Huge Fire West of Downtown-Industrial Gas Supply Yard

[DEMDeepEllumMusic]

Really can't go in to shoot it because of EXPLODING ACETALINE TANKS sending shrapnel and tanks when they explode. Fire started about 45 minutes ago and only real coverage is being done by choppers which are pretty much staying a distance away along with at least one camera mounted on a highrise about a mile away in downtown.

This fire is about 1/4 mile or less from the Alford Refrigeration Warehouse fire that occured a few weeks back.

Thinking of heading over in a bit but as of right now EVEN THE FIRE DEPT is not going into the scene because the danger level is so high.

Some video from when the fire really took off showed flames up to 200 ft high and the big cylanders blowing up and being shot several hundred feet away.

This is one of the biggest plants in the DFW that fills acetalyne tanks for the welding industry. Don't know what other gasses that they handle.

[dreemes]

It has caught a liquor store on fire.

CBS 11 has a live streaming video. http://cbs11tv.com/

[DEMDeepEllumMusic]

I really don't think that the Seigels store is really burning, I think that is just some debri that was launched towards the store which has not breached the walls of the building.

The biggest problem is that the storage yard of this gas supplly business has maybe 1000 acetalyne and other gas tanks in it , many that have gasses in them, and they are burning gas through the tops of the tanks.

Chan 4 showed one of these big tanks (about 4 ft tall and 12 inches across-you see them on delivery trucks or maybe on a site where they are being used) right by Reunion Arena which is a couple hundred yards away so it had flown that far in one of the explosions so the area is still very dangerous to go into. NO FIREFIGHTERS HAVE GONE IN YET though there are probably now 2 dozen or more cars on fire in the area (employee and delivery vehicles) along with the building the supply yard and soon possibley a liqour store. If it breaches into that liqour store that would be a mess.

Also there is a SECOND GAS SUPPLY COMPANY JUST AROUND 200 FT AWAY from this one!

Going to be a long day- heading out over there now with a 300mm and a 2x along with my 500 mirrored lens and a couple more.

Hope to be back by 4!

[snidow]

That explains all the sirens I was hearing earlier this morning. Looks like the firemen are just now getting in there to try to put it out. The SPCA had to evac too.

[kenw]

In a related story, massive traffic delays are being experienced on IH45 south of Dallas due to a sudden influx of personal injury lawyers from Houston.......

[zepp]

Originally Posted by kenw

In a related story, massive traffic delays are being experienced on IH45 south of Dallas due to a sudden influx of personal injury lawyers from Houston.......

That can't be true. Everyone knows a lawyer wouldn't drive to Dallas but instead fly. Caught ya.

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Man Dallas has plenty of Lawyers as it is but I heard that Traffic on I 35 is backed up to Waco for all of the Mexican Marijuana Deliveries coming up from Laredo.

Freeways are scheduled to be closed until 9 PM Tonight!

BTW to try to shoot this thing it is just impossible unless your in a chopper since you can't even get into any parking garages nearby to try to shoot from (not sure if the methodist lot would get a shot since it is a ways away and the blasted Levee blocks most of the view.

BTW they didn't start putting water on the fire until almost 1PM over 3 hours since it started!

[lhdvies]

I saw a good bit of this on the WFAA website this AM. One of the live feeds had the headline graphic to read "settling tanks explode" (Obviously not a welding student)It was an unblieveable display of exposive power. I certainly hope no one lost there life in the inferno. When I had to leave the site only 2 people had been taken to Parkland in critical condition.

[snidow]

I decided to leave the area around Noon today so I could avoid the mess of traffic at rush hour. So glad I did too! Good to hear no one was killed!

[Hanky]

Originally Posted by DEMDeepEllumMusic

Man Dallas has plenty of Lawyers as it is but I heard that Traffic on I 35 is backed up to Waco for all of the Mexican Marijuana Deliveries coming up from Laredo.

Freeways are scheduled to be closed until 9 PM Tonight!

BTW to try to shoot this thing it is just impossible unless your in a chopper since you can't even get into any parking garages nearby to try to shoot from (not sure if the methodist lot would get a shot since it is a ways away and the blasted Levee blocks most of the view.

BTW they didn't start putting water on the fire until almost 1PM over 3 hours since it started!

Paul I was home today when I got the word so I scrambled to Methodist out patiant because you can get a straight shot at the location of the explosion. At least you could if they had not builted a new building in the way.
I ask security if I could go roof top but they have care flight concerns so I was refused.
My Mom just advised me if I had gone in the hospital I may had a shot from there.

[DEMDeepEllumMusic]

Well went back out to the area this morning and shot, loading pics now and all afternoon, and this is what I found:

First thing there was a full sized cylander (the 4 ft tall types is what I will call cylanders in the following post) over at Fuel City, near the longhorn cow pasture, with the top blown off and this was over 1/4 mile away.

When I actually got to the location of the fire I found a great viewing location on the Houston Street Viaduct (built in 1930-it sustained no real damage visible to me even though it was only about 100 ft from the fire) so I shot a lot from up there and of course on the ground.

Many dozens if not close to a hundred cylanders were shredded pn the site and the surrounding businesses with maybe a handful on the rooves of those businesses. Three cylanders were found in the ReUnion Arena Parking lot across I-35 and aproximately 1/4 up to 1/2 mile from the fire. There was scattered smaller pieces of metal all over the area even though the Tx DOT had attempted to clear all of that debri yesterday.

The fire actually started on the dock on the North Side of the building and then spread to the storage yard and the building itself and then to the neighboring auto repair shop with roof damage to Seigels Liqour, a small nightclub looked to have no visible damage, Airgas had their wall breached by a cylander( hole was about 3 ft in diameter in the cynderblock wall), BBQ Restraunt and a Second Liqour Store that were right nextdoor looked to have suffered no visible damage and some debri was visible on rooves of businesses across Industrial Blvd or about 200 ft from the fire location. There was a large amount of material that is actually found in the tanks that is used to stabalize the acetalyne in it which was producing the ash fall over the area and parts of Downtown. Reunion Arena across I-35 (about 1/4 to 1/3 of a mile away) had 4 large windows destoyed on the western and southward facing sides. There was one visible broken window on the Hyatt but it is unknown if it was damaged yesterday or had been broken before, there was no visible damage that I could see to ReUnion Tower. Rumours of windows breaking in the West End or debri found 3 miles away I believe are unfounded, if the WE windows were broken then the that huge wall of glass on the Hyatt would have been destroyed and debri found 3 miles away at most would be the ash and not metal pieces the farthest that I could hear about a confirmed finding was at a bit over 1/2 mile at the most.

So Chcek back on and off all day-plan to have over 80 pics up.

I plan to go back to the Press Confernce at 3 pm and get some snaps of the Fed an Local Officials.

Really the fire dept staying back was wise.

BTW the property where the fire was actually backed right onto I-35 so it was wise to shut it down and I-30 was just about 400 yards or so to the North well within range of cylanders flying around.

Found out that they principley sold acetalyne and no other gases though they had tanks that are designated for oxygen and other gases because he was a tank supply house so if you needed an oxygen tank you could buy one from him and then go get it filled elsewhere with the designated gas/gasses, some of these bottle/cylanders were used and could have contained small levels of those gases but out of the thousand or so cylanders that I saw on site were I would say 25-30% were for these Other Gases and not Acetalyne and he also had a large number of brand new cylanders which were empty. He also was a certified tester which these bottles have to go through on a regular basis.

( talked to several people who sounded knowledgeable on the subject)

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Woah!
http://www.firenuggets.com/x_ARDSIll...orporandy8.htm