SunnyRabbiera
May 18th, 2009, 06:03 AM
Man this was figgin scary, I watched it from right down the street:
http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=6817891
(I link to ABC as it gives the best coverage in the area)
It started around 10:00PM, and for the last 2 hours nothing but fire and chaos.
I can say that around 10:09PM EST is when it started, when we heard a big BOOM!
And our house shook for about a second.
It was like a bloody bomb went off, I went outside to see what happened and was at first wondering what was going on.
Going outside was nothing out of the usual in this area, the refinery has been burning up crap for practically 100 years now.
At night seeing bright orange lights in the skies is not out of the ordinary.
But not tonight, because tonight is when quite literally all hell broke loose.
It was like watching fireworks, there were two maybe more bangs afterwards, I mainly heard the two initial blasts from this event.
It was like someone was shooting a cannon, not ear splitting but certainly enough to get one riled.
But the big scary bit of the whole thing is that I could hear something pounding in the background, it was rhythmic like the sound of a locomotive.
It was intense, it was like the refinery was a ticking time bomb ready to go off.
It was nightmarish at a distance, and we knew that something was wrong when at least five different fire sirens went off.
At best we hear one or two, but tonight it was way more then that.
Now luckily no one was hurt so far but there is something worse then an explosion out there in the air.
Ethylene Oxide, a product used to make things like detergents and foam, and is a step away from Ethylene glycol...
Antifreeze for those less chemically knowledgeable then I.
Now lucky for me the toxic cloud has blown away from my house, the winds blew towards New Jersey.
But still I am worried, as these are the symptoms of Ethylene Oxide poisoning:
(From Wikipedia)
"Headache and dizziness, progressing with increasing exposure to convulsions, seizure and coma. It is also an irritant to skin and the respiratory tract, and inhaling the vapors may cause the lungs to fill with fluid several hours after exposure.
Ethylene oxide is usually stored as a pressurized or refrigerated liquid. At room temperature and pressure, it rapidly evaporates, potentially causing frostbite in cases of skin exposure.
Laboratory animals exposed to ethylene oxide for their entire lives have had a higher incidence of liver cancer. However, studies on human beings who have worked with ethylene oxide for extended periods and may have experienced low doses during that time have found no increase in cancer risk. Chronic ethylene oxide exposure may increase the risk of cataracts in humans.
In animals, ethylene-oxide can cause numerous reproductive effects, including mutations and a higher rate of miscarriages. Its reproductive effects on humans have not been well studied, but it is considered probable that ethylene oxide exposure has similar effects on human reproduction."
Now currently I do have little headache but I will know very soon if I have a case of poisoning, so far my skin feels fine and the headache is most likely from the excitement.
Still worry is in high supply here, no evacuations were called for my general area but nothing suggests any immediate danger... so far.
I will keep posted on this, I know that this doesnt have much to do with Ubuntu or community fun but I think I needed it off my chest.
http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=6817891
(I link to ABC as it gives the best coverage in the area)
It started around 10:00PM, and for the last 2 hours nothing but fire and chaos.
I can say that around 10:09PM EST is when it started, when we heard a big BOOM!
And our house shook for about a second.
It was like a bloody bomb went off, I went outside to see what happened and was at first wondering what was going on.
Going outside was nothing out of the usual in this area, the refinery has been burning up crap for practically 100 years now.
At night seeing bright orange lights in the skies is not out of the ordinary.
But not tonight, because tonight is when quite literally all hell broke loose.
It was like watching fireworks, there were two maybe more bangs afterwards, I mainly heard the two initial blasts from this event.
It was like someone was shooting a cannon, not ear splitting but certainly enough to get one riled.
But the big scary bit of the whole thing is that I could hear something pounding in the background, it was rhythmic like the sound of a locomotive.
It was intense, it was like the refinery was a ticking time bomb ready to go off.
It was nightmarish at a distance, and we knew that something was wrong when at least five different fire sirens went off.
At best we hear one or two, but tonight it was way more then that.
Now luckily no one was hurt so far but there is something worse then an explosion out there in the air.
Ethylene Oxide, a product used to make things like detergents and foam, and is a step away from Ethylene glycol...
Antifreeze for those less chemically knowledgeable then I.
Now lucky for me the toxic cloud has blown away from my house, the winds blew towards New Jersey.
But still I am worried, as these are the symptoms of Ethylene Oxide poisoning:
(From Wikipedia)
"Headache and dizziness, progressing with increasing exposure to convulsions, seizure and coma. It is also an irritant to skin and the respiratory tract, and inhaling the vapors may cause the lungs to fill with fluid several hours after exposure.
Ethylene oxide is usually stored as a pressurized or refrigerated liquid. At room temperature and pressure, it rapidly evaporates, potentially causing frostbite in cases of skin exposure.
Laboratory animals exposed to ethylene oxide for their entire lives have had a higher incidence of liver cancer. However, studies on human beings who have worked with ethylene oxide for extended periods and may have experienced low doses during that time have found no increase in cancer risk. Chronic ethylene oxide exposure may increase the risk of cataracts in humans.
In animals, ethylene-oxide can cause numerous reproductive effects, including mutations and a higher rate of miscarriages. Its reproductive effects on humans have not been well studied, but it is considered probable that ethylene oxide exposure has similar effects on human reproduction."
Now currently I do have little headache but I will know very soon if I have a case of poisoning, so far my skin feels fine and the headache is most likely from the excitement.
Still worry is in high supply here, no evacuations were called for my general area but nothing suggests any immediate danger... so far.
I will keep posted on this, I know that this doesnt have much to do with Ubuntu or community fun but I think I needed it off my chest.