explosion in Milwaukee

A little after 8:00 this morning, there was an explosion at a Milwaukee company. Apparently a propane tank exploded, and pretty much leveled the building. It was Falk, which is a division of my company. They make industrial gears and clutches, and are, in part, a foundry. The explosion was felt up to a couple of miles away, and broke windows for blocks around. At this time, they're saying there were two people killed and around 25 people injured. There was something about a gas leak, and that the building was evacuated, but then the gas was shut off and some people remained. That part is a bit unclear right now.



image gallery

another explosion

Last night, on Wikipedia's "On This Day" I found an article about an explosion that killed 2000 people in Halifax in 1917.

http://en.wikipedia.org:80/wiki/Halifax_Explosion

I found it simply amazing. The Mont-blanc, a ship loaded with explosives was hit by another ship, caught fire and exploded killing 2000 people. The force of the blast triggered a tsunami that reached up to 18 meters above the high-water mark. [The ship] Imo was lifted up onto the Dartmouth shore by the tsunami. A 2.5 km² area of Richmond, Halifax and Dartmouth was levelled and windows were shattered as far away as Truro, 82 km north. The explosion was heard as far away as Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island (175 km north), and the pressure wave reportedly knocked a soldier off his feet in Cape Breton Island (minimum distance 205 km east). A portion of a large anchor from the Mont-Blanc was discovered 2 km from the epicentre.

I e-mailed the link to Cyn last night. So I found it a little creepy when she called me with the news of the Falk explosion, first thing this morning.

the explosion

The final tally for the plant explosion is three dead and 46 injured. I think we're very lucky that only three people were killed. The headlines for the story now read like, "Father of two killed in blast." While going through the pictures of the Falk employees, it did seem kind of like they were family.

I don't imagine that it crosses your mind when you park your car in the morning, that an event like this will happen.



Links:
Local newspaper coverage
photo gallery
CNN, including video
emschin's thoughts on things that impressed her
shockwave

It's kind of strange, though, that this is such big news. "Factory accident kills three" hardly seems like national news. I think it's because it was such a physically stunning event. It broke windows a mile away. Cyn's office is over 40 blocks away, and it rocked her desk. It's not often that you experience an event like that.