Our refinery blew up today. My office and house are 2 miles due west, with a valley between us. (Yes, we have hills in Big Spring.) I thought a plane hit my office. It blew my french doors partially open and knocked pictures off the wall at my house and ceiling tiles out of my office. A work-crew from Odessa pulled into my parking lot right after the explosion. Three of the five men were crying and throwing up at the same time. They were late for work. Good day to be hung over. No one was killed and only one guy was air-lifted to Lubbock for burns. Light facial burns and third degree burns on his knees. I bet we won't hear any more *****in' about the Nomex fire retardent jump suits they all wear. The workers saw a vapor cloud and radioed the President's Day skeleton to get the hell out of there. Only four injuries reported and one was the a lady driving down I-20 who had her windows blown out. Another lady on the road said the concussion made her car die. The concussion must have sucked-up all of the combustion air. I am just happy I don't have to bury any of my friends. Our heavenly father was watching over us today.

I grew up in west Texas mostly Midland & Monahans. Been to Big Spring a ton of times. What about businesses & homes nearby. Is there a lot of damage to those properties? So glad no one was killed. Hope Big Spring recovers quickly.

I was in Las Vegas today for my annual boy's trip with a bunch of Aggies. I grew up in Big Spring and one of my old Corps buddies from Florida was giving me grief yesterday in a cab. They were talking about how nobody had ever heard of Big Spring or even knew where it was. It was all good nature kidding, but this morning at the Craps tables, they were commenting that everyone knew where Big Spring was today. I had not heard the news and immediately left the tables to call and check on my Mom who still lives there. Got the news from her that it shook the house but that the reports were not nearly as bad as they could have been in regard to injuries. I remember the last big fire at Cosden in the 70's. You could see it from across town. Glad that nobody was killed and only a few were injured.

[This message has been edited by coppellag82 (edited 2/18/2008 11:27p).]

What a blessing, that this would happen today, of all days, when most of the employees were not there. Imagine if this had happened tomorrow... the Lord works in mysterious ways!

[This message has been edited by LuckyDuck09 (edited 3/8/2008 4:27p).]

Over here in Odessa we really feared the worst when we first heard.
We were in disbelief when we heard only one person needing Lubbock burn care.
We were so glad there was no loss of life and relatively "minor" injuries considering the huge black mushroom cloud.
Hope everything gets back to normal soon for you guys.

Of all the days to do it, a skeleton crew day.
Like I say, "Don't expect miracles, accept them!"

LoudestWhoop don't tell me you left Midland and moved to Odessa. Tell me it isn't true!!!

Like they say live in Midland,
and raise hell(a.k.a. work) in Odessa.

Grew up in Gail in the 60's. What caused it?

That's what I thought, just checking. What part of Midland are you in(subdivision)?

Crestgate

Nice area & great location. So many new things in the area.

Grew up about 30 miles west of Big Spring. My folks still live there and my Mom told me that they heard the explosion at the house. Wow...

Truly a miracle that there were no fatalities.

We were leaving Odessa that morning to return to College Station, when the news broke. You could see the smoke plume from 158 outside Garden City.

It is great that no one was killed. Truly God was watching over Big Spring on Monday.

slide show
http://youtube.com/watch?v=AMJZAUdbQNY

some video
http://youtube.com/watch?v=eiKZ0wBcLPY&feature=related

the aftermath
http://youtube.com/watch?v=MbfjDsJ7Z_8