Firefighter accidentally caused the terrible explosion in Tianjin?

Recently, Reuters reported that foreign experts said that firefighters may have been part of the cause of the two terrible explosions in Tianjin port.

The explosion that occurred on the night of August 12 killed at least 54 people, including 17 firefighters. The explosion also caused many buildings to collapse, hundreds of containers to shatter and thousands of cars to burn.

Firefighters were among the dead. The explosion also injured about 700 people, 71 of them seriously.

According to police, the warehouses where the explosion occurred contained toxic chemicals, mainly ammonium nitrate, potassium nitrate and calcium carbide. Some of the containers containing these chemicals caught fire before the terrible explosion occurred.

Firefighters carry the body of a victim from the scene of a horrific explosion in Tianjin. Photo: Reuters

Safety experts say calcium carbide can react with water and produce acetylene, a highly flammable gas. An explosion is possible if firefighters spray water on calcium carbide.

Lei Jinde, an official with China's fire department, which is under the Ministry of Public Security, told ThePaper.cn that the first group of firefighters to arrive at the scene used water to put out the fire.

“We know that the warehouse contained calcium carbide inside, but we don’t know if it exploded,” said Lei Jinde.

However, if the firefighters accidentally sprayed water on the calcium carbide, it was because the warehouse was too large and they did not know exactly where the calcium carbide was located, Mr. Lei Jinde affirmed.

David Leggett, a chemical safety expert in California, told Reuters that an acetylene gas explosion could have led to the detonation of ammonium nitrate stored in the warehouse, causing a second explosion. In fact, the two explosions at the warehouse were about 30 seconds apart and the second explosion was much larger than the first.

“My guess is that the presence of ammonium nitrate is what triggered an explosion of such devastating magnitude,” Leggett said.

Stuart Prescott, a chemistry lecturer at the University of New South Wales in Australia, said that water can extinguish fires caused by nitrates but can cause explosions when it comes into contact with calcium carbide.

According to VOV