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Oops, Is That Where They Store The Rocket Fuel? watch!

youtube.com — A tiny accidental spark from a welder started this massive fire at the place that manufactured and stored the Space Shuttle Rocket Fuel. What follows is the incredible explosions caught on film causing shockwaves that destroyed everything in its path. Needless to say the factory, and the building next it were destroyed leaving only a crater.

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  • kryptogrowl, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9You can read the full story here http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=800
    • b0wl0fud0n, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12Here's another video with 3 explosions that occurred ( out of 7 ) and with better audio of the shock wave:
      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gXmp2PKhV-k&mode=related&search=
    • marcuschi, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1That's where Bruce Banner worked right?
    • Niten, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2@b0wl0fud0n: The TLC video is good too, but I don't like the way they shifted the sound to make it line up with the video of the explosion... editing out that time delay takes one's sense of scale away from the event.
  • Aliasing, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9There's a certain amount of cosmic irony that safety concerns from the Challenger disaster actually precipitated the PEPCON disaster.

    More: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PEPCON_disaster
  • Doorfingers, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2a 19 digg front page story?
  • canuck21, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5pretty nuts
  • nottidredd, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2bury this
  • sl33stak, on 10/12/2007, -7/+1Not Digg worthy as a story, but cool as ***** to see.
  • markp93, on 10/12/2007, -0/+15Fantastic writing style...

    "a moderate but ambitious-looking fire was establishing itself in a large storage lot."
    "the flourishing fire mocked their efforts..."
    "the anxiety-stricken workers fled with great enthusiasm..."
    "chemists pointed out that the attorney's grasp of chemistry must be as flimsy as his grasp of ethics"
    "massive orgy of justice"

    etc.

    I also like the bit about the mashmallow factory.
  • BZKyle, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2Im in your buildin' blowing up yur tanks.
  • D3koy, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11BOOM

    (in case you can't tell, this is me giving some funny line from the clip you just watched in hopes of getting easy + diggs....)
  • winterblink, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5That's a pretty old video that makes the rounds often, but it's pretty fantastic display of the explosive potential in solid rocket fuel. Imagine being on the ground running like a maniac to get away from the place when the big final blast goes off....
  • fanboydcs, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2I grew up in vegas and because of that explosion, teachers were so worried about toxic pollution we had drills that made us tape up the door ways and air vents with "special tape" and get under our desks. What fun...
  • digidelia, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0that video still amazes me, and i've seen it a thousand times.

    i love the shockwave that rolls through the field
  • vizerei, on 10/12/2007, -3/+3Yeah, this video has been on dig about 30 times. For the love of god stop posting it.
  • SLKR, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2kinda weird
    a chem plant caught fire in Kansas city, Missouri(where i live)
    like on Thursday, stuff blew up and sent debris pretty far a way
    and it had purple smoke.
  • 13B1303, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4"Hey Bill fire up the stick welder I'll just tack this back up." -bzzzzzzzz- bzzzz- "pork chop sandwiches! get the ***** out!"
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1BDM1oBRJ8
  • bradwich, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I was 8 years old when this happened, and living in Las Vegas. I was out in the street riding my bike at the moment of the blast, and it was pretty strong. I still remember seeing the huge cloud of smoke in the distance. It was really too bad that the marshmallow factory was destroyed, because (although I never had the opportunity personally) it was a favorite field trip location for elementary school-aged kids (tons of my friends had toured the factory prior to this incident). It was cool going into the grocery store and seeing bags of marshmallows that were made so close to home, but the blast put an end to that.
  • Urusai, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oppau_explosion

    Speaking of explosions...they speculate that the Einsteins working that day were using dynamite to loosen ammonium nitrate in tanks. Speculate, because the crater where they used to be wasn't telling.
  • dpfinearts, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I lived in Henderson at the time - - - was in 6th or 7th grade. The street I lived on (Nuevo Rd) dead-ended into the desert. I used to go exploring all over the place out there, and had seen that plant many times. When it happened, the shock waves drove all the nails in the walls facing the plant through the drywall in our house.....the walls looked like a porcupine. They also blew the front door off our neighbors house and into the wall of their foyer....one of the hinge bolts went through two walls, and was found in their kitchen.
  • intelsucks, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Roy Westerfield=HERO
  • Navitron, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2This kind of event doest deserve to be disgraced by the pixilated youtube video. There was 2 or 3 documentarys made on this about this on Discovery and TLC ones called "Blueprint for Disaster" and one on A&E I dont remember the names of them but if anyone knows or can find out they have the best videos.
  • meetjoeblack, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Crazy, I live next to the place where this happened.
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