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Explosion over Billings Montana?

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That’s no coal fire from the pics I’ve seen. Liked some form of petroleum, crude oil is my guess.
 
A lot of this and that going on. 2 balloons, train fires, locally had a power substation blow up. I've always said ww3 will be on American soil.
 
You are right… Wheeling. There is a Wicked good Cabela’s there! My bad!

Sirhr
‘Wicked good’ must mean something other than I was led to believe from watching Good Will Hunting.

Cabelas has been, if not hot garbage, at least room temperature garbage since Bass Pro bought them.
 
‘Wicked good’ must mean something other than I was led to believe from watching Good Will Hunting.

Cabelas has been, if not hot garbage, at least room temperature garbage since Bass Pro bought them.
Have not been to the Wheeling one since the buyout. The Columbus one sucks since they shut down the gun Library. I loved those places. Always interesting stuff and some actually amazing deals if you knew about oddball stuff.

Sucks what BassPro did to them.

Sirhr
 
Have not been to the Wheeling one since the buyout. The Columbus one sucks since they shut down the gun Library. I loved those places. Always interesting stuff and some actually amazing deals if you knew about oddball stuff.

Sucks what BassPro did to them.

Sirhr

I've been to the one in Wheeling a couple months ago. It's ok, but not nearly what it once was prior to Bass Pro.
 
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The new Bass Pro in Morgantown is less than impressive. Usually one strange-color-anodized AR and some not very exciting pistols. I got my FNX-45 there last year but usually leave disappointed if I stop in.
 
Anybody who thinks that the Chinese are going to launch any sort of conventional attack on the US, I have some oceanfront land in Missouri to sell you.

China doesn't have the capability to launch any sort of effective attack on mainland US, or even Hawaii. Sure, they have more naval vessels by numbers, but quantity doesn't matter when the quality is shit. I'm sure they have a bunch of fishing boats listed as naval vessels.

China is trolling us with these balloons, IMO. They're just fucking with us because they know we aren't going to do shit. We are as weak as it gets politically (and thus militarily), but since we are fortunately so well endowed geographically, we have very little to worry about. Canada isn't going to invade us, not with their weak black face pedophile castro lookalike leader.

Mexico is already invading us and we're doing nothing about it....sooo........

Branden
 
Have not been to the Wheeling one since the buyout. The Columbus one sucks since they shut down the gun Library. I loved those places. Always interesting stuff and some actually amazing deals if you knew about oddball stuff.

Sucks what BassPro did to them.

Sirhr

Dallas Pike truck stop near the Wheeling Cabela's used to be known for seedy hookers, back in the day.
 
Anybody who thinks that the Chinese are going to launch any sort of conventional attack on the US, I have some oceanfront land in Missouri to sell you.

China doesn't have the capability to launch any sort of effective attack on mainland US, or even Hawaii. Sure, they have more naval vessels by numbers, but quantity doesn't matter when the quality is shit. I'm sure they have a bunch of fishing boats listed as naval vessels.

China is trolling us with these balloons, IMO. They're just fucking with us because they know we aren't going to do shit. We are as weak as it gets politically (and thus militarily), but since we are fortunately so well endowed geographically, we have very little to worry about. Canada isn't going to invade us, not with their weak black face pedophile castro lookalike leader.

Mexico is already invading us and we're doing nothing about it....sooo........

Branden
Don't make us unleast the Newfie's on ya, Biy'!
 
Anybody who thinks that the Chinese are going to launch any sort of conventional attack on the US, I have some oceanfront land in Missouri to sell you.

China doesn't have the capability to launch any sort of effective attack on mainland US, or even Hawaii. Sure, they have more naval vessels by numbers, but quantity doesn't matter when the quality is shit. I'm sure they have a bunch of fishing boats listed as naval vessels.

China is trolling us with these balloons, IMO. They're just fucking with us because they know we aren't going to do shit. We are as weak as it gets politically (and thus militarily), but since we are fortunately so well endowed geographically, we have very little to worry about. Canada isn't going to invade us, not with their weak black face pedophile castro lookalike leader.

Mexico is already invading us and we're doing nothing about it....sooo........

Branden
"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedom, it will be because we destroy ourselves." Or something like that. From a guy who was either really right, or really wrong.
 
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That’s no coal fire from the pics I’ve seen. Liked some form of petroleum, crude oil is my guess.



Vinyl Chloride+ ?

5ank cars were venting to prevent BLEVE





APTOPIX-Train-Derailment-Ohio-1675556589.jpg


In other East Palestine news...

 
There might be a kaboom (BLEVE) at the derailment site. Mandatory evac for 1 mile radius issued by Governor.


Several details here:


Other w/helo views:



 
Nice, relaxing home video of the flaming wreckage, smoldering carnage, twisted metal and burning mayhem strewn along the tenuous lifeline of the once-bucolic Hamlet:



No media hysterics, shrieking comments from news presenters or unnerving, self-promoting station jingles.
 
Wow! Norfolk Southern is going to do a "controlled release" of toxic chemicals!


Red zone = "possible death"

24079237_G.jpeg


There is also aa Army Chinook in the area:

 
So if I look at that legend in the upper LH corner and squint, I see HPAC 6.7. A little search says this is "Hazard Prediction and Assessment Capability (HPAC) Software", here's a brief explanation of it:


So guessing Norfolk Southern tells em how much chemicals they have, the Weather Channel tells em which way the wind blows, and the software plops out the "uh-oh" chart.

Will we see Jim Cantore broadcasting live in MOPP 4?
 
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This is where wind programs like Ventusky come in handy:


4mph, just like they say.

You can also calculate wind at altitudes.


Try that with a Kestral


Windy does the same, slightly different graphics.


Pretty cool stuff.
 
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American 737 flying right over at 10k feet!!!


Did they not put up a TFR???

Edit, they flew 5-10mi south of it, still...

At least one TV station has a Choppa in the neighborhood:

 
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“INTEL UPDATE - MONTANA
Despite the experts on Twitter telling you otherwise, a second balloon entered US airspace over Montana.

Something happened to it, and while the Defense Department and Billings city government deny it, there is currently very helicopter traffic in the wilderness area outside Billings involving UH60s and CH47s. These are troop carriers. It appears that they are looking for something on the ground and is confirmed by several sources.

I don't know what happened, but I can tell you that your government is not telling you the truth.

There are also too many of these balloons for this to be an accident or research. It may well be recon in advance of action, but I don't know.

Prepare accordingly.”

That’s from a source I trust.

You know, I'm far from buying into conspiracies and shit this far along, but you could be onto something.

I live on the coast of WA, beach is just a few miles down the street. So anything heading in that direction is over water, there are no ranges or other federal lands this far out. Just 30' waves crashing in shitty weather. Not where you want to send expensive assets...

But last week or so there has been HEAVY traffic of what look like armed AH64s (I got a pretty good look, went right overhead) with the high speed radar heading for the water. Coming on direct azimuth from Lewis. They spend a good deal of time out there before heading directly back on the same azimuth so as to conserve any and all fuel presumably. You never see those here, most helo traffic is the occasional, rare Coast Guard UH60. So they're looking for something and risking sending those over water that far from any support save maybe a CG cutter. Sorta strange.

I know it's the wrong path based on the one that was tracked but shit can and does come direct from Asia to these shores and apparently they aren't taking any chances. Obviously looking for something.
 
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List of chemicals on train:


NTSB says axle problem on one of the cars cause the derailment.



Release process is kind of interesting:


"The process involves using a small charge to blow a hole in the cars, allowing the material to go into a trench and burning it off before it's released in the air, he said."

Somebody earned their pay today.

More:



Live coverage here:


Shit. They are also covering a shooting where 2 officers were shot. One fatally. In a bad area.
 
List of chemicals on train:


NTSB says axle problem on one of the cars cause the derailment.



Release process is kind of interesting:


"The process involves using a small charge to blow a hole in the cars, allowing the material to go into a trench and burning it off before it's released in the air, he said."

Somebody earned their pay today.

More:



Live coverage here:


Shit. They are also covering a shooting where 2 officers were shot. One fatally. In a bad area.

Shit. I'm about 30 miles (as the crow flies) SE of this... Yikes
 
Terrifyingly useless reporting of the controlled kaboom, but some pretty impressive footage of the fire and ominous black mushroom cloud looming behind the like OMG it's just amazing going up in the atmosphere reportress.


Back to you in the studio.

snapshot-2023-02-06t172100-336.jpg


mmmmm, vinyl chloride, mmmmm

snapshot-2023-02-06t173040-601.jpg


Weather radar shows zone of doom.
 
While the network affiliates from the nearest large city all missed the controlled kaboom, an indie drone outfit from a small nearby station nailed the coverage perfectly.

Missed it:


Nailed it:


Best kaboom footage I've seen. Really well done.
 
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Terrifyingly useless reporting of the controlled kaboom, but some pretty impressive footage of the fire and ominous black mushroom cloud looming behind the like OMG it's just amazing going up in the atmosphere reportress.


Back to you in the studio.

snapshot-2023-02-06t172100-336.jpg


mmmmm, vinyl chloride, mmmmm

snapshot-2023-02-06t173040-601.jpg


Weather radar shows zone of doom.
Not the least bit toxic, smells like Hoppes No9
 
Welp, winds done shifted. Now folks north of the wreck are under a shelter in place order.


The train was pretty long, 140 cars, so if they got a hotbox (overheated bearing) warning, it took em longer to slow down. Also, I think that track is PTC (Positive Train Control) and if the computer was running the train, might have applied brakes incorrectly.

Either way, this is gonna wind up costing NS a bundle. There will be people in larger cities raising hell about Hazmat. NS tried to pennypinch by running super long trains, may have come back to bite em (and every other PSR/ Precision Scheduled Railroading outfit). Wall St quarterly profits > investing in maintenance and running reasonable trains safely.
 

"Graham said that, "usually I see chem trails from plane and I'll look at them if they are really neat looking, if they make a cross or something I'll look."

"Some argued what was seen -- was nothing more than chemtrails or contrails from an aircraft."

So when the news actually uses the word "chemtrails", as opposed to "contrails" (mentioned specifically but separately) how are we supposed to just "move along" because there is "nothing to see here"?
 
There's an air quality plane orbiting around the derailment site


Apparently there is some detection of chemicals in a nearby stream. This is gonna be $$$$ when all is said and done.


Youngstown channel has best coverage by far