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Feb 18, 2008 9:12 am US/Central
Big Spring Refinery Explosion Injures 4
BIG SPRING (CBS 11 News / AP) ―
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A witness sent this photo of the explosion, taken from eight miles away from the refinery.
Claudene Cooper
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Another witness photo taken from eight miles away from the refinery.
Claudene Cooper
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This photo, taken from along I-20 in Big Spring, shows the intensity of the flames.
Rick Nunez, Big Spring Herald
There was an explosion Monday morning at an oil refinery in Big Spring, located about 250 miles west of Fort Worth, near Midland.
The refinery is owned by Dallas-based Alon USA. It employs about 170 people and produces about 70,000 barrels of oil a day.
The fires affect on gas prices in North Texas is unknown at this time, but the small size of the refinery indicates that if there's any affect it will be small and for a short period of time.
About one hour after the explosion, Blake Lewis, a spokesman for the company, said that all of the refinery's employees had been accounted for.
Big Spring mayor Russ McEwen said the explosion injured at least four people. An Alon employee was hospitalized, three other contractors had injuries ranging from minor burns to hearing loss.
The company does not know what caused the explosion, but fire sparked by the blast was quickly brought under control.
Residents say they felt the blast at about 8 a.m. Monday morning.
"It was extremely scary. You shook you were so scared," said Laura McEwen, the wife of Mayor Russ McEwen, who lives about two miles from the refinery. "Our walls shook. It jolted your bed. It was like an earthquake."
John Moseley, managing editor of the Big Spring Herald, whose downtown office is also about two miles from the refinery, heard the blast and said, "I thought it would knock the walls down."
Photos sent by a witness to CBS11TV.COM show flames and a huge plume of smoke coming from the facility. Claudene Cooper, who took the photos, said she was eight miles away from the plant at the time.
The blast shut down Interstate-20 near the refinery, led to the evacuation of two nearby elementary schools and eventually canceled classes at all
nine schools in Big Spring.
Big Spring School District Assistant Superintendent Carie Dunnam was in an administration building four miles away from the refinery at the time of the explosion. She said that the force of the blast blew open the doors. "Literally, pieces of my ceiling came on top of my head," she said.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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