Gulf Refinery in Puerto Rico Blows Up

[Tinster]

About 2 miles from home at the Gulf refinery, 6 of the 12 primary gasoline storage tanks have blown up. The fire is raging out of control and expected to burn thru Sunday.
Our gated community is on the very edge of the evacuation zone.
The exit from our neighborhood is already closed east, as is the cloverleaf and expressway at least 6 miles west of us.
If the wind changes we will have to evacuate. Folks are trapped all over the place with all the major highways into San Juan blocked off. Most folks are stuck at home. (Thank goodness )

Here's several youtube videos of the explosion and fire.
The 13 sec video was taken from my bedroom a short time ago.

https://video.google.com/videosearc... youtube&resnum=1&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wv#

 

[TRDejaVu]

Dale, did Amos backfire when you drove past the place?

 

[BabaKahawa]

Read about it today, hope no one was hurt.
That's a heck of a smoke cloud.

 

[drooartz]

Yikes! Hope everyone is okay. I worked at a refinery here in Utah for a while, and was always aware of the dangers around.

 

[Brooklands]

Keep your lungs clear of the smoke and have Amos ready for the evacuation run...

 

[anthony7777]

tinster, glad to hear you and yours are o.k. and wish the best for anyone that is or may be displaced, but ive told you a hundred times not to smoke while using a siphon.

 

[Tinster]

Keep your lungs clear of the smoke and have Amos ready for the evacuation run...

Here's an official photo coverage of the blast. Worth a look.
https://www.elnuevodia.com/fotogaleria/629732/

It's gonna be real difficult today Dave. Thanks for your thoughts.
Wendy's asthma is the worst. My COPD meds help me a lot.

The winds changed overnight. The refinery oily smoke, soot and ash
is now falling directly upon our neighborhood. I now have a silver Jeep
with black asphalt dots all over it. It's looking to be a real bad
lung day. Air filter machine and AC in our bedroom- looks like a TV day.
Most major roads still closed, so where's to go anyway?

We give much thanks and send prayers to the brave men and women who
are fighting to contain this out-of-control refinery fire. Last night
18 of 40 fuel storage tanks had blown up. The smoke looks a bit diminished
this morning. Let's hope so. The environmental impact upon our small island
is devastating. It is believed to have been a protest arson ignition.

 

[DrEntropy]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Quote:] It is believed to have been a protest arson ignition. [/QUOTE]

Wonderin' over that. "Protest" against what tho... the resultant effect would (will) both cause a hike in fuel cost to folks AND do far more environmental damage than if it were left to function. Plain dumb unless it was simply an act of terrorism.

Oddly, I just did a search for the articles posted in the last few days mentioning the four letter 'nym found in a near-by tunnel... NO JOY! Seems the references have vanished.

<span style="font-style: italic">EDIT: Found it but had to DIG: <span style="font-weight: bold">A spray-painted message on the two tunnels, less than three miles apart, said: "Boom, fire, RIP, Gulf, Soul, ACNF."</span></span>

 

[Tinster]

Doc,
the tunnels are side by side- 3 miles from the refinery.
They have arrested a teenage who sprayed the grafiti.
He thought is was funny. His "artwork" has been painted over.

ALL the employees had left the refinery(reasons unknown)
before the first tank exploded.

d

 

[DrEntropy]

Th thlot pickens...

 

[Tinster]

Th thlot pickens...

Yup- our governor terminated 17,000 workers a few weeks back.
This past Thursday was an island-wide protest/strike over the
governor's action. The governor is also trying to privatise
quite a few government agencies/departments.

The potential investors arrived this past Friday with the first
day of the meeting Saturday morning.

The first tank of 40 blew up at 12:30 AM Saturday morning while
the private Co's representatives were sleeping. The explosion was
felt 20 miles away and measured 2.8 on the R-scale.

The tank in the center of the tank farm was the first to blow up.
Subsequent tanks exploded radiating outward, making it impossible
to fight the original fires.

Yes, the plot thickens. And the particulate plume is directly
over our house today. Nasty stuff falling on us and difficult to breathe.

dale

 

[Brosky]

Why are people so damned stupid?????

I hope that you and Wendy are safe and breathing well Dale. And also that your home doesn't sustain any damage.

 

[Tinster]

Why are people so damned stupid?????

I hope that you and Wendy are safe and breathing well Dale. And also that your home doesn't sustain any damage.

Thanks for your thoughts Paul. Wendy is having a harder time than I am. I have a tray
full of lung meds to help me and Wendy has but a tiny asthma puffer. Our bedroom is our
safe haven with air filtration unit and a recently serviced, high tech, split unit AC
system for our bedroom only. Wendy's been holed up there for two days.

It really ticks me off. Our newly elected governor ran on a platform that our
government was bloated with too many non-working workers and he would make
major worker cuts if elected. He won by a landslide. Now we have island-wide protests
and strikes because the man kept his promise and off-loaded 17,000 non-working workers.

It is widely thought locally, the refinery explosion was an act of domestic terrorism
to send the governor and foreign investors a strong message. The environmental
destruction of this beautiful island is beyond compare. The particulate plume has
covered the entire island with nasty hydrocarbons and an asphalt like substance
that sticks to everything. My house smells like a deisel engine bus is parked in the living room.

Again, thanks for your thoughts. I'll relay them to Wendy.

dale

 

[drooartz]

Why are people so damned stupid?????.

Somehow the stupidity of people doesn't even phase me anymore. Sad that I've gotten so cynical.

Dale, I sincerely hope you and Wendy stay safe and breathe easy. Please let us know if we can do anything to assist.