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Explosive Damage – Too Close to Home
Shortly after getting to work today, I received the frantic call from my wife. She told me everyone was okay, but that the Silver Eagle Refinery by our house had an explosion… again. But this time it was different – this time many houses in my neighborhood were damaged. About 1 minutes after the initial call, she called back and wanted me to come home right then.
Silver Eagle Refinery Explosion - Fall 2009
The rest of the day was filled with unbelief, chaos, assessed damage, more unbelief, and moving a neighbor out of their condemned home (entire house moved out within an hour). I can’t imagine what it must have been like for those that were home and close to the blast, but the damage was crazy. I’ll bet EVERY house in our neighborhood had its garage door dented in. Many homes had broken windows and places where soffit was forced down due to the pressure (including mine).
I’m not sure how long these links will work, but you can check out the news coverage – and see if you can spot me on the news!
I honestly don’t feel as harshly towards the refinery as others do, but they definitely do not have a very good safety record. That needs to change. I knew they were there when I moved into my house – I don’t expect them to leave. I do expect them to be safe. Although this is the worst for them, something *like* this happens way too often at Silver Eagle Refinery.
The media and crowd on our street
I must say that the best part of the whole day was the neighborhood coming together to help those that needed it most. Moving EVERYTHING out of a house in less than an hour and putting it all on trucks that were lined up with trailers.
Neighbors helping neighbors, is what it’s all about…
Still, I’ll be happy not to go through something like this again. Ever.
3 Responses to “Explosive Damage – Too Close to Home”
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I agree – something like this happens WAY too often at Silver Eagle. Time for them to step up and change. So glad nobody was hurt!
One of my favorite things is to see how people band together when something like this happens – very cool to watch. Too bad something like this has to happen before some people will band together though. Oh well
Aaron-
Wow that is crazy! I’m really glad your house didn’t get damaged very much and your poor wife must have been so scared. That’s so great how your the people in your neighborhood were all willing and ready to help everyone – that’s defnitely not something i grew up with in Wisconsin and that’s why I love Utah!
I am so glad your little fam is safe. It’s so nice to see how we can work together and help each other out in times of need. Kudo’s for FT for being close by
and getting you there quickly.