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Post subject: Gas tanks explode at Dallas facility
 Posted: Jul 25, 2007 - 06:21 PM
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Member
Joined: Nov 17, 2002
Posts: 7598
Location: Boston, Massachusetts
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Gas tanks explode at Dallas facility
Gas tanks explode at Dallas facility
By Paul J. Weber, Associated Press Writer | July 25, 2007
DALLAS --A series of explosions at a gas facility sent flaming debris raining onto highways and buildings near downtown Wednesday and seriously injured at least two people.
Authorities evacuated a half-mile area surrounding the Southwest Industrial Gases, Inc. facility and shut down parts nearby Interstates 30 and 35 as the explosions continued for more than half an hour. Video footage showed numerous small fires burning in the area as stacks of gas cylinders exploded.
About a dozen cars burned in a nearby parking lot and a grassy areas of a highway median.
The canisters held acetylene and propane gas, said Texas Commission on Enviornmental Quality spokeswoman Andrea Morrow. It wasn't immediately clear what caused them begin exploding around 9:30 a.m.
"I thought it was artillery. It was just coming just boom, boom, boom," said witness Tony Love, a former Army soldier.
At the edge of the evacuation zone is Dallas County's main jail and criminal courts building, but operations continued there uninterrupted, said Deputy Michael Ortiz of the Dallas County Sheriff's Department.
"We are prepared to go into any emergency mode that's needed, but we feel pretty secure here in the jail," Ortiz said.
The Environmental Protection Agency's emergency responders were on the way to the scene, said Dave Bary, a spokesman for the agency's regional office. He said they will assist in monitoring the air, but had no information yet.
Parkland Hospital spokesman Robert Behrens said two people injured by the explosions had been brought to his hospital in serious condition.
Vanessa O'Brien said she was standing in a parking lot a few blocks away when she felt at least 20 vibrations from the explosion.
"We felt the whole building move and the windows rattle," she said. |
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