Massive explosion in Beirut

  • After Iowa State won the Big 12, a Cyclone made a wonderful offer to We Will that now increases our match. Now all gifts up to $400,000 between now and the Final 4 will be matched. Please consider giving at We Will Collective.
    This notice can be dismissed using the upper right corner X button.

Trice

Well-Known Member
Apr 1, 2010
6,855
11,203
113
I remember that also. It happened the day before The Day After aired on tv. Our house shook (about 35 miles from the explosion) and my mom said, "go out to the machine shed and see what your dad's doing!" When I went outside, you could see a small column of smoke to the south of us on the horizon. If I remember right, it was a couple of kids out hunting, found what looked like an abandoned shed, and decided it would be fun to fire some shots at it. Turns out there were explosives in that shed that ignited. I don't think they ever found the boys. Yikes.

I'd never heard of this before so I Googled it, and I was a little young then to remember it.

https://www.upi.com/Archives/1986/1...ment-reached-in-dynamite-blast/1899532069200/
 
  • Like
Reactions: isutrevman

ArgentCy

Well-Known Member
Jan 13, 2010
20,387
11,176
113
For those with short memories. This explosion does look significantly smaller than the Beirut explosion. Not a good sign.



Wikipedia has an estimate for this explosion was 7.5-10 tons of TNT (from storage of 240 tons of ammonium nitrate). So this would possibly be 20 tons of TNT or more. That is on the magnitude of the original nuclear weapons.


Someone just reported that it was from 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate that had been sitting for 6 years. So yeah my estimate was a little low. That's 10x as much ammonium nitrate and that explosion looks about 10x the size.

https://www.news.com.au/world/middl...n/news-story/c48c84f1db62714d3a445ad238f61873
 

ArgentCy

Well-Known Member
Jan 13, 2010
20,387
11,176
113
Yeah, I was thinking about posting a pic of the Murrah Building.

Here it is.
okc.jpg

See link above. That was from 2 tonnes. This was 2,700 tonnes. Just to put it in perspective.
 

clonedude

Well-Known Member
Apr 16, 2006
30,548
25,675
113
This is a dumb and irresponsible take

Trump said this afternoon, like the moron he is, that he thinks it was a bomb.... but he didn't sound too sure??

Don't you love having a president trying to start WWIII without knowing the facts yet.
 

StClone

Well-Known Member
Dec 17, 2009
5,290
2,613
113
Wisconsin
Lots of normally adjusted people don't have "favorite" explosion videos... :)

But yeah - pretty spectacular.
Well I used to chase tornadoes as a hobby. Seeing homesteads get leveled then watch as the owners in shock crawl out of their cellars looking for their dogs was too sobering (true story).
 
  • Like
Reactions: cstrunk

BryceC

Well-Known Member
SuperFanatic
SuperFanatic T2
Mar 23, 2006
25,686
18,420
113
Things to not film if on fire (1) propane or commercial plants (2) fireworks factories (3) ammunition plants/depots.

This might rival the WWI Black Tom explosion in NY for one of the biggest non-nuclear explosions ever. Damn.

There is also the one at Ypres where the allies blew up a million pounds of TNT.
 
Last edited:

enisthemenace

Well-Known Member
Dec 5, 2009
12,877
8,452
113
Runnells, IA
I remember that also. It happened the day before The Day After aired on tv. Our house shook (about 35 miles from the explosion) and my mom said, "go out to the machine shed and see what your dad's doing!" When I went outside, you could see a small column of smoke to the south of us on the horizon. If I remember right, it was a couple of kids out hunting, found what looked like an abandoned shed, and decided it would be fun to fire some shots at it. Turns out there were explosives in that shed that ignited. I don't think they ever found the boys. Yikes.

All they found was a scrap of one of the kid’s shirt. Completely vaporized. Sad.
 

CloneIce

Well-Known Member
Apr 11, 2006
36,499
19,290
113
This one rivals the Tianjin explosion. That’s the craziest one I’ve seen, dwarfs the Texas fertilizer explosions.
 

StClone

Well-Known Member
Dec 17, 2009
5,290
2,613
113
Wisconsin
Trump said this afternoon, like the moron he is, that he thinks it was a bomb.... but he didn't sound too sure??

Don't you love having a president trying to start WWIII without knowing the facts yet.
I grew up 2 miles from that explosion. Blew windows out and knocked our garage off the foundation.
See link above. That was from 2 tonnes. This was 2,700 tonnes. Just to put it in perspective.
Beirut explosion register 3.3 on Richter scale. Pepcon at 3.5 (though differing geology may have affected the numbers)
 

StClone

Well-Known Member
Dec 17, 2009
5,290
2,613
113
Wisconsin
My neighbor directly across the street is from Beirut, Lebanon (his wife owns property in the mountains SE of the city) and trained in medicine. We talk often so I will have to see if his family there is safe.
 

CloneIce

Well-Known Member
Apr 11, 2006
36,499
19,290
113
One thing to note - while it’s likely an accident, the fact that it’s an ammonium nitrate explosion doesn’t completely preclude the possibility of it being a terrorist attack. If someone knew where it was being stored, that would make it a tempting target. I’m sure that possibility will be investigated.