1,000 evacuated after Louisiana bomb plant blasts

[unhappycamper]

1,000 evacuated after Louisiana bomb plant blasts
Thu Aug 24, 2006 2:26pm ET162

HOUSTON (Reuters) - A series of explosions rocked a military bomb recycling plant at a National Guard base in northwestern Louisiana on Thursday and more than 1,000 people were evacuated from surrounding areas.

Officials said a fire broke out at the plant on 15,000-acre (6,000-hectare) Camp Minden, which appeared to have set off at least 10 explosions of munitions that included 10-ton bombs.

There were no significant injuries and everyone in the plant, had been accounted for, they said.

Webster Parish Fire Department chief Jimmy Bell told Reuters by telephone that the explosions occurred at Explo Systems Inc. plant, which defuses unused military munitions and recycles them.

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[SteppingRazor]

1. A Bomb Recycling Plant? Seriously?

I didn't even know we had those. I mean... isn't this sort of thing just a matter of time at a place like this?

[iconoclastic cat]

2. A bomb...recycling...plant.

No, no chance of a bomb exploding while it's being recycled! It'll be fine.

[KoKo]

3. What? Explosions of 10 ton Bombs and no one was hurt? How can that

be?

[DoYouEverWonder]

5. Probably a storage area

I'm sure there's acres of this shit all over the country.

[sofa king]

6. The key is space.

I know a fair amount about another munitions facility that has a habit of blowing up every now and again. Long ago plant designers realized that there was no real way to prevent accidents entirely, so they tried to minimize the potential damage by keeping all the builidings about 200 yards apart from each other to minimize the risk of chain reactions, and building them with weak roofs and very strong walls, so that explosions and flammable debris were funneled straight up. In this way enormous explosions (in the case of the place I know, sometimes hundreds of gallons of pure nitroglycerine) can be contained, and with just twenty or thirty seconds of warning, everyone can be clear of the blast--not that anyone ever had that much time to get away! I'm sure the plant described is built on similar lines, though it sounds like there may have been something of a chain reaction, anyway. If it was a fire that broke out, people really would have time to run like hell.

In one incident I know of, two guys were walking down the service road between buildings when one of the buildings blew (technically, the contents of a huge vat of stuff "burned," in about a thousandth of a second!). The two guys dove in the blast ditch next to the road, and then peeked up to look. Standing in front of them was a man, on fire.

The only thing anyone can figure is that this guy stepped out the front door of the building, and it blew before the door was closed all the way (if he was stepping out to smoke as many suspect, he might be the person who touched off the explosion). The blast carried him a hundred yards through the air and gently set him down right in front of these guys, who saved his life by putting him out. They didn't find a piece of anyone else larger than a finger joint.

Back in the old days, the nitroglycerine and other explosives were transported from building to building by hand on rolling platforms, called "angel carts," and the operators had a nickname that isn't appropriate to repeat in this day and age. Worst. Job. Ever.

[LA lady]

4. Have been there many times

My grandparents worked here during WWII. It used to be called the "Shell Plant".

Explosions are pretty common but this one's serious.

http://www.shreveporttimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060824/BREAKINGNEWS/60824007

Explo takes old and outdated munitions and recycles them, McKee said. "They dismantle these and take the gunpowder and explosives out and recycle them for commercial use."

[pitohui]

11. i hope everyone stays safe

it sounds like knock on wood so far they are saying no one is known to be hurt

[seriousstan]

7. Did any one see someone wearing one of these?

http://www.firestoreonline.com/index.asp?PageAction=VIEWPROD&ProdID=2036

[LA lady]

8. Glad you find it funny,

Hasn't Louisiana had enough rough times?

[seriousstan]

9. Get over yourself.

[jus_the_facts]

10. Interstate 20 and several other hwys are shut down.....

....my friend has been stuck in traffic for over two hours and it's not movin' at all still...seems like it's worse than they're lettin' on to me... x(

[jus_the_facts]

12. The explosion was the second in recent weeks at Camp Minden,

The explosion was the second in recent weeks at Camp Minden, where large-caliber ammunition was produced for the military until it closed in 1994.

On Aug. 14, a fire and explosions rocked the Valentec Systems plant at Camp Minden, destroying about half the facility's buildings. No injuries were reported and the fire was allowed to burn itself out. That company makes battlefield flares for the military.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/nation/4139075.html