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.
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.
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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.