Gas Explosions Rock Downtown Dallas

"Explosions at a liquefied natural gas plant Wednesday morning injured three people and shut down Interstate 35E and Interstate 30 near downtown Dallas, forcing evacuations within a half-mile."

We had an exciting morning today. We were far enough away from the blasts and no one here was hurt...first and foremost. I heard the report on the radio at my desk about 9:30ish and called back to the secretaries who sit by windows. They said they could see it well so I went and watched the blasts for awhile. It was horrible! Explosion after explosion was going off and at that point there was no speculation as to what was causing it all. We know now that an acetylene tank (similar in looks to a helium tank - about 4 ft in height) malfunctioned and caught fire starting a chain of explosions and shooting fireballs that lasted for at least 30 minutes. We could hear the booms and see debris, shrapnel, and fireballs flying through the air...over the highways and into buildings. One newscaster stated that the tanks could easily be propelled up to 100mph, hundreds of feet through the air. It was truly a sight to see. On the ground at the plant it looked like dozens of blow torches flaming fast and furious, this among other flames shooting hundreds of feet in the air. At the point that I got there to watch the traffic was almost completely diverted but there were still a few cars rolling by slowly. According to the news those who couldn't reverse and get away due to stopping traffic got out of their cars and ran under bridges to safety from the flying canisters and a shower of concrete! At 10:30 the fires were still raging but the explosions had subsided.

This craziness took place right next to the I-35/I-30 interchange by Reunion Tower and Arena. So my question is why was this facility so close to stores, buildings and roads? I guess that will be addressed in the near future, I'm sure. The Dallas Fire Chief was not allowing any of his crews to go in the immediate area until everything was burned out. Last I saw, at 1:00 there was still a small fire burning cause by dozens of oxygen tanks...again, being left to burn out by themselves since the situation was too dangerous to approach. They were spraying water on surrounding buildings, though.

Sooooo, just wanted to let everyone know I was ok!! My building is actually on the other side of downtown but we are high enough up that we can see far out. On a great note...no one has died and even the workers who were present were able to get away. Last I heard only three are being treated for burns. Amazing considering the circumstances.

Reporting Live from Downtown Dallas, this is Heather Blachly...back to you in the news room, Ken.


Fireballs of debris set grass on fire near by and all the way across the highway interchange.






These are the tanks that shot into the air. Acetylene is one of the hottest burning gases and the tanks were under thousands of pounds of pressure.


We watched as these cars went from normal to black all the way through.