Big Spring Alon refinery explosion about 8:15 this morning,shook everything in town pretty hard. Prayers are needed for the people working there including fellow member Txfiremedic. It is not a good place to be right now, I was there in 93 and this one looks alot worse.

http://www.kwes.com/global/video/popup/pop_player.asp?

 

no injurys reported. Hope your doing well Tex.

gas prices already are thinking about rising.

 

11:00 am eastern time and cbsnews.com has nothing on it. However, they do have coverage on Diana's inquest.

 

Local coverage is all that I have seen but as hard as that thing rocked town I fear the worst

 

Thoughts and prayers for all those involved.

Do it safely,

Tim

 

I did a Cat Cracker revamp in that plant when Fina owned it in '96.

Based on the shape it was in then, and how it was run....I'm not surprised.

 

CNN Link

~Rob

 

only happend at 10:30 eastern i believe, give um some times, it is easten television

 

I have a uncle that use to work there back in the '90's. Now he's at the Total refinery in Port Arthur.

I thought Fina shut that refinery down??

MikeyB

 

Here is a wicked pic.

http://www.foxnews.com/images/root_i...Oil_Blast3.jpg


Bruce

 

Apparently Alon fired it up again (literally). Heard they're owned by the Saudi's?

 

Looks like a mini nuke.

 

Just saw it on AOL news. It looks like a big one. Think it said 4 person injured.

 

Correction....owned by the Israelis....

Cause of Big Spring Blast Unknown
Source: Fort Worth Star-Telegram (Fort Worth, Texas)
Publication date: 2008-02-18


By Bill Miller and Bill Hanna, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas
Feb. 18--A massive explosion and fire at an Alon USA refinery just east of Big Spring injured four people, shattered windows and rattled doors throughout the city, according to reports.

Blake Lewis, a spokesman for the company, said one worker was taken to a hospital but his medical condition was unknown at 11 a.m.

"Subsequently," he said, "we've identified an additional contractor who is being treated for a possible concussion and two more being treated for possible hearing concerns."

Lewis said the fire was under control at 9:30 a.m., but officials did not yet know what caused the blast.

"Right now we're working to get it completely tapped out," he said. "So, until we can get in and figure out what the situation was leading to the fire, anything we'd say now would be complete speculation."

At a press conference near the refinery this morning, Big Spring Mayor Russ McEwen and Howard County Judge Mark Barr said there were a total of four injuries but none was life-threatening, according to Big Spring radio station KBST.

Three of the injuries occurred inside the refinery and another person was injured who was driving by the refinery when the explosion occurred.

The radio station also reported that there was heavy damage inside the refinery.

Joe Bustamante, an employee at the plant, said he wasn't scheduled to work today, but the blast shook his house in the city, a few miles west of the plant.

"We felt the explosion," said the 35-year employee. "It woke us up. It felt like it was right outside."

His housekeeper, Felicia Valencia, said she ran outside thinking a car might have exploded.

"But then I looked up in the sky and saw a big cloud of smoke coming up, so I thought it might be the refinery."

Bustamante said he tried to reach the plant, but he was turned away at a roadblock.

"As I was getting closer to the refinery," he said, "I saw windows blown out in some of these businesses out here. It's bad.

"That's my job over there, but they won't let me in."

Bustamante went to the home of his daughter, Michelle, a few miles northeast of the refinery.

"The walls were shaking and pictures fell," she said. "The light fixture on my porch fell and completely broke off."

Michelle said she didn't know that the emergency was at the refinery until her mother called to say her father was OK. Before that, she wasn't sure what to think.

"I told my mom I thought they were bombing us over here," she said. "I thought that because of everything in Iraq and it is Presidents Day.

"There's just a bunch of smoke over there now. It's just black over there."

The explosion, which video showed sending a massive plume of black smoke and flames into the air, was reported at 8 a.m. at the refinery, near the intersection of East Interstate 20 and Refinery Road in Big Spring.

Big Spring, with a population of about 25,000 people, is about 250 miles west of Fort Worth.

Odessa television station KOSA reported that the blast could be felt as far away as Gardendale, about 60 miles southwest of Big Spring.

The station reported that I-20 was shut down and that nearby Howard College was evacuated. KOSA also reported that medical teams from across West Texas, including CareStar air ambulance service, are on the way to assist at the refinery. Residents who live within a mile of the refinery are being asked to evacuate, KOSA reported. It was a voluntary evacuation, the station reported.

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

Dunnam was quoted by the Associated Press as saying that 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.

John Moseley, managing editor of the Big Spring Herald, told the AP that he heard the blast and said, "I thought it would knock the walls down."

He told CBS radio that the blast blew the doors to his building in.

Alon spokesman Lewis said the Dallas-based Alon USA refinery employs about 170 people and produces about 70,000 barrels a day. It produces gasoline, diesel, aircraft fuel and asphalt, he said.

Lewis said most of the refinery's output is distributed in West Texas and New Mexico, where the company supplies a number of 7-Eleven stores and its own Fina stations.

Alon USA, which is owned by Alon Israel Oil Co., also operates a fuels distribution terminal in Southlake. Lewis said the company does not expect supply at that facility to be affected by the explosion.

By Bill Miller and Bill Hanna. Staff writer Jim Fuquay contributed to this report.

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To see more of the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.star-telegram.com.

Copyright (c) 2008, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas

Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services.

 

up 30 cents already, sorry for th injuries though