incident and that "some injuries" had been reported. Heptane, one of the main components of gasoline, is a lighter-end chemical that is sometimes included in the additives used in heavy fuels. ABC-7 reported the loud boom heard and felt in east El Paso as well as the Lower Valley was in fact an explosion. Whats more, even a small amount of a lower flash point additive could affect the point of ignition of the substance its added to. In that incident, more than 60 people were sent for medical evaluation following the blast. MEXICO CITY (AP) A fireworks explosion at a Day of the Dead celebration in Mexico injured 17 people, authorities said Sunday. Asphalt tanks dont really worry us very much, said Mike Hildebrand, an expert in safety management and hazardous materials who wrote a handbook on emergency response for bulk storage tanks, because compared with other petroleum products, asphalt has a high flash point. "There is no risk to the surrounding community. For decades, companies and regulators assumed that emissions from asphalt and No. ", Tim Fitzsimons is a reporter for NBC News. ET, Rohan Davis, a refinery manager at the ExxonMobil site, said that all four people in hospital appeared to be in stable condition. Plano Fire Surfside Beach Police Department's Marine Division assisted Port Freeport police and the U.S. Coast Guard on the waterways. Was there an explosion in El Paso, Texas? | The US Sun INDIANAPOLIS (AP) A popular Indianapolis museum was closed for a second straight day Tuesday after recent frigid temperatures caused a pipe to burst, flooding part of the museum, officials said. ABC-7 reported that police and fire officials could not explain the noise. Dont miss a beat. 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. Justin Chambers arrived at the U.S. Polyco plant in Ennis, Texas, on the morning of April 23, 2018, with a job to do. Six people were sent to the hospital and four are missing after a Texas pipeline exploded Friday. Our first priority is people in the community and in our facilities, the company said. Nederland Volunteer Fire Department - NVFD, Inc. The presence of these higher volatility molecules means that the concentrations of vapors in the tanks are higher than they used to be, said Rosselot. And I just noticed two picture frames on the wall fall down and the sound and that didnt match up. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. explosion Texas today The employee suffered minor burns, and the tank lid was blown into the air and landed 150 yard away. The first explosion occurred just after 1 a.m. Wednesday. 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. 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. Hours after explosions rocked a Texas chemical Staff with the Childrens Museum of Indianapolis said a frozen sprinkler line had burst, flooding the Welcome Center in the museum that's located on Indianapolis' near north side. Thus, the potential of asphalt additives to influence the formation of pyrophoric materials in an asphalt storage tank cannot be ruled out.. 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.. The explosion happened in Wallis, Texas, about 50 miles west of Houston. These kinds of explosions in asphalt tanks have been documented at least since the 1980s. It included a section on the role that additives can play in contributing to these kinds of explosions. Pipeline explosion Texas today: Flames from blast could be Yet there is reason to believe that changes in the way asphalt and No. One Twitter user recorded feeling the concussion from the explosion 25 miles away. 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. I was nervous to go to sleep," she said. The first blast, which blew out the windows and doors of nearby homes, injured three workers. VIDEO: Explosion at ExxonMobil plant in Texas injures 4 - WKMG Deep inside the asphalt tank, Chambers lay, suffering from third degree burns to his face, back and abdomen and a shattered right leg. A section of the five-story building in the town of Tymovskoye collapsed after a gas cylinder exploded in one of the apartments at around 5:30 a.m. NEWFANE, Vt. (AP) A man was found dead in a home explosion and fire in the southern Vermont town of Newfane early Friday morning, state police said. When asked directly what type of chemical may have been released from the tanks, company officials told ABC13 they were not sure, and advised to ask Freeport police. The noise was also heard and felt in the nearby City of Socorro, according to acity representative. FORT BEND COUNTY, Texas -- Emergency crews brought the flames from a pipeline explosion in Texas under control about an hour after the blaze occurred. She joined InsideClimate in the fall of 2013, after helping produce documentaries and interactives for the PBS show Frontline since 2010 with 2over10 Media. 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. Another personposted, "Anyone else felt a big boom or house shaking just now? 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. While the information contained in these trade publications rarely makes its way to the general public, the threat to homeowners and others in residential neighborhoods is real, given the dispersed location of such tanks throughout the country. Pipeline explosion Texas today: Flames from blast could be seen 30 Freeport police said to ask the city manager, who then told ABC13 he was not aware of any release. Captain Josh Slovak, a 15-year veteran of the Ennis Fire Department at the time, was on the second engine to arrive at the plant. It wasnt long before sirens began wailing and fire engines arrived on scene. Explosion - ABC13 Houston Four people were inside the two-story home when it was heavily damaged by Tuesday's explosion in the city of Princeton, leaving two people hospitalized with burns while a third person complained of back pain, the Indiana Department of Homeland Security and State Fire Marshal said. A dredging vessel in Corpus Christi hit a submerged pipeline, sparking an When my husband pulled into our garage, the roof in our garage had caved in.. Paul Bommer, a petroleum engineer and senior lecturer at the University of Texas at Austin, said he once was called as an expert witness in a case in which a tank containing carbon blacka substance similar to asphalt and No. Connect with the definitive source for global and local news, By SEUNG MIN KIM, ZEKE MILLER and MICHAEL BALSAMO. She has also reported for ProPublica, the Wall Street Journal and the Associated Press. But I feel as if this one was louder and bigger than the one in 2019, she 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. "Nobody was injured or killed," White said. After the explosion in Ennis, Tank #17 was left damaged beyond repair and in need of removal. Copyright 2023 KTRK-TV. Video footage from the scene shows debris and lumber scattered across the home's yard and into the street. 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. Vaggelis Kousioras - stringer, AP. 60,000 people forced to evacuate after explosions at Texas Smoke plumes fill air after 18-wheeler collides with train. All employees have been accounted for, TPC said, confirming two employees and a contractor were injured. MINOT, N.D. (AP) A small explosion and fire disrupted care on the third floor of a Minot hospital. 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. TPC officials know that at least three tanks have been damaged, but firefighters have not been able to fully assess the harm, Monk said.