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Important safeguards missing from West Fertilizer Co.
Important safeguards missing from West Fertilizer Co.
By RANDY LEE LOFTIS
Environmental Writer
rloftis@dallasnews.com
Published: 11 May 2013 11:33 PM
Updated: 12 May 2013 12:03 AM
Related
Find ammonium nitrate sites near you
Whether the West Fertilizer Co. fire began by accident or by arson, a $200 voluntary inspection before the blaze might have told the company how to keep its inventory from exploding.
Atop the list of precautions that never were: For about $40,000, the fertilizer warehouse just outside West might have installed an automatic sprinkler system to kill a fire before it became a blast that killed 15 people.
West Fertilizer didn’t have sprinklers in its warehouse, a company spokesman confirmed. The warehouse was across the street from schools, playgrounds, houses and a nursing home. The explosion destroyed or damaged them all.
The sprinklers are perhaps the most important missing safeguard. Experts say arson and electrical fires are frequent threats for ammonium nitrate warehouses. Sprinklers, they say, can help stop a fire, even an intentional one, from becoming a catastrophe.
“That could have been the difference,” said Edwin Cope, a fire and industrial safety engineer and hazardous-materials specialist who advises builders and owners in Houston. “Certainly it could have controlled or knocked down the fire to the point where you wouldn’t have had the explosion.”
Cope serves on the technical committee that develops hazardous-materials standards for the National Fire Prevention Association, the nation’s chief fire-code group. The Quincy, Mass.-based organization’s ammonium-nitrate fire code, designated NFPA 400, Chapter 11, is cited around the world as a best practice.
Scores of government investigators have been asking what started the fire that detonated tons of ammonium nitrate fertilizer around dusk on April 17. The arrest on Friday of a West paramedic on federal charges of possessing a destructive device and the opening of a state criminal investigation into the West fire and explosion offer no proof of arson.
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/west-explosion/headlines/20130511-important-safeguards-missing-from-west-fertilizer-co..ece
By RANDY LEE LOFTIS
Environmental Writer
rloftis@dallasnews.com
Published: 11 May 2013 11:33 PM
Updated: 12 May 2013 12:03 AM
Related
Find ammonium nitrate sites near you
Whether the West Fertilizer Co. fire began by accident or by arson, a $200 voluntary inspection before the blaze might have told the company how to keep its inventory from exploding.
Atop the list of precautions that never were: For about $40,000, the fertilizer warehouse just outside West might have installed an automatic sprinkler system to kill a fire before it became a blast that killed 15 people.
West Fertilizer didn’t have sprinklers in its warehouse, a company spokesman confirmed. The warehouse was across the street from schools, playgrounds, houses and a nursing home. The explosion destroyed or damaged them all.
The sprinklers are perhaps the most important missing safeguard. Experts say arson and electrical fires are frequent threats for ammonium nitrate warehouses. Sprinklers, they say, can help stop a fire, even an intentional one, from becoming a catastrophe.
“That could have been the difference,” said Edwin Cope, a fire and industrial safety engineer and hazardous-materials specialist who advises builders and owners in Houston. “Certainly it could have controlled or knocked down the fire to the point where you wouldn’t have had the explosion.”
Cope serves on the technical committee that develops hazardous-materials standards for the National Fire Prevention Association, the nation’s chief fire-code group. The Quincy, Mass.-based organization’s ammonium-nitrate fire code, designated NFPA 400, Chapter 11, is cited around the world as a best practice.
Scores of government investigators have been asking what started the fire that detonated tons of ammonium nitrate fertilizer around dusk on April 17. The arrest on Friday of a West paramedic on federal charges of possessing a destructive device and the opening of a state criminal investigation into the West fire and explosion offer no proof of arson.
http://www.dallasnews.com/news/west-explosion/headlines/20130511-important-safeguards-missing-from-west-fertilizer-co..ece