Originally Posted by KirkVining

I usually take my yankee guests to Texas City, because it is one of those things you will remember your whole life, like seeing the Grand Canyon. It is absolutely like landing on another planet. Towering jumbles of spagetti pipes that go on for city block after city block. The worst refinery disaster occured there in the forties when a ship loaded with ammonia nitrate caught fire. The fire department was at the ship fighting a diesel fuel fire. Unbeknownst to them the diesel fuel was also leaking on the ammonia nitrate in the cargo hold, the combination of which creates TNT. The resulting explosion killed most of the fire department and leveled an elementary school, killing most of the kids inside. The fire burned for days, burning down most of Texas City in the process. We really know how to throw a good disaster around here.