Henderson Explosion

[TheRealYochoc]

dont blink at 0:18

[TackerVideos]

Thank God that area was all rural at the time because now it's a big City!

the 515 freeway runs right thru that spot now. Heck, i just drove by the factory yesterday (yep, it's still there, just not as big).

[MrCouger25]

yep i remember it clearly i was wierd cuz two or so month before that happend my dad drive me around the plant and seeing those big tanks i actually thought what would happen if it blew up. cus there was four tanks across from the building it was big. and get this so we left to my grandpas in vegas and stayed with him for two months before we could move back and fix our house. but the whole my cat stayed there and was there when we got back. crazy huh

[Smokey0791]

@MrCouger25 yeah, you're right, you ARE "wierd"

[MrCouger25]

I lived half a mile from there and i was in shcool 3rd grade the room i was in was brink and the ware cracked it but the 2nd grade room right next to us was all big glass windows and the third exsplosoin blow out all the windows in that room. the army made us move out of our house for a few months. the front door was in the living room they said if that place when up a 40 mile radius would be leveled

[BadassPandas]

@MrCouger25 seriously?

[onnarkotycsevryday1]

what the fuck your making fun of me faggot or what..............

[onnarkotycsevryday1]

I live and work in Henderson............i work at an ice cream factory..............there we use ammonia3.......they tell me if it ever exploded it would be much worse......loss of life anyway..........

[Elieeeeboy]

@onnarkotycsevryday1 i work at a chicken factory

[iJuleguy]

My aunt was in high school at the time. She said it blew out the windows

[metfreak81]

try to pause it at 0:51...it looks cool

[gsrulov]

It happened because ammonium perchlorate (a reducing agent) NH4+, was mixed with a strong oxidizing agent (perchlorate ClO4-).

[miks88]

@gsrulov your knowledge of chemistry and need to post it on youtube astounds me.

[chevalierdonna1]

I lived about 10 miles from that. Thought we were dead.

[20Justin1]

@chevalierdonna1 me too but good thing i was born in 1997 <3

[toccoli88]

This explosion blew the window out of my parents' shop in North Las Vegas @ Civic Center and Lake Mead-about 20 miles away

[mojocrew1]

recon that was targeted by a chinese laser beam weapon  from outer space

[JimmyeDallas]

This was a 1 kiloton explosion. Could you imagine if this were within city limits? Thousands would've died.

[AltairEclipse]

mabey not thousands but yeah there would be alot of deaths

[Bravehear71992]

@JimmyeDallas was no way that was 1kt

[JimmyeDallas]

Yes it was. 1000 tons of TNT or 1 kt.

[Bravehear71992]

who said it was 1000 tons of tnt. do you actually know how muhc that is? that explosion would take out a building, maybe, a 1kt explosion would take out half a city

[JimmyeDallas]

It had a 1kt air burst and 227 mg HE surface burst. Just use the very computer in front of you. This shit isn't hard to find.

[RS1963]

Pepcon was in the city limits. Just not that close to any homes at the time. Now the area near by is very well developed. There is another plant that makes the same fuel. It is right at down town Henderson. The plant is Kerr-Mgee If it ever goes up as pepcon did it will be a complete disaster.

[Snicksz]

this incedent happend when the man looked up and saw the "No SMoking" he opened up what thought to be a trash can a storage container holding the feul.......lol

[Mcflai]

Explosion was so powerful that was like a 3,5 points earthquake in Richter Scale....

[ltooman]

I was a year old and I have a scar on my forehead from the shock wave bringing pictures off the walls. You can still see the remains of the plant

[8300dvo]

Pictures of walls are the worst.

[hooless]

wow thats like the biggest shockwaves ive ever seen. I think only a nuke could beat that!!

[troycrawford2006]

I was about 11 yrs old when this happened.. I remember it like it was yesterday! I was at my house when the whole place shook with a big boom.. I ran to the back window and opened to curtain to see that big ass cloud.. I thought it was the end of the world

[niggasbtrippin]

His last words were " I said a BUD light"

[Kullg4r]

Very similar to the DuPont explosions.

[thisisgonnasuck]

"oo dat's gonna be loud!" lol ^-^

[ionavalanche]

check out my 50 gram contained flash powder on my youtube page

[jamiespencer333]

ooooooo...Pepcon go "BOOM"! I like the pretty colors.

[theexpertmom]

Talk about memories...I was a reporter at Las Vegas' all-news radio station at the time of this explosion and still call that "the busiest day of my life!" Calls came in from everywhere...mostly other radio and TV stations, but I remember doing a phone interview with some man who'd seen it from the air on his way into McCarran International Airport. Another memory...I actually FELT the explosion while sitting at my desk, and knew the "slow news day" was about to change!

[jkoff76]

Don't smoke around ammonium perchlorate people!

[CHUBBLE117]

Now kiddies, you shouldn't smoke or god will make you explode.

lol

[papatoony]

Whoopsie-daisy!

[Zlazuja]

Who THE FUCK smokes in a rocket fuel factory?

[RichardHand15]

I am amazed that it took 20 years for me to see this on Destroyed in Seconds.

[dcapone77]

BANG FUCKING BANG!!

[iamtheomega]

The tv show Destroyed in Seconds said it was a carelessly discarded employee cigarette. 3.5 richter scale 600 mi. away and 2 people killed.

[crookedmind]

Actually no, nice try, it was a ruptured gasline.

[wolves16]

The show on Discovery Channel said it was a cigarette.

Nice try.

[bakkus1985]

i had farts bigger than this

[Superduper1981]

I remember this horrific day I was In first Grade and they had put our school on Lockdown and we had to get under our desks I rember the school was shaking and some sheet reock coming down from the ceiling. Also It tore out whole neighorhoods. In my neighborhood for example windows were blown out and the cement wads cracked.

The kid marshmellow plant was distroyed. I just remember wow what a sad nut historic day also this plant has relocated to Utah where they have still had problems.

[jalape14]

wow its crazy this is where i live

[FrostedBriar]

haha my dad was in english class (high school) when this happened.

[omahablackrose]

The road between TIMET & PEPCON was renamed in the man's honor. Also, is PEPCON's remains still there? Or has it been since removed and something else placed there? I ran out of room on my last comment to ask. Great footage from a time when things stood still for a while.

[predator47]

the plant has been moved to a new location in utah but the burn marks from the explosion are still there

[omahablackrose]

Looking at this brought back memories. I lived in LV when this happened. I was out around the Showboat Hotel when the first explosion had occured. Terrible noise, and such a mess. The old Ice Rink on the road to the East of PEPCON was closed down as I recall; the explosions had caused the ice rink to crack in several places, rendering it unsafe. Also, if memory served me right, there was but only one casuality; a man in a wheelchair was making sure everyone was out of the building.

[fantomr1]

i currently work there the new plant is now in utah. the fire started by a welder droped a spark down a crack there was a gas line that had a leak. the gas line started on fire with the product above it. thay tried to put it out but with the gas coming up and feeding the fire thay couldnt put it out. it was not a smoke because u can put out a smoke in this chemical and not have it explode.

[stormz7675454]

That was back in 88?

[linkinparkfreak5]

i live over by there but i wasnt there when it happened but i heard it was enormous

[shortbus35]

i remeber that!!!

[texashoo]

Amazing video. I was in high school physics class at Basic High at the time of the explosion. Ironic, in that we observed the blast wave go through the ceiling tiles, a lesson in wave mechanics. The blast was strong enough to buckle my parents' garage door (a flat wood door) 3 miles away from the blast, but unfortunately facing the explosion.

[luvthoseclips]

I lived about 8 miles from the plant at the time, (Nellis & Twain), when the blasts went off. I shot my own video outside my mobile home in the Desert In Mobile Home Estates....took it to KLAS-TV & gave them a copy....NEVER saw it aired on TV. But that blast was "unbelieveable", even 8 miles away!

[pinetreeshaw]

Yea I was in the red zone at WMKs crusher plant..we lost all power and watched OUT

[Nodubya]

If that place still existed and that happened today the death toll would far exceed the 9/11 attack/job. Many thousands and thousands of homes in that camera shot now.

[Eihort]

Google Earth the site today. 36° 2'29.35"N 115° 3'4.82"W

[danebake]

there arent any homes in the vicinity. its still owned by the original company that makes jet fuel. by the way mate, you talk about 9/11 like its a good thing when you call it a "attack/job"

[Wulff829]

I was in the cafeteria at Burkholder Junior High when this happened. A part of our school collapsed. The teachers all sent us to our fourth period classes, and I was outside when that last one hit. I lost my hearing for two weeks. Only two people died from this, which is amazing.

[walkercpa]

Yeah, I was in the 6th grade at burkholder at the time. I was in the newer indoor part when it happened. We were stuck for quite a while as the ceiling kept falling. In fact, this is my family's plant. My grandfather was president of pepcon at the time of the explosion.

[tall32guy]

Why did everything catch on fire and blow anyway? Probably human error, like it usually is in these cases. LOL Seriously. (Not always though of course).

[fantomr1]

it was a spark from a welder that started a gas line undernether the product on fire.

[icuicu2006]

I remember a team of explosive technicans measuring the explosive power in kiloton rate -- this blast had the power of 2 KT. Same as a small cannon fired nuke.

[viperV20]

i was in the fourth grade at school about five or six miles away i thought the school was caving in on us. . only 2 people actually died in the blast

[sparklelilly]

My mother ran the Ice skating rink ,a mile of explosion, glass shot into walls like daggars, she got skin chemical contamin.her skin some times gets red, she look out the window while on phone with Fire d. when blast hit. She went post tramatic stress, car tops dented in. I beg her write a book, the brick wall moved a foot,the person who called the Fire Dept, from plant.told them send all enginesd that person was never seen,

[sensiblecomputer]

that's awesome.

[LordDayin]

omg. this is horrible. I cant imagine the terror and fear of the people.

[espaldapalabras]

I was 5 years old when this happened, I saw the second explosion from my living room window. My dad worked close to there and I asked my mommy if daddy was dead and she said she didn't know. The place he worked at was totally destroyed. -true story

[lovesbigbreasts]

So did your dad survive???????????

[Eihort]

I'm sure he did. The two people that died were both plant employees.

[dag21]

What ran under the factory was the main gas pipeline to las vegas that was ruptered from the first blast, what they don't know is wether it was leaking before the fire started

[dag21]

I bet no-one knows what ran under this factory?

[pannono]

the 2nd explosion vaporized a building watch closely

[Danny50010]

Not a building, a whole factory. marshmallow factory at that. Why was there a marshmallow factory right beside a rocket fuel factory out in the middle of no where. Thats the question. Now I'm wondering what marshmallows are really made from.

[Eihort]

Because the railroad was right there.

[Physhi]

Yeah, people died in the initial explosion that caused the glass on the buildings at PEPCON to shatter and lacerate people inside. A handful of people died, and hundreds more were injured.

Judging on the time it took the sound of the explosion to the camera would be just above two miles.

[MrUnidyne]

I live in Henderson, and people still talk about 'The Pepcon Blast" even thought it happened almost 20 years ago. This was the Pepcon Fuels chemical facility that made componants for rocket fuels. The shockwave of the explosion was so great, it was felt on the Las Vegas Strip (20 miles away) and almost knocked a TV news helicopter out of the sky. Windows were shattered for miles, doors were blown off their hinges and fire trucks at the scene were tipped onto their sides.

[BlackHistoryMonth]

OH man...didnt this happen like 20 years ago!

[joZeizzle]

holy wow. thats amazing!

[fgfancory]

why didn't i see this,i'm in vegas.wait...when was this?

[MightyGarogh]

3.5 richter (is like a small shake) is too weak to broke an airport's window, even if the structures are not earthquake protected... maybe was in mercalli scale, that will be probably too much, but possible.

[Flyinguy]

Yeah, but earthquakes don't have a pressure shokwave. I'm sure it wan't the shake that broke the windows, rather the shokwave.

[Raiju32]

It was measured at a 3.5 on the Richter scale at the Earthquake Laboratory in Colorado. Over 600 miles away.

[bones2380]

I was in 9th grade when this happened. Memories.

Suprised that they had film of it. PEPCON, we will never forget...

[BurnedtoAshes]

holy shit! I live in vegas and I never heard of the explosion, since vegas and henderson are so close together...oh wait I did see it on the news forget that.

[godstomper]

holy crap!

[tenthcircle]

The last explosion is stated to had the power of an atomic bomb. O.o

[whompus02]

I remember this . they were storing rocket fuel for the space shuttle. this is some knarly stuff

[dag21]

just watched documentary on discovery channel about this. Two people died in the first big explosion.The wierd thing is that the chemical made there wasn't rocket fuel but an oxidiser used in rockets and they said it shouldn't burn on its own nevermind explode.It also said the second blast measured 3.5 on the richter scale and broke windows at las vegas airport 25 km away

[wakerider432]

WOW

[kSchwarze]

I remember that day very well... I was at McCarren International Airport. We thought a plane crashed.

[stephaniestatic]

holy shit i lived borderline henderson but i never knew about this

wooow

[nissan92]

Did anyone died in that explosion?

[birjutaparia]

looks like this is the kind of stuff the gov never talks about + it can be used for studying after effects of the blast.

[cromjan]

jesus, what do they use for missile fuel?

[Entress]

it is a mixture of ammonium perchlorate, a polymer binder/fuel and aluminium powder. as long as it burns unconfined, its really badly hot (above 5,000K), but it doesn't go boom. in the moment as it becomes confined within a closed space, it turns an explosive more powerful than TNT.

[voodoodanny]

fuck.....

[Hryts]

Wow! The shockwave!