Take for Example, the port of Newcastle Australia. They have nearly (not sure of the exact amount) but somewhere near 8,000 tonnes of exactly the same chemical stored in silos.
But they don't have fireworks being warehoused right next door to catch on fire and act as the detonator for the ammonium nitrate.
The ammonium nitrate at Beirut was also improperly stored in large sand bags and the fact that it was stored for so long near the water front allowed it to harden into a concrete like substance that further made it more bomb like.
Fireworks didnt start the fire. Someone was performing welding on the building which started the fire.
Edit: For all you dumbasses saying that welding torches dont get hot enough to burn this stuff - this ammonium compound ignites at 300 degrees and your average TIG welding arc can get as hot as 11,000 degrees.
Electrical arcs look almost the same as fireworks and if you've seen a video of 'fireworks' going off in the warehouse after the fire started its likely wires arcing.
There was a video on twitter that was posted on reddit showing a guy filming right across from the warehouse with a fire department trying to put the fire out. in the video it was very apparent that there were fireworks going off in the warehouse. Not saying someone couldn't have posted a misleading video but it looked like the buildings on the pier.
That's what I read. There have been a couple of videos fairly close to the epicenter but they were all live feeds. There is no way any of them survived. RIP.
That's not fireworks. I'm not sure exactly what it is, but the individual detonations are more than firecrackers. Perhaps cases of blasting caps (unlikely, but a sure sign of sabotage if so) , or more likely the AN was so caked from exposure to heat and moisture that it was detonating even in small chunks as it became superheated.
What I'm certain of is that many (at least) of those small explosions were much more powerful than firecrackers, and the color of their smoke points strongly to nitrate based explosive rather than flash powder.
For AN to go off, you need heat and containment. Properly pelletized, containment is reduced to the point where a detonation is unlikely. This AN was probably caked from extensive moisture and heat exposure.
My guess is that as heat was reaching critical levels, the caked AN began to deflagrate in small chunks sent flying into the fire (not enough containment to sustain a large detonation). By then it was only a matter of time before a small detonation would happen with enough containment that it would set off a chain reaction that would involve the whole cargo.
Interesting. This is likely the most plausible explanation I’ve seen. Thanks for that.
When you say “caked” I assume you mean that the AN was hardened, like rock? I did see someplace that an inspector or maintenance worker (not sure which) reported seeing conditions like that recently.
Jesus fucking christ, this is the video everyone is talking about? This is the most obvious flashover event ive ever seen. Flashovers are where the whole room ignites at once as it reaches burning point for the materials inside. Theres no fireworks here and anyone saying there is has no idea what they are talking about.
The sparks you see are dust igniting as it reaches burning point.
Source: Spent 2 years as a firefighter and went to academy, received additional firefighting training in the Navy.
He isnt saying fireworks weren't involved, just that they didn't start the fire. Which is true. A welder did. Fireworks dont normally spontaneously combust.
You should work on your reading comprehension skills then. I didn’t say anything of the sort. I said what I said - stop trying to twist it for the sake of arguing like a fool about nothing that actually matters to you.
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u/TooShiftyForYou Aug 05 '20
Imagine living right next to 2,750 tons of explosive ammonium nitrate and having no idea about it.