Mythbusters: Fire Without Matches

They try lots of different ways- from sticks to chocolate bars! 17:09

Not so Sweet: Sugar Refinery Explosion, 6 bodies found

Did you know sugar is highly explosive???

Bodies Found Following Georgia Refinery Blast - Firehouse.com News
Firefighters working gingerly through a still-burning sugar refinery found three bodies Friday and were trying to reach the remains of three others killed in an explosion overnight, Georgia's top fire official said.

Crews found the three bodies in tunnels beneath the building, which was reduced to a mass of rubble, twisted beams and mangled metal, Georgia Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner John Oxendine said.

Local authorities said they had not heard of any recoveries.

"We have not had any confirmed deaths yet. I know that for a fact. They are still going through the rubble as we speak," Savanah-Chatham County Police Sgt. Mike Wilson said.

Police Chief Michael Berkow told families of missing workers that rescue efforts at the massive Imperial Sugar Company refinery had shifted to recovery operations hours after the explosion erupted late Thursday. Dozens of the nearly 100 people were working inside at the time of the blast were hurt, many critically burned.

Fire officials said they had begun clearing debris so they could move farther into the plant, and predicted the blaze could be extinguished by Friday afternoon. Fire Chief Greg Long said he wasn't giving up hope some of the missing might still be found alive in rooms blocked by debris.

"I have friends that work at this plant," Long said. "I don't want to see a casualty list."

Officials had not determined what caused the explosion Thursday night but said they suspect sugar dust, which can be volatile.

"There was fire all over the building," said Nakishya Hill, a machine operator who escaped from the third floor of the refinery on the Savannah River.

"All I know is, I heard a loud boom and everything came down," said Hill, who was uninjured except for blisters on her elbow. "All I could do when I got down was take off running."

The blast was felt by residents throughout the Savannah suburb.

Police Lt. Alan Baker and his wife, Joyce, told CNN they were among the first on the scene. Alan Baker said he went with a maintenance worker to turn off a gas main while his wife, a Red Cross first aid instructor, treated the injured.

"It was like walking into hell," Joyce Baker said. "We had approximately 13 men who were coming out and they were burned, third-degree burns on their upper bodies. And they were trying to sit down and the only thing that they wanted was to know where the friends were."

Some of the burned men had "no skin at all" and some had skin "just dripping off them," Baker said.

More than 30 people were taken to hospitals, some airlifted to a burn center in Augusta, 130 miles up the Savannah River, according to police and hospital officials. Several were in critical condition, including some who were placed on ventilators, said Dr. William Wessinger, the medical director at Memorial University Medical Center in Savannah.

Beth Frits, a spokeswoman for the Joseph M. Still Burn Center at Doctors Hospital in Augusta, said 15 fire victims transferred from Memorial were in critical condition and three were in serious condition.

The plant is owned by Imperial Sugar and is known in Savannah as the Dixie Crystals plant.

"A far as we know, it was a sugar dust explosion," Imperial Sugar CEO John Sheptor said. He said it happened in a storage silo where refined sugar is stored until it is packaged.

Workplace disasters involving combustible dust have been a concern for federal safety officials for years.

In a November 2006 report, the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, which investigates industrial chemical accidents, recommended that the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration issue a comprehensive combustible dust standard for general industry.

A posting on the CSB Web site Friday said the 2006 recommendation was still open. An OSHA spokeswoman did not immediately return a call Friday seeking comment.

The plant's last inspection by the state Department of Agriculture was Oct. 30, 2007. Records show it was cited for two violations, one involving an opening in a packing room area that could allow for pests to enter and another related to buckets used for packing molasses in a warehouse not being properly protected.

Coast Guard Lt. Cmdr. Kevin Lynn said the river was closed to ship traffic from the Port of Savannah while the river was searched for possible victims.

"It's a large facility, and there is still a significant amount of fire," said Clayton Scott, assistant director of Chatham County Emergency Management Agency. He described the refinery as covering an area the size of a Super Wal-Mart.

The U.S. Chemical Safety Board said Friday it is sending an investigative team to the plant.

Sugar dust is combustible, according the U.S. Occupational Safety & Health Administration's Web site. Static electricity, sparks from metal tools or a cigarette can ignite explosions. Sugar dust is suspected of sparking a nonfatal explosion last summer at a factory in Scottsbluff, Neb., and one that killed a worker in Omaha in 1996.

Imperial Sugar, based in Sugar Land, Texas, acquired Savannah Foods & Industries, the producer of Dixie Crystals, in 1997. The acquisition doubled the size of the company, making it the largest processor and refiner of sugar in the U.S., according to the company's Web site.

Imperial markets some of the country's leading consumer brands, Imperial, Dixie Crystals and Holly, as well as supplying sugar and sweetener products to industrial food manufacturers.

Backdraft.

Pretty incredible backdraft.

Histeria: Wheel of History

Powered by AOL Video

Nostradamus spins the Wheel of History and explores events such as the Great Chicago Fire as well as fulcrums, pulleys and screws...oh my!21:21

Playgrounds shut after a freak fire

Playgrounds shut after a freak fire | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle
ARLINGTON — Arlington school officials have temporarily closed 20 playgrounds after a spontaneous combustion fire at a school playground last week.

Security video from Anderson Elementary School showed the fire breaking out with no sign of arson or other vandalism. Officials blamed Thursday's fire on the spontaneous combustion of the decomposing wood fiber surface of the playground.

Authorities say recent heavy rain left some material soaked, then it began decomposing in this month's hot weather.

Superintendent Mac Bernd says pea gravel will replace the wood chips on those playgrounds.

The changes are expected to be made within two weeks. Texas children prepare to return to classes Aug. 27.

PEPCON Explosion in Henderson NV

Training BLEVE

1:27

Water & elements that don't play well together

What happens when alkali metals enter in contact with water? (I'll give you a hint, it goes BOOM!)3:16

BLEVES

What is that funny sound the news crew wonders? uh oh.
5:42

Training Mistake

Vapor density. Flammable range. Movement of gases. Apparently all this firefighter knew was that gas makes big fire....like magic.

Forest management may lead to worse wildfires

Forest management may lead to worse wildfires - earth - 11 June 2007 - New Scientist Environment
This is a really interesting article. It seems that removing the dead wood after a fire, may lead to a worse fire next time!

Forestry management techniques used after wildfires may actually lead to worse repeat fires, say researchers who studied one of largest forest fires in recent US history.

The 2002 Biscuit Fire in southwest Oregon engulfed more than 200,000 hectares, over 18,000 of which had been burned previously, in the 1987 Silver Fire. In the three years after the Silver Fire, more than 800 hectares were logged to salvage any wood that could be sold, and the land was replanted with conifers.

"For a long time there was a perception that by salvage-logging fire-killed trees, you would be removing a lot of potential fuel for future fires," explains Jonathan Thompson of Oregon State University. Such logging also enables commercially interesting trees such as conifers to be planted.

Using before and after satellite images from both fires, Thompson and colleagues found that areas that these "managed" areas burned more severely during the second fire than areas that had been left to regrow naturally.

This type of forest management should, therefore, not be used in an attempt to limit risk of future fires, he says.

Conifers to blame?
The satellite data available was not sufficient to allow the team to determine whether it was the logging or the replanting that made the second fire worse in certain areas.

Salvage-logging operations can leave a lot of the higher branches on the ground where they can fuel future fires, but it is difficult to say how much of an effect this would have had 15 years, Thompson says.

He believes it is more likely that the conifers that replaced the original forest provided a homogenous fuel to the 2002 fire, causing replanted areas to burn more. Thompson notes that this could create a positive feedback, where each forest fire makes the next one worse.

Journal reference: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (vol 104 p 10743)

Fireworks!

Check out this website about Fireworks! from Nova.

This explosive NOVA presents the colorful history of pyrotechnics and reveals how hi-tech firing systems are transforming public displays into a dazzling, split-second science. Here's what you'll find online:
Name That Shell
Watch video clips of fireworks bursting in air and find out how well you know your chrysanthemums from your peonies, your roman candles from your palm trees.

Anatomy of a Firework
Where you see brilliant light and vivid color, a pyrotechnician sees a successful lift charge, black powder mix, time-delay fuse, bursting charge, and other essential ingredients.

Pyrotechnically Speaking
Dr. John Conkling, adjunct professor of chemistry at Washington College and former executive director of the American Pyrotechnics Association, describes what it is about fireworks that gets him, well, all fired up.

On Fire (Hot Science)
This virtual laboratory lets you explore the basics of combustion, including how a fire ignites, what a flame is made of, and how burning molecules rearrange themselves.

If you like that, you might also be interested in the following sites
The Science Behind Fireworks
Chemistry of Fireworks Colors
National Campaign for Firework Safety -A UK site dedicated to the safe use of fireworks and to the prevention of firework injuries.
Absolutely for Firework Safety -
Before any fireworks display read these safety guidelines to make sure that you and your family is safe from the potential hazards of Fireworks Display.
Firework Safety Tips -To help you celebrate safely this Fourth of July, we offer safety tips on choosing, handling and attending firework displays.
More resources for fireworks, click here!

Eureka! Episode 25 Volume & Density

This program explains that volume refers to the amount of space an object envelops and that density refers to the amount of mass that is compacted in a given volume.
This episode is missing from the collection below.

Back Draft

Who needs breathing apparatus or masks?? Sigh. Remember what I told you about the guy on the end w/o protection? This is one example of many.

Backdraft

The narration is in french...but the pictures are worth a thousand words. THIS is backdraft...you will see how it differs from a flashover!

Christmas Tree Fire- Flashover

Here is the video of a flashover using a christmas tree.

Bradford City fire (upsetting Scenes)

Here is the video of the fire in the soccer stadium we talked about in class. You will see the rapid fire development, flash over and human reaction. 56 people died in this fire. Why did the people wait so long to evacuate? What do you think of the crowd's reaction? WARNING: VIDEO IS GRAPHIC, SOME MAY FIND IT DISTURBING.

Living with the Atom - Part 2 of 3

Explains the structure of the atom.

This was missing from the collection below!

Science Videos

I have posted a variety of science videos, including most of the cartoons from the Eureka! series. Some are educational and fun, some simply educational and others, simply funny. Hopefully you will find them helpful!

Eureka! Episode 30 - Radiation Spectrum

Viewers learn that the waves of heat energy radiated by the sun come in many forms, which together make a band, or spectrum, of energy waves 4:50