APEX, N.C. – As many as 17,000 residents were asked to evacuate early Friday as firefighters waited for daylight to battle a hazardous materials fire that shot flames some 150 feet into the sky.
Hospital officials said 18 people were sent to emergency rooms after the blaze that began late Thursday in this suburban Raleigh town.
Town manager Bruce Radford said he did not know what ignited the flames. “This is truly awful,” he said. “It is the worst potential hazardous materials fire that you can expect.”
Am I the only one whose first thoughts return to the Union Carbide disaster in Bhopal, India?
In the early hours of December 3, 1984, a holding tank with stored MIC overheated and released toxic heavier-than-air MIC gas, which rolled along the ground through the surrounding streets killing thousands outright. The transportation system in the city collapsed and many people were trampled trying to escape. The gases also injured anywhere from 150,000 to 600,000 people, at least 15,000 of whom later died.
The situation in Bhopal was much more deadly, and much more serious. The type of chemicals that were released there were much more toxic, and the quantity was much greater.
With that difference aside however, how could we not learn?
Bhopal:
Reports issued months before the incident by scientists within the Union Carbide corporation warned of the possibility of an accident almost identical to that which occurred in Bhopal . The reports were ignored outright and never made it to senior staff .
In March, the state Department of Natural Resources had fined EQ $32,000 for six violations at the plant, including failing to “maintain and operate the facility to minimize the possibility of a sudden or non-sudden release of hazardous waste … which could threaten human health or the environment.”
They go on to qualify that saying that they don’t know what caused the fire and the spill, and they might be unrelated. Fair enough. Let’s see what plays out after we get some facts (if we ever do).
But $32,000 for six violations? Think back to earlier this year, when there was another industrial disaster. Is this another case of the fines being of less expense than actually solving the problem? A case of a corporation choosing dollars over worker safety?
I don’t know. But it sure sounds like it. Can we afford to continue to allow our corporations to choose the almighty dollar over both our morals, and our lives?