First thing – Rest In Peace Gerardo Castorena and Frank Flores and may God be with your loved ones during this most difficult time. Also to the residents who have lost their homes and/or been displaced, I wish you a speedy return to some sense of normalcy. And to the workers who have lost their way of living and wonder what their future holds I wish you peace of mind and comfort.
I mean no disrespect to anyone with this analysis and I am in NO WAY associated with this incident or investigation – SO I KNOW NO MORE than what my experience, photos, and drone footage are telling me. I have no inside information regarding the facts of this incident. I am just not yet convinced that this was a propylene explosion. Should some of the speculation/reporting in the media about workers smelling gas (propylene has little to NO odor – unless the business bought it odorized) and being on the phone with a friend at 4:00 am become fact then I will revisit my analysis. But as of tonight, the HFD issued a statement to the press that at this time they are only stating Propylene was impacted by the explosion and they do not yet know if it was the source of the explosion. I am sure investigators are wanting to talk to the friend of the worker who was killed, as she has stated she was on the phone with one of the deceased workers just before the explosion. She states the worker was telling her something was not right and how he could smell gas and he heard hissing sounds. Another worker arrived and he hung up and the two went to investigate and moments later the explosion occurred. This is compelling evidence so I am sure they are wanting to interview her ASAP. Until her story is confirmed, I am leaning towards a metal dust explosion and I lay out my case below. There is a lot of misinformation coming from the media and I have spent this evening piecing together the before and after images and based on my experience with Propylene and COM DUST – I do not believe this damage which covers a 1-mile radius and felt 10 miles away was a VCE event involving Propylene. Here is why…