Explosion – State of Nebraska, Omaha [International Nutrition]

Earth Watch Report  – Fire / Explosion

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Explosion

USA

State of Nebraska, Omaha [International Nutrition]

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Explosion in USA on Monday, 20 January, 2014 at 18:37 (06:37 PM) UTC.

Description

As many as 15 people are thought to be injured or trapped inside an Omaha plant that produces animal supplements. Rescuers had taken five people to the hospital shortly after 10:30 a.m. Monday. They notified emergency room personnel that others remained inside International Nutrition near South 76th and F Streets. Emergency dispatchers received a report of a possible industrial explosion Monday about 10 a.m. At least five rescue squads were dispatched to 7706 I Plaza, home of International Nutrition. Early reports indicated that up to 12 to 15 people were injured or trapped in the 10 a.m. blast, with at least five men taken to Creighton University Medical Center. Four were in serious condition and the fifth person was in critical condition. Among the five men who were injured were a 21-year-old, a 36-year-old, a 37-year-old and a 49-year-old. According to police radio dispatches, the 21-year-old suffered a head laceration and the 36-year-old inhaled limestone dust. Both are in serious condition. International Nutrition manufactures farm animal supplements. According to its website, “International Nutrition has serviced the U.S. feed industry for over 40 years. Combining an inventory of over 350 critical ingredients with our expertise in producing medicated, nutritional and specialty premixes, we are successfully servicing the needs of animal health distributors and feed manufacturers.”

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Official: Omaha plant fire claims 2 lives, 10 others injured

By Steve Almasy and Carma Hassan, CNN

updated 8:16 PM EST, Mon January 20, 2014

At least 2 dead in Omaha plant explosion

STORY HIGHLIGHTS

• Mayor’s office, county attorney says 2 dead, all others accounted for
• Witnesses describe an explosion followed by chaos
• OSHA says too early to determine cause of the incident

(CNN) — At least two people died and four were critically injured Monday in a plant accident in Omaha, Nebraska, authorities said.

The incident happened about 10 a.m. CT at International Nutrition, a company that produces feed and other products for livestock and poultry.

“I heard the explosion and stuff started falling, so I ducked for cover,” worker Nate Lewis told CNN affiliate KETV. “It was pitch black in there. All I could see was fire. I had to feel my way out of the place. I couldn’t see anything.”

There were 38 people at the plant at the time of the incident, interim Omaha fire chief Bernard Kanger said. Ten of the injured people needed a trip to the hospital, the chief said, adding that four were initially in critical condition.

Seven other people at the scene refused treatment, he said.

The mayor’s office and the county attorney’s office said two people had died. A spokeswoman for Mayor Jim Suttle said all other people at the plant were accounted for as of Monday night.

An employee told KETV that he heard noises, saw fire and sprinted for his life.

“I just heard a crack pop and big ball of fire, and I just took off running when I heard the first crack,” worker Jamar White “That’s all I could do was get out of the way and make sure I was OK.”

A spokesman for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration said OSHA investigators were at the plant, where part of the building had collapsed. Scott Allen said it is too early to determine the cause of the accident.

Read More and Watch Video Here

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The New Zealand Herald

Fatal feed processing plant explosion in Omaha

1:44 PM Tuesday Jan 21, 2014

The International Nutrition plant is shown with wreckage in Omaha, Nebraska. Photo / AP

Omaha officials say two people are dead and all other workers are accounted for in the animal feed plant that exploded.

The explosion Monday morning (local time) brought down part of the International Nutrition plant. Two people were killed and 10 others seriously hurt.

Omaha Police Lieutenant Darci Tierney said all of the other people who were working have been accounted for.

Authorities don’t know what caused the blast.

Interim Omaha Fire Chief Bernie Kanger noted that there were no hazardous chemicals at the plant.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration will determine the cause.

The explosion knocked out the lights in the building and sent workers scrambling for safety.

Worker Jamar White said he heard a loud crack and looked up to see the back wall of the building collapsing. White said he then ran to safety.

Thirty-eight people were working at the plant when the blast happened. In addition to the two people who died and 10 who were hospitalized, seven people were hurt but refused treatment. Officials have not said how many of the 19 others escaped.

“We haven’t cleared the building yet because of the significant risk to our people,” Kanger said.

Read More Here

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Related articles

• Official: Omaha plant fire claims 2 lives, 10 others injured
• 10 hurt in explosion at Omaha animal feed plant
• Omaha plant explosion injures at least 10
• OMAHA EXPLOSION: Building Collapses
• Fatal feed processing plant explosion in Omaha – New Zealand Herald
• 2 dead, many missing in plant fire
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14th survivor pulled from Philly building collapse rubble : UPDATE

CBS/AP/ June 6, 2013, 2:03 AM

Rescue personnel search scene of building collapse on edge of downtown Philadelphia on June 5, 2013 / AP

Updated 3 a.m. ET

PHILADELPHIA Searchers combing through the debris of a collapsed building and the remains of a damaged Salvation Army thrift store pulled a woman from the rubble late Wednesday, a glimmer of hope after officials said at least six people had been killed and 13 others injured.

Deputy Fire Chief Robert Coyne said early Thursday that 61-year-old Myra Plekam was pulled OUT, alert and talking to her rescuers before she was put in an ambulance and taken to a nearby hospital, where she was in critical condition.

Her condition was not immediately released.

It was a quick burst of joy and optimism among the numerous firefighters, police and others slowly and steadily digging through the debris that burst forth when a building that was being torn down collapsed with a thunderous boom Wednesday, raining bricks on the thrift store.

Earlier, a somber Mayor Michael Nutter said those who died were one man and five women but authorities still didn’t know how many people had been in the store or on the sidewalk when the accident happened.

Early reports had been that one woman had died in the Wednesday morning accident, but rescuers using buckets and their bare hands to move bricks and rubble kept working through the evening, removing body bags at night. Nutter said the city’s emergency workers had been “diligent, determined, focused” in their rescue efforts.

“If anyone else is in that building, they will find them,” he said.

One woman was pulled from the rubble of the Salvation Army thrift store two hours after the 10:45 a.m. collapse when rescuers heard her voice, city fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers said. About 40 percent of the collapse area remained to be searched, and rescuers were prepared to dig through the rubble all night looking for victims and survivors, he said.

Aerials of building collapse in Philadelphia

“It’s a dangerous environment for our members, firefighters, our paramedics — we’re going to take our time,” Ayers said.

Survivors were taken to hospitals with mostly minor injuries, and some had been treated and released by evening.

Officials from the Department of Labor and Occupational Safety and Health Administration were at the scene.

The collapse involved an empty building that once housed a first-floor sandwich shop and apartments above. The thrift shop was on one side. The other side was an adult bookstore and theater that had been taken down within the last few months.

Several witnesses said they had been casting a wary eye on the demolition site and questioned how the workers were tackling the job. That raised questions about how closely the highly visible spot on Market Street, one of Philadelphia’s signature boulevards, was being monitored.

Roofer Patrick Glynn said he had been watching workers take down the doomed building over the past few weeks, and he said he suspected a collapse was inevitable because of the methods the workers were using.

“For weeks, they’ve been standing on the edge, knocking bricks off,” he said. “You could just see it was ready to go at any time. I knew it was going to happen.”

Related articles

• 6 dead in Philadelphia building collapse (thehindu.com)
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“Devastation Beyond Description”: Dozens Feared Dead in Texas Fertilizer Plant Blast, 100+ Wounded

Published on Apr 18, 2013

http://www.democracynow.org – An unknown number of people have been killed, and well over 100 injured, in a massive explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas. The incident began with a smaller fire that ignited chemical tanks, causing an explosion that shot flames high into the air and leveled surrounding buildings for blocks in each direction. A police official estimated five to 15 people have died but the casualty count is expected to rise as day breaks. One initial estimate put the death toll at between 60 to 70 people. Local officials say around a half dozen volunteer firefighters who first arrived on the scene are now missing. Toxic fumes rising from the rubble of the plant have raised health concerns, and about half the town has been evacuated, including a nursing home. We go to Texas to speak with reporter Jay Hicks of the Waco television station KWTX, and Tony Dudik, a local resident who volunteered aid at a triage center three miles from the blast. “It was devastation beyond description,” Dudik says.

Democracy Now!, is an independent global news hour that airs weekdays on 1,100+ TV and radio stations Monday through Friday.

 

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No OSHA Inspections at Texas Plant in 5 Years: Are We Doing Enough to Protect Workplace Safety?

 

Published on Apr 18, 2013

http://www.democracynow.org – In the wake of the deadly explosion at a Texas fertilizer plant, reporter Mike Elk of In These Times magazine joins us to discuss the plant’s safety record and the troubling regulatory environment for workplaces in Texas and nationwide. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has not inspected West Fertilizer Co. in five years, and the EPA fined the plant in 2006 for failing to have a risk management plan. Elk says OSHA is understaffed and underfunded nationwide, across all industries.

Democracy Now!, is an independent global news hour that airs weekdays on 1,100+ TV and radio stations Monday through Friday

 

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Explosion – State of Illinois, Gantie City [Amsted Rail Company]

Explosion  –  Technological Disasters

Image Source

Image Source

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08.03.2013

Explosion

USA

State of Illinois, Gantie City [Amsted Rail Company]

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Explosion in USA on Friday, 08 March, 2013 at 03:53 (03:53 AM) UTC.

Description

An explosion at a steel plant in Granite City Thursday morning injured 9 workers. It happened just after 8 a.m. at the Amsted Rail Company. The force of the blast sent workers flying through the air. Clifford McIntyre, a steel worker, went to helped his fellow employees who were injured. He said, “All I heard was an explosion when I went back to see what was going on I seen a couple of my Union brothers out and on fire.” Fire Chief Tim Connolly said, “They said there was a gas explosion.” United Steel Union V.P. Bobby Washington was working inside the plant. “When the explosion happened they don’t know what it was but it blew workers from their job and they were damaged and burning,” he said. Workers became one, rescuing the injured. McIntyre said, “First reaction was to put him out with my jacket and then another union brother came over with a fire extinguishers and put him out.” Two of the workers were airlifted the Mercy Hospital’s burn unit. The seven others were treated at Gateway Regional Medical Center. Connolly said, “They looked like they were in some kind of coal mine work. Their faces were black around their mouths.” He said paramedics worried about the victims who may have inhaled superheated gases. “They’ll breathe that in. It will burn everything all the way down. It will affect he lungs we can’t see those things,” he stated. Company officials said their employees’ well being is their top priority. Amsted makes parts of the wheel assembly for train cars. The explosion happened in an area called the cleaning and finishing department. McIntyre said, “It was real scary and upset. I ain’t seen nothing like that in my life and when I seen it, I was like in shock.” Washington added, “Very frightening, emotions are still high.” OSHA has investigated two complaints at the company in the past five years. It found no violations. At last report the two men being treated in the burn union were in critical condition. Four of the seven other victims were treated and released from the Granite City hospital.

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2 critical after explosion at Granite City steel plant

KMOV.com

Posted on March 7, 2013 at 8:55 AM

Updated today at 9:27 AM

 

GRANITE CITY, Ill. (KMOV) – Nine people were injured in an explosion at the AmstedRail plant in Granite City Thursday morning.

According to officials, at least two people were standing on a platform at the plant in the 1000 block of Niedringhaus Ave. when it exploded around 8:10 a.m. According to officials, the victims were in the cleaning and finishing department.

According to a spokesperson at Gateway Regional Medical Hospital, seven people were transported to the hospital to be treated for smoke inhalation. Three of those victims have since been released.

Two others were flown by helicopter from Gateway to Mercy Hospital in St. Louis in critical condition. The remained in critical condition Thursday night.

Roughly 800 people work at the plant where the company produces railcar undercarriages and related components, said Mike Right, the United Steelworkers union’s health, safety and environment chief.

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