Huge explosion at service station

[Permalink]

1 Like

Thatā€™s a fairly small explosion, as explosions go. Though the event at around 1:28 is interesting. Note also that the ignition apparently took place at the white car. Probably left there with idling engine.

Now, PEPCON, that was a huge explosion. Comparing with that, most things look like a fart.

If you want some nice fun, BLEVE, aka Blast Leveling Everything Very Effectively, is the kind of boom you will like.

There are many many nice firey videos on youtube. Some even with analysis of the given mishap; the one dealing with that Texas BP refinery is one of the better ones.

2 Likes

Indeed, I donā€™t thin the pump in the foreground is ā€œsmoking ominously;ā€ I think thereā€™s a fairly serious leak of LP gas from a fill valve behind the pump. Look at the way the heavier-than-air vapors hug the ground, and are eventually ignited by either the heat of the carā€™s exhaust system or sufficient LP gas coming in the air intake for the exhaust to actually contain flames.

I also read the clearing of traffic as a lucky coincidence of the change of the light rather than everyone peeling away in a panic.

5 Likes

The initial explosion comes from a black car just behind it, so that probably accounts for at least two of the four injuries. Neither of the cars move after the initial explosion, which looks a bit ominous.

1 Like

I think someone diverted the traffic. You can see a man run in from the right side at 32 seconds, check out the situation, then run out again at 58 seconds, angling into the road. No more cars go past after that.

Am I the only one curious as to why the filmer was smart enough to start filming BEFORE the explosion? Who sits around videoing gas stations?

1 Like

Filmer apparently spotted the weird smoke/vapor cloud and thought, and was proven right, it could become interesting.

1 Like

Good catch.

Videos on BoingBoing never play for me. Thatā€™s why I like it when the authors include a link to the source. But this video doesnā€™t have that, so I have unfortunately not enjoyed watching this explosion.

This is the request that fails: http://cdn.embedly.com/widgets/media.html?src=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fembed%2F-zvo7xXs-T0%3Ffeature%3Doembed&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3D-zvo7xXs-T0&image=http%3A%2F%2Fi.ytimg.com%2Fvi%2F-zvo7xXs-T0%2Fhqdefault.jpg&key=cd9e4f06431d4d5cb4fa3e4a1368b789&type=text%2Fhtml&schema=youtube&autoplay=1

The station must have sold fireworks. I noted a few fireworks-type explosions in the top right quadrant of the image (just right of centreline) at about 2:05.

A green car pulls in right behind the silver carā€¦ and then explodes, igniting the vapor from the leak. Thatā€™s where the initial explosion (and burn injuries) come from. It could just be from hot engine, but because Russia, probably someone lighting a cigarette even after noticing the gas leak.

Also, at 1:40 or so, notice the fat naked dude just casually strolling out from the bush in the lower left.

I was wondering if he stopped traffic. That guy might have saved some lives.

Person crossing road in lower middle, must get burned from the fireball ejection that traverses the road, the person who emerges from behind the tree would have come from one of the cars or would be deadā€¦ or maybe came up from lower in the frameā€¦ damn tree. Just. Wow.

http://youtu.be/-zvo7xXs-T0

For large terrible urban explosions, look no further than the explosion at Enschede back a few years ago.

This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.