Fertilizer truck explosion in Arkansas

coolgunguy

http://www.ksla.com/2019/03/27/arkansas-highway-closed-following-truck-explosion/

One dead... I presume it's the driver of the truck.  Apparently, it knocked a LARGE crater into the highway. 

Jayhawker

A tanker hauling Ammonium Nitrate....strange...the stuff is normally hauled in hoppers, never heard of loading a tanker with it....must have been a hell of a fire to cause an explosive deflagration of the load...

tennmike

Since they said tanker, I'd guess it was one with the bottom dump in the middle of the same type used to haul grains like corn, soybeans, and wheat/oats. They're also used to haul chikkin feed around here, too.

And like Jayhawker said, that must have been one heck of a fire to cause the ammonium nitrate to explode. Takes a hot fire a long time to do something like that to ammonium nitrate.

jbp-ohio

Jayhawker said:

A tanker hauling Ammonium Nitrate....strange...the stuff is normally hauled in hoppers, never heard of loading a tanker with it....must have been a hell of a fire to cause an explosive deflagration of the load...

A reporter isnt going to know the difference 

Make_My_Day

The tires were on fire and if the Ammonium Nitrate inside the tanker had gone molten, all that would be needed for an explosion would be some burnable material, possibly the burning tires to come in contact with the molten Ammonium Nitrate to have an explosion.

Fisheadgib

Make_My_Day said:

The tires were on fire and if the Ammonium Nitrate inside the tanker had gone molten, all that would be needed for an explosion would be some burnable material, possibly the burning tires to come in contact with the molten Ammonium Nitrate to have an explosion.

Yup, a little bit hitting the molten rubber or possibly fuel would act as a blasting cap to set the whole load off. It was very fortunate that it occured in an unpopulated area. There wasn't a piece of the truck left that was bigger than a car tire so the remains of the driver that were recovered probably fit in a sandwich bag. I wonder if the driver knew how potentially dangerous his load was.

Teach

Another possibility would be getting the ammonium nitrate mixed with Diesel fuel.  ANFO explosives were used in the Oklahoma City bombing, and there was probably a much larger quantity of both ingredients available in this incident.

Make_My_Day

Teach said:

Another possibility would be getting the ammonium nitrate mixed with Diesel fuel.  ANFO explosives were used in the Oklahoma City bombing, and there was probably a much larger quantity of both ingredients available in this incident.

I was thinking that, but I didn't know if the fire was near the fuel tanks or the rear of the tanker.

Make_My_Day

Fisheadgib said:

Make_My_Day said:

The tires were on fire and if the Ammonium Nitrate inside the tanker had gone molten, all that would be needed for an explosion would be some burnable material, possibly the burning tires to come in contact with the molten Ammonium Nitrate to have an explosion.

Yup, a little bit hitting the molten rubber or possibly fuel would act as a blasting cap to set the whole load off. It was very fortunate that it occured in an unpopulated area. There wasn't a piece of the truck left that was bigger than a car tire so the remains of the driver that were recovered probably fit in a sandwich bag. I wonder if the driver knew how potentially dangerous his load was.

If he was a "HAZMAT" driver he should have known, and there are "Oxidizer" warning signs on the tank. Normally, dry oxidizer should be safe to transport, but in this instance it was "the worse case scenario" with the fire, fuel and oxidizer present.

Teach

ANFO usually needs a "kicker" charge to set it off such as a blasting cap, etc. but explosives don't always read the rule book.  Vaporized gasoline can be extremely explosive if it happens to be contained and lit off, and most of us haul a bunch of gas around every day with little concern over its destructive capabilities. 

jbp-ohio

Driver was a hero!

There was no accident.

His brakes caught on fire. He found an abandoned stretch of road to park and was trying to put out the fire when it went off

tennmike

There's just a whole lot of information missing in the story. Was it a dump truck or a bottom dump enclosed tanker? That would help to know that. One side or both side tires on trailer/truck on fire? Again, don't know. If it was a dump truck then tires on fire could heat up the fuel tanks.

The driver should have known that his load was reactive; kind of a requirement for driver to be briefed on the Hazmat info.

jbp-ohio

tennmike said:

There's just a whole lot of information missing in the story. Was it a dump truck or a bottom dump enclosed tanker? That would help to know that. One side or both side tires on trailer/truck on fire? Again, don't know. If it was a dump truck then tires on fire could heat up the fuel tanks.

The driver should have known that his load was reactive; kind of a requirement for driver to be briefed on the Hazmat info.

He knew. That is why he took time to drive to a place with no houses. They were evacuating other houses when it went off. So everyone knew....

Fisheadgib

If the driver actually drove to that spot to get that load away from people then He is a real hero and should have a monument erected about him on that spot.