Texan oil refinary explodes.

[Datto]

BIG SPRING, Texas — An explosion rocked an oil refinery Monday in a violent blast that shook buildings miles away and injured at least five people, officials said.

All workers were accounted for about an hour after the explosion, said Blake Lewis, spokesman for refinery owner Alon USA.

Lewis said one worker was injured, but Big Spring Mayor Russ McEwen, speaking at a news conference later, said four were hurt. McEwen said one of the workers was sent to a burn unit.


The fire sparked by the blast was under control Monday morning, Lewis said. The Dallas-based company does not know what caused the explosion, he said.

The blast sent black smoke billowing into the sky, closed schools, shut down an interstate and left residents rattled.

"It was extremely scary. You shook you were so scared," said Laura McEwen, the mayor's wife who lives about two miles from the refinery. "Our walls shook. It jolted your bed. It was like an earthquake."

West Texas Refinery Explodes Big Spring Police confirmed a fifth person was injured when a piece of debris from the blast crashed through her car window, according to KTBC.

John Moseley, managing editor of the Big Spring Herald whose downtown office is also about two miles from the refinery, said, "I thought it would knock the walls down."

Two elementary schools were evacuated, then classes were canceled at all nine campuses in the Big Spring school district, said assistant superintendent Carie Dunnam.

Classes also were canceled at Howard College, according to the two-year junior college's Web site.

Dunnam said bus routes were affected by road closures and that emergency officials were warning of the potential for more explosions. School officials were asking parents to come pick up their children as soon as possible, Dunnam said.

The explosion forced open the doors of the school district's administration building about four miles from the plant, Dunnam said.

"Literally pieces of my ceiling came on top of my head," she said.

The refinery employs about 170 people and has the capacity to put out about 70,000 barrels a day.

Interstate 20 was shut down near the plant, Big Spring police spokesman Roger Sweatt said.

"There's some fire and a whole bunch of smoke," Sweatt said.

Big Spring is about halfway between Dallas and El Paso.

http://www.foxnews.com/photoessay/0,4644,3348,00.html

Well I guess we can expect our gas to go up now.

[Nemowork]

Oil refineries this week, sugar refineries last week, its getting to be almost as dangerous as going to lectures!

[Meursault]

Originally Posted by Datto

You sure that was just a refinery and not a nuclear power plant?

[Southern Belle]

I worked in a couple of refineries in Texas about 15 years ago. The safety orientations were enough to make you want to run away. You couldn't let any fire or sparks hit the GROUND because everything is soaked in flammables.
Those places are scary.

[Scuzzbopper]

Oh great, I sense an increase in fuel prices.

[Prof Maxwell]

I've been to Webb air force base near there...pretty area, and great food!

Probably blown up by their own company, so they can have another excuse to raise fuel prices, plus they get insurance money to have a new refinery.

I wouldn't put anything past those bastards

[Meursault]

Originally Posted by Prof Maxwell

I've been to Webb air force base near there...pretty area, and great food!

Probably blown up by their own company, so they can have another excuse to raise fuel prices, plus they get insurance money to have a new refinery.

I wouldn't put anything past those bastards

If that were true, I bet they had one hell of a blast blowing the thing up.