Bryan, Texas
Texas
When a chemical warehouse caught fire here in 2009, firefighters decided the safest thing to do was stand back and let it burn.
The El Dorado Chemical Company warehouse in Bryan went up in 2009, and it was full of ammonium nitrate. That chemical reacts with water. So hosing it down was off the table. Fire officials made the call to let the blaze burn itself down before they touched it. Word went out that seventy thousand residents were in the potential evacuation zone, though the city only asked that anyone who could see or smell smoke leave. A mandatory order covered five hundred homes near the fire. Fewer than a thousand people actually went. Many of them sheltered at Texas A and M, which shut its campus for the day just to keep the roads clear. The evacuation began at half past two in the afternoon and lifted by seven that evening. Thirty-five people were treated for breathing problems. The warehouse, worth just under a million dollars, was gone.
This is the first of 2 parts. The rest runs about 2 minutes and is read to you as you drive past. Hear the whole piece.
City fire officials chose to let the fire burn down before tackling it, since the chemicals were water reactive.
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