And the drama never ends...

I've never mentioned exactly where I live but if the world didn't know us for the 1947 disaster, they know us now for the horrible explosion yesterday.

I spoke about the death of my nephew in a few recent posts. Well, his father, my brother in law works in that refinery as does my oldest sister, my 3rd oldest sister and my mother.

Needless to say, I was VERY concerned when my best friend called me at 1:19pm yesterday to tell me the refinery just had a HUGE explosion and she not only saw it but felt it as she was driving. I was a few towns over and didn't feel it but many other towns did.
To be honest, I stopped hearing everything she said after "explosion at BP".
I started panicking on the inside but on the outside I was calm as I said, "I need to go so I can call my mom."
I ran to the back and started making phone calls. As I was trying to dial, my fingers fumbled over the buttons. I kept saying to myself, "This can't be. Please don't let it be one of us."
My mother is a medical personnel in the refinery and I knew all hell was probably breaking loose in her office but I had no idea what happened so I wanted to make sure she was ok. They were too busy to put her on the phone but at least I knew she was alive.
I tried calling my sister (the mother of my deceased nephew) to see if she had heard from her husband. The line was busy.
I then called my other sister who is in one of the offices there. She saw it was me calling and answered the phone by saying, "It's us! It's us!"
She was clarifying for me because this refinery is smack dab between several others so sometimes we outsiders don't know for sure which plant is on fire or exploding.
She was VERY upset. She's been working out there for many years and has never felt anything like it. The explosion made her feel like she was being picked up off the ground and slammed back down.

She assured me that it wasn't my brother in law's unit. I was relieved but so concerned for my other sister who was at home by herself.
When I called her she was hysterical. She knew her husband was now safe but this was just too much for our very raw nerves.
I left work and went to her house to be with her.

I am not sure why but ever since my nephew died, my presence is very comforting to her. She wants me around all the time anyway so I knew I was needed at this time.
We both came to the realization yesterday that if ever there was a major disaster at that refinery that 90% of our family would be gone.
She and I would be the only ones left.

We watched the constant coverage on TV all afternoon and one by one, our family members started trickling in, thankfully, all safe.

15 families were not so lucky.
My memories of what it is like to wonder if your loved one is safe and finding out they are gone are still quite vivid.
I can completely sympathize with what they are all going through. It's a nightmare.
They are wishing that they could pinch themselves and wake up.
My heart breaks for them.

These incidents are always in the back of our minds. We are a town of approximately 50,000 people and each one of us know that it's possible that one really good fuck up could level the entire town.
But hell, one good earthquake in California, one good tornado in Kansas, one good hurricane in Florida can wipe out a town.
We benefit from these dangerous refineries with lower taxes, good property values and lots of peripheral businesses.

But.
We know. It's coming.
After all we've been through as a family, maybe it's time to make some changes. We know what it's like to lose. Do we want to go through it again?

Posted by De at March 24, 2005 05:23 PM