Fiery explosion at Ottawa Co. gas depot

I work at the Wesco in Spring Lake and was out side when the explosion occurd. It sounded like someone had shot a gun right before the explosion happend. In less than a second after that it sounded like a cannon going off in the distance. The explosion shook Wesco and reports where made by customers that thier homes where shaken almost 10 miles away.

Well get ready to pay more at the pump!

NekosBot20lu9 wrote:

I wonder how much the national gas price will go up because of this?
(We already know it will!)

NekosBot, you beat me to it..lol. I was thinking the samething.

The WOOD story almost makes this sound like no big deal, this is a big deal and they had better find out why it happened. Maybe they were just lucky there was not much gas in the tank.

GR Pete wrote:

The WOOD story almost makes this sound like no big deal, this is a big deal and they had better find out why it happened. Maybe they were just lucky there was not much gas in the tank.

Agrees, they really downplayed that story. But, as soon as a few snowflakes fall, we are in a artic blast of bad weather.

Maybe a big deal in your small town, not much anywhere else

Strange! Samething happened in Manistee County last week, is there terorist living in these areas targeting these places?

Kevin wrote:

I work at the Wesco in Spring Lake and was out side when the explosion occurd. It sounded like someone had shot a gun right before the explosion happend. In less than a second after that it sounded like a cannon going off in the distance. The explosion shook Wesco and reports where made by customers that thier homes where shaken almost 10 miles away.

Thanks Kevin

Was this a "Big Deal?" No, there were less resources committed to this fire than to the fire at lakeside towing in spring lake and for less than half of the time of that fire. more units were dispatched originally due to the potential however many of those units were put into a standby mode rather than use mode and these units were eventually sent back to their respective stations. So, I think it is accurate to assume that this was not as big of a deal as some people would like to think.

I am sure the investigation will find out what happened and proper procedures will be modified to reduce the potential of future incidents

Here is some additional info from a source that does a good job of covering news along the lakeshore:

"Witnesses close to the scene say debris shot everywhere after the explosion. Some living in Grand Haven say the incident shook their homes. Shortly after the explosion, neighbors near the Mobil Terminal self-evactuated from their homes.

Ferrysburg Fire Chief Mike Olthof says the fire was so big at one point, the flames reached 75 feet in the air. He and his crew were able control the blaze within an hour."

i think any explosion is a (BIG DEAL)!!!!!!

Sounded briefly like armegeddon on OCCDA Fire North last night. :)

lol wut wrote:

Sounded briefly like armegeddon on OCCDA Fire North last night.:)

I agree. I was up with the flu. The dispatch sounded quite interesting and the first Ferrysburg fire officer on scene had "that sound" in his voice as he requested police, spring lake fire, crockery fire, and norton shores fire.

Remember. They knew it was a 10000 gallon tank. They had no knowledge as to how much fuel it had in it!

No kidding. They were lucky it had so little petrol inside it. Great job to all FD/PD responders and dispatch. Those drills prepared them well. It's been a big weekend for fires in Ottawa County.