Posted on 12/28/2004 7:29:25 PM PST by FairOpinion
An explosion at a scrap metal plant in Muskogee Tuesday evening has heavily damaged the facility and damaged homes and businesses nearby.
Witnesses say the explosion shortly after 8 PM, sounded like a bomb. Muskogee Police are in the process of securing the area around the Yaffe Iron and Metals Company plant.
A night shift was working in the plant and officials believe there may be fatalities, but none have been confirmed. Police have setup a temporary shelter at the city's Civic Center downtown. The plant is located at G and Lexington Streets in Muskogee.
There are reports of several major fires at the plant and in the neighborhood near the facility. Police say the Lakeland Shopping Center located near the plant was damaged.
Residents in Wagoner, Inola, and Tahlequah say they felt the explosion as well.
An explosion rocked Muskogee and surrounding towns Tuesday night.
An explosion rocked Muskogee and surrounding towns Tuesday night.
The blast shook windows and rattled homes from Warner to Tahlequah to Taft and beyond.
Early reports indicate an explosion at Yaffe Iron & Metal Co. Inc., G and Lexington streets.
Windows were blown out at businesses in the area, including Lakeland Shopping Center and the new Dollar General. Police reported looting at Lakeland at 8:30 p.m.
A command post was established at G Streets and Independence Avenue.
Fires were reported in the area, making it difficult for authorities to work the scene.
Casualty reports were not available at 8:45 p.m. Doris Peavler of the Gooseneck Bend area said she saw a flash of light.
“It just shook the house,” she said.
Already posted
After seeing your post, I found a couple of articles and links and posted this in Frontpage News.
But you broke the story in this thread:
BREAKING - Explosions in Muskogee, Oklahoma
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1309899/posts
Yeah, posted in "your opinions/question".
Don't you think this is NEWS?
There is a good chance someone may have tried to run an acetylene tank trough a metal crusher, or did some hot work that breached the tank.
Acetylene was my first thought.
I think one thread is enough on this...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1309899/posts
AFter all, the other thread listed the name of the town, and the info was already in there including the name of the company.
Why did the other thread get pulled? It was posted first I thought.
Was wondering the same thing....lots more posts to, with more information.
From what I've heard first hand, it was a huge silo sized tank located near the plant that exploded. There is another one close to it they are afraid will go up too.
Was the tank connected/part of the plant?
I agree - the other thread was 15 minutes earlier, in breaking news and included lots of news from people with family in the area.
This thread is the thread that should be locked and the other reopenned.
I came here because the other thread was locked. Don't know why----
I live in the Dallas/Fort Worth area and haven't seen it on news yet.
Glad Gramma's okay. Hope she gets the heck out of there fast.
Prayers for those with family there!
The other thread went through several incarnations over a short period of time, from news to breaking news, to pushed to "your opinions/Questions", then when internet news started to confirm that is was indeed real news, it was moved back to Breaking News.
When it was languishing in "your opinions/questions" was, when I thought this should be a news item and posted the articles I found in this thread.
IIRC, it was close to it, and next to the railyard off Lexington Street.
Its a good sized plant.
there was no reason for the other thread to be locked
None at all
Okay---since I haven't seen any TV coverage---even local in Texas, can you tell us if they think that there will be more explosions if they are tanks exploding?
They should not be telling people to seal their windows, the most casualties in these kind of situations are caused by flying glass. People should stay away from the windows and evacuate up wind. Since most people don't know which way is up wind, the police should be telling people which way to go and set up rally points that are upwind.
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