Jacob1983

This was one on the news in Dallas all day long. There was a huge gas explosion in downtown Dallas today. And it was bad.

Gas Plant Explosions Injure 3, Shut Down I-35E, I-30 In Dallas - News Story - KXAS | Dallas

DALLAS -- Explosions at an industrial plant Wednesday morning injured three people and shut down Interstate 35E and Interstate 30 near downtown Dallas, forcing evacuations within a half-mile.

The three-alarm gas fire at Southwest Industrial Gases Inc., located in the 500 block of South Industrial Boulevard, broke out at about 9:30 a.m. It sparked several explosions and sent flames at least 100 feet into the air.

The welding cutting supply plant and gas and equipment distributor is a filling station for distributors in North Texas who use and sell acetylene, GWS Welding Supply spokesman Buddy Dean said.

Several cylinders exploded, sending debris flying onto I-30 and I-35W, and setting several nearby cars on fire. About three-quarters of the dozens of cylinders were likely full, Dean said.

A window of the Hyatt Regency hotel, located about a half-mile north of the site, was blown out by flying debris, NBC News reported.

The explosions reached a peak before 10 a.m. Fire crews began fighting the some of the flames after 11 a.m.

Officials said the cause of the fire was accidental. Apparently, pigtail connectors malfunctioned and caused cylinders to heat up and catch fire, causing a chain reaction.

Two men were taken to Parkland Hospital in serious condition including the plant manager, Rani Bibb, 51, who lived on the plant grounds. The men suffered serious burns to their faces, chests and arms, but were alert and talking to doctors, NBC 5's Ellen Goldberg reported.

A third victim suffered a back injury and was taken to Methodist Dallas Medical Center.

Fire officials said they believe no one is missing.

Health services officials said they are monitoring the situation and said they believe that the chemicals being released into the air are posing no identifiable risks to the public.

According to the industry Web site gasworld.com, Southwest Industrial is a distributor that carries a range of gases, including acetylene, helium and hydrogen as well as welding equipment. Calls to a phone listing for the company weren't answered.

The company has no record of calls for service from the Dallas Police Department, and City Emergency Operations said the company has no significant record of code violations since 1990.

"I thought it was artillery. It was just coming just boom, boom, boom," said witness Tony Love, a former Army soldier.

Vanessa O'Brien said she was standing in a parking lot a few blocks away when she felt at least 20 vibrations from the explosion.

"We felt the whole building move and the windows rattle," she said.

Despite hazy skies, a black column of smoke was visible from at least 10 miles.

Carol Peters, a spokeswoman for Oncor Electric Delivery, said about 30 buildings near the blasts were without power and would stay shut off until fire crews fully extinguished the blaze.

Employees at the nearby Society For The Prevention of Cruelty to Animals of Texas were evacuated. Animals were moved to a safer location in the building, SPCA spokeswoman Maura Davies said.

Explosions Close Highways, Suspend DART Rail Service

Eastbound I-30 is closed at Loop 12 and westbound I-30 is closed at RL Thornton and at Hampton. Northbound I-35E is shut down at I-30, and southbound I-35E is blocked off at Woodall Rogers. Industrial Boulevard and the Commerce Street bridge were also shut down, NBC 5's Grant Stinchfield reported.

See a complete list of highway and road closings.

Dallas Area Rapid Transit rail service has been suspended to the Convention Center and Cedars stations. A bus bridge is operating between Eighth and Corinth and the West End stations. DART also is rerouting several bus routes around the affected area with some significant delays in the downtown area. The Trinity Railway Express is operating normally.

Current traffic conditions are available on NBC 5's Gridlock Busters page. Traffic information from the Texas Department of Transportation is also available at 1-800-452-9292.

Stay with NBC 5 and nbc5i.com for the latest details in this breaking story.



All I know is that I'm glad I don't live in Dallas. The traffic is terrible right now because of the gas explosions. Luckily for me, I live out in the boonies north of Dallas.

elisheva

That must have been scary for the people in the area.

Jacob1983

Not really. People were angrier than they were scared. Texans do not like traffic.

I heard that one of the 3 injured was in really bad shape. It was a man who worked at the gas plant. He was burned severely while trying to put the fire out.

Indian Summer

The people they were interviewing on the news seemed pretty scared, lol.It's my understanding that a lot of the people in the area most affected by the blast weren't even aware of just how dangerous the plant could be in case of a fire. That's concerning to me. What's more concerning is one of the government groups... I think it was FEMA... "estimates" that there's about 123 of these plants in major cities, and that's just the big ones. They shouldn't have to estimate, lol.