She spent four years at sea, serving aboard ships based in Honolulu, Hawaii and Key West, Florida, and two years as the military aide to a flag officer in Alameda, California. CAIRO (AP) A towering blaze at a notorious prison housing political prisoners and anti-government activists in Iran's capital killed four inmates, the country's judiciary said Sunday. QUINTANA, Texas (KTRK) -- No injuries were reported Wednesday after what police initially described as an explosion at a liquefied natural gas terminal near Freeport. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. 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. 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. MADISON, Wis. (AP) Attorney General Josh Kaul filed a lawsuit Monday against a milling company for multiple violations at a plant that was the scene of a fatal explosion five years ago. Smoke billows from a fire following an explosion caused by a crash between a train and an 18-wheeler near Cameron, Texas, on Feb. 23, 2021. In that case, the blaze was extinguished hours after it began, but Harris County officials said it continued to release toxic pollutants for eight more days. The US Geological Survey also told ABC-7 that there was no earthquake in the area. 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. "They are indicating that it could take up to two or three days to actually extinguish the entire fire.". 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. Laboratory tests have shown that addition of only three volume percent of heptane to Number 6 fuel oil, transformer oil, and asphalt, causes flash point reductions of between 60C and 137C, he wrote in the 1997 study. It asked residents to avoid the area following the blaze, which broke out at around 1 a.m. local time (2 a.m. Harley, a 22-year-old living with her boyfriend about two miles from the ExxonMobil facility, said she thought the blast was "a bomb or an earthquake.". He said that "for now" there were no indications that nearby residents would need to evacuate the area or shelter-in-place. (AP) An August house explosion that killed three people in a southern Indiana neighborhood has been ruled accidental after investigators traced the blast to a leaking natural gas line in the home's basement, officials said Wednesday. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Whats more: Chambers was still alive. But additives are not necessary for a pyrophoric explosion to occur. Several residents on El Paso's eastside heard a loud explosion on the morning of December 30, 2021. Six days earlier, a similar incident in Stafford, Texas left one man injured and another dead. Harley said the experience was reminiscent of a similar incident in July 2019, when an explosion and fire broke out at the same facility. The cause of the fire was found to be a leaking natural gas line. The explosion, which was captured on video, launched wooden boards, window glass, insulation and other debris at least 100 feet into the air in Evansville, the Evansville Courier & Press reported. ISLAMABAD (AP) A hotel catering to foreign visitors in Afghanistan's capital of Kabul was attacked Monday and three of the assailants were killed, a Taliban official said. No injuries were reported and there was minimal property damage as a result. Six people were hospitalized after a home in a Dallas suburb was leveled by an explosion Monday afternoon, fire rescue officials said. Im in east El Paso.". The windows on both sides of the building shook, and Patel, the general manager of the motel, said he could feel the blast inside his body. Unlike pyrophoric explosions, these explosions were characterized by the use of an ignition source, like a torch, that then lit nearby vapors on fire, triggering an explosion in the tank. Shrapnel from the tanker tore into residential buildings and into the soccer pitch. A dredging vessel in Corpus Christi hit a submerged pipeline, sparking an ", "I got really scared," Martinez, 27, said. Heptane, one of the main components of gasoline, is a lighter-end chemical that is sometimes included in the additives used in heavy fuels. Officials said the blast could be felt up to 30 miles away, and that by sunrise, toxic plumes could be seen for miles. HARRIS COUNTY, Texas An explosion at an ExxonMobil plant in Texas injured four people early Thursday, according to the Harris County Sheriffs Office. The first blast, which blew out the windows Davis said he could not confirm whether an explosion had taken place at the facility. Fort Bend County Judge KP George said that residents surrounding the area were evacuated as a precaution. The personnel were killed when an explosive device detonated during a security operation in the Khan area of the Tarmiyah district. Martinez said she stayed up for hours, watching the scene unfold. No injuries were reported. Courtney Wallace, a BNSF spokesperson, confirmed that an investigation is underway and said 13 of the train's 110 cars derailed, 10 of which continued to burn Tuesday evening. It also apologized for any disruption or inconvenience that this incident may have caused the community. And I just noticed two picture frames on the wall fall down and the sound and that didnt match up. Every day or once a week, our original stories and digest of the webs top headlines deliver the full story, for free. The more asphalt is heated, the more hydrogen sulfide is created, and over time, high concentrations can build up. Rosselot added, The potential for higher vapor concentrations needs to be recognized, so that care is taken to prevent the vapors in these tanks and the vapors being emitted from these tanks from coming into contact with a source of ignition.. 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. 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. Hot workthe use of tools for cutting, grinding and welding that can create sparksis common at industrial plants, and asphalt plants are no exception. USA TODAY 0:00 1:13 Six people were hospitalized after a home in a Dallas suburb was leveled by an explosion Monday afternoon, fire rescue officials said. "Nobody was injured or killed," White 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. Asphalt naturally contains both sulfur and hydrogen, which, when they react, form hydrogen sulfide. Though the incident is still under investigation, Melville Fire Chief David Kaplan said they havent ruled out a pyrophoric explosion. SAN ANTONIO (AP) Authorities on Sunday continued investigating the cause of an explosion that killed three people at a San Antonio construction company. 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. "I didnt know what it was. ABC-7 reported that police and fire officials could not explain the noise. In that incident, more than 60 people were sent for medical evaluation following the blast. 6 fuel oil despite temperatures never reaching the flash point. In states that do require that emissions be reported, companies estimate them, typically using a formula developed by the petroleum industry that is often wrong and leads to underestimates of vapor pressure and the levels of air pollution the tanks are emitting. All of the sudden I heard what I thought was my sliding glass door breaking, one neighbor told KTVT. Julia Kane is currently pursuing her masters at the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism, where she is focusing on narrative writing and investigative reporting. A helicopter ambulance was waiting to take him to a hospital in Dallas, but with his clothes covered in asphalt, they decided against it out of fear that the fumes from Chambers clothes and body would overtake the pilot, Slovak said. According to the Fort Bend County Office of Emergency Management, the incident happened in an isolated area in a field. 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 EPA has been aware of problems with the formula since at least 2007, but has not called for its field offices to investigate the emissions or required that companies directly measure and report emissions. 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). In these cases, it is unclear whether the workers did. A shelter-in-place order was also issued, affecting around 5,000 people in the area. 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. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Who knows how many tanks around the country are an explosion hazard but have yet to get a spark?. Seven or eight homes in the "very rural area" are affected, and those residents could be displaced for several days, White said. Those additives have increased the vapor pressure inside the tanks making them more vulnerable to explosion, Rosselot and others said. ", Download theNBC News appfor breaking news and politics. We are still checking.". At a news conference today, Manley said the latest bombing occurred when the two victims either stepped on or kicked a tripwire as they were walking on a sidewalk in the Travis Country neighborhood of Austin. ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) A gasoline tanker crashed and then exploded in north-central Nigeria, killing at least 12 people, police said Friday. Numerous residents of the area reported that it "sounded like an earthquake.". 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. Almost instantly, the tank he was standing on exploded. If you add something that has a different explosive limit, youre going to change the properties of the mixture, he said. In a separate statement, Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez said at least four people had been injured, with three taken to hospital by air ambulance. Yes. Dont miss a beat. Long-term exposure has been associated with cardiovascular disease and cancer, and can damage the nervous system. The dramatic scenes of the nighttime fire have reverberated across Iranian social media. Train derailment in Springfield, Ohio as residents ordered to shelter in place, Rape survivor 'sobbed seeing Gabby Petito bodycam vid after same cop did nothing', Daughter of murdered couple linked to Delphi case reveals paranoia, Serena Williams stepmom's debts continue to spiral amid crumbling home battle, 2020 THE SUN, US, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED | TERMS OF USE | PRIVACY | YOUR AD CHOICES | SITEMAP, An explosion was heard in El Paso on December 30 2021, reported that it "sounded like an earthquake. The blast was so powerful that it sent the 12-foot diameter lid of the tank flying, before it landed on an employees car. By The Associated Press. All employees at the facility were accounted for, Houston-based Freeport LNG said in a statement. 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. One womanshared a video from her Ring camerathat she believed may have captured the noise. The Baytown Fire Department said its crews had not responded to the incident. 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. Hours after explosions rocked a Texas chemical plant outside Houston early Wednesday, officials said there is no way to know how long a fire at the site will burn. TOWN OF MAPLE GROVE, Wis. (AP) Four people remain hospitalized in Wisconsin burn centers with injuries from a bonfire explosion last week during a party in the Town of Maple Grove, authorities said Thursday. Smoke plumes fill air after 18-wheeler collides with train. Four injured in refinery fire at Baytown, Texas. These materials are more volatile, can cause greater emissions and become explosive at lower temperatures than asphalt without the additives. Several of our residents were injured," Plano Mayor John Muns said in a statement, reportedKXAS-TV. We are saddened by todays tragedy of a house explosion in our City. 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. A Texas pipeline explosion sparked a fire that could be seen from 30 miles away. 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. The Asphalt Institute did not respond to questions submitted to them by Inside Climate News. As least 10 people were injured in a fire caused by a natural gas explosion in Texas Friday night, officials said. BAGHDAD (AP) A gas tanker exploded near a soccer field in northeastern Baghdad on Saturday, killing at least nine people and wounding 10 others, according to security officials. Updated on: November 27, 2019 / 9:34 PM Every day or once a week, our original stories and digest of the web's top headlines deliver the full story, for free. this year: 5.4 in Mentone , Texas 6 fuel, because their emissions were thought to be negligible, are vented, allowing oxygen in and vapors out. Inside Climate News uses cookies. Smoke rises from trains as firefighters and rescuers operate after a collision near Larissa city, Greece, early Wednesday, March 1, 2023. The Milam County town of 5,400, about 72 miles northeast of Austin, was rocked by the boom around 6:45 a.m., according to Cameron Sheriff Chris White. Six people were sent to the hospital and four are missing after a Texas pipeline exploded Friday. Whats more, even a small amount of a lower flash point additive could affect the point of ignition of the substance its added to. ". Some industry experts believe that the changes in the volatility of the heavy fuel oils from additives may be behind many explosions in tanks containing asphalt and No. By continuing to use this site, you accept this policy. An Explosion in Texas Shows the Hidden Dangers of Tanks Holding Heavy Fuels - Inside Climate News A tank used to emulsify asphalt caught fire and exploded early Though that is closer to the flash point, it still allows for a buffer. Plano Fire Rescue said on Twitter that an explosion was confirmed at the site, but they did not know the cause. 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. "We have multiple calls reporting a loud boom and we have multiple units investigating at all the different locations callers reported," Enrique Dueas-Aguilar with the El Paso Fire Department told The US Sun. In many cases, there was hot work or torch heating on or near the tanks, wrote the author, Robert Zalosh. Plano Fire The beaches are not closed, but Quintana Island was reportedly closed to all incoming traffic during the afternoon. After the explosion in Ennis, Tank #17 was left damaged beyond repair and in need of removal. The explosion happened in Wallis, Texas, about 50 miles west of Houston. No. Nederland Volunteer Fire Department - NVFD, Inc. 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. An internal, floating roof is used to keep oxygen out and vapors in. The February explosion had no obvious causeno nearby sparks or fires. She is the author of Meltdown: Terror at the Top of the World. 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.. In a statement several hours after the fire broke out, ExxonMobil said its emergency response teams were still working to extinguish the 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. Shankman has a Masters in Journalism from UC Berkeleys Graduate School of Journalism. Over the last decade, at least 17 heated storage tanks containing asphalt or No. this month: 4.7 in Rotan , Texas , United States. Several people have been injured after an explosion at the ExxonMobil plant in Baytown, Texas, early on Thursday morning. 2023 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Satellite Information Network, LLC. 6 fuel oil, have become more depleted than in the past, making them hard to work with. The fire, in a remote area, was brought under control after about an hour. Chambers climbed to the catwalk and got ready to separate it from the tops of the tanks. Prior to attending Berkeley, Julia served as an officer in the U.S. Coast Guard. Though there were workers at the plant at the time, no one was injured. The county has previously sued ExxonMobil, accusing the company of violating the federal Clean Air Act. She joined InsideClimate in the fall of 2013, after helping produce documentaries and interactives for the PBS show Frontline since 2010 with 2over10 Media. 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. On June 30, 2020, a tank holding asphalt mix at the Blueknight Energy Partners terminal in Gloucester City, New Jersey exploded. In 2019, an explosion caused a massive blaze in the area that processes polypropylene. 6 fuel oilexploded when a worker opened a hatch, allowing oxygen to enter the tank. 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. Two people remained unaccounted for. Shortly after 4 p.m., they declared the situation was under control and contained to the immediate affected area of the plant. Officials added that it's not yet clear when the evacuation order will be lifted. In some states, regulators do not require reporting, based on an incorrect assumption that there are no emissions to report. The explosion ripped through a section of the Urengoy-Pomary-Uzhhorod pipeline in the Chuvashia region during repair work. The noise was also heard and felt in the nearby City of Socorro, according to acity representative. (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. However, the institutes publication acknowledges that the additives can include lighter hydrocarbons. A number of other residents took to Twitter to share their concerns following what they too described as an "explosion. BAGHDAD (AP) A heating gas tank exploded in a residential complex in northern Iraq on Thursday, killing six people, Iraqi Kurdish officials said. 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. Authorities work on the scene of an explosion in Austin, Texas, March 12, 2018. BAGHDAD (AP) Three members of the Iraqi security forces were killed in an explosion north of Baghdad on Wednesday, Iraq's military said. On Wednesday afternoon, there was a second massive explosion, forcing officials to issue a mandatory evacuation for the four-mile radius surrounding the plant. These kinds of explosions in asphalt tanks have been documented at least since the 1980s. Vaggelis Kousioras - stringer, AP. GUTHRIE, Ky. (AP) One worker was killed and four others were injured in an explosion at an industrial facility in western Kentucky, officials said. These additives are often proprietary chemicals or lighter hydrocarbons that would normally be further refined into diesel. Around 1 a.m. on 12/23/2021, a fire occurred at our facility. 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 Engineering experts say that such seemingly spontaneous explosions can be caused by the formation of whats known as pyrophoric material. The word pyrophoric comes from the Greek fire-bearing and means capable of igniting spontaneously upon exposure to oxygen. Webtoday: 2.5 in Mentone , Texas , United States. Neither OSHA nor the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation Board, an independent federal agency charged with looking into industrial chemical accidents, has conducted a systematic investigation of these explosions.