45nut
06-02-2010, 07:20 PM
All Workers Evacuated; No Immediate Reports of Serious Injuries
By Adam Aaro, KTVZ.COM
POSTED: 2:33 pm PDT June 2, 2010
UPDATED: 3:54 pm PDT June 2, 2010
Evan Gonzalez
Initial reports indicated all were evacuated from SW Bend Nosler bullets facility.
NOSLER PLANT EXPLOSION, FIRE
Story: Explosion, Fire Rock Bend's Nosler Bullets Plant
Video: Explosion, Fire hit Bend's Nosler Bullets Plant
Slideshow: Images of Bend Nosler Blast Scene
BEND, Ore. -- An explosion and fire rocked a portion of the Nosler Inc. bullet manufacturing plant in southwest Bend Wednesday afternoon, prompting evacuation and closure of streets in the area; despite a blast felt for several blocks, all 100 workers apparently were accounted for.
The fire was reported initially as a smoke report shortly after 2 p.m. at the facility at 107 SW Columbia St., which was evacuated. By 2:15 p.m., there were reports that an explosion had destroyed part of the building. But by 3 p.m., reports from the scene were that all workers on scene at the time of the blast had been accounted for.
A company spokesman said he was told that around 2 p.m., work was under way in the ballistics tunnel, a testing area for ammunition, when there was a flash, followed moments later by a massive explosion.
Fire crews were reporting no flames visible and that all were out of the plant, though one person reportedly suffered smoke inhalation and a thorough search was planned, to be sure all got out.
Bend Fire did a personnel callback to ensure adequate staffing and called in Redmond Fire for mutual aid to cover a station with an ambulance.
About 100 people work in the Nosler facility, a company founded in the late 1940s by John Nosler. Witnesses said there was a flash in the ballistics-testing tunnel area of the facility, and everybody apparently got out before the blast hit.
One nearby resident described the blast as like "feeling a bomb inside your house." After her house shook violently, she looked out to see a huge plume of orange smoke that she couldn't see through.
Barb Gonzalez at first thought it was an earthquake, when her house was jolted by the blast. "This one felt like a 5.5 (magnitude) jolt, said the survivor of the 1994 Northridge quake. Her second thought was an explosion.
Bend Fire called in a special operations team to go through the rubble, which apparently buried at least one evacuated worker's car in debris.
People several blocks away said the explosion rattled their office windows.
http://www.ktvz.com/video/23773234/index.html
A very big chunk of the plant is gone,, having toured this plant before they suspended tours due to insurance company demands I can tell you the ballistics lab is basement level and the damage you see is ground level,, it appears at first glance the seconds store was hit,, the area where the actual bullet machines work was hit badly too if the view in the video jives with my memory.
http://www.ktvz.com/video/23773234/index.html
By Adam Aaro, KTVZ.COM
POSTED: 2:33 pm PDT June 2, 2010
UPDATED: 3:54 pm PDT June 2, 2010
Evan Gonzalez
Initial reports indicated all were evacuated from SW Bend Nosler bullets facility.
NOSLER PLANT EXPLOSION, FIRE
Story: Explosion, Fire Rock Bend's Nosler Bullets Plant
Video: Explosion, Fire hit Bend's Nosler Bullets Plant
Slideshow: Images of Bend Nosler Blast Scene
BEND, Ore. -- An explosion and fire rocked a portion of the Nosler Inc. bullet manufacturing plant in southwest Bend Wednesday afternoon, prompting evacuation and closure of streets in the area; despite a blast felt for several blocks, all 100 workers apparently were accounted for.
The fire was reported initially as a smoke report shortly after 2 p.m. at the facility at 107 SW Columbia St., which was evacuated. By 2:15 p.m., there were reports that an explosion had destroyed part of the building. But by 3 p.m., reports from the scene were that all workers on scene at the time of the blast had been accounted for.
A company spokesman said he was told that around 2 p.m., work was under way in the ballistics tunnel, a testing area for ammunition, when there was a flash, followed moments later by a massive explosion.
Fire crews were reporting no flames visible and that all were out of the plant, though one person reportedly suffered smoke inhalation and a thorough search was planned, to be sure all got out.
Bend Fire did a personnel callback to ensure adequate staffing and called in Redmond Fire for mutual aid to cover a station with an ambulance.
About 100 people work in the Nosler facility, a company founded in the late 1940s by John Nosler. Witnesses said there was a flash in the ballistics-testing tunnel area of the facility, and everybody apparently got out before the blast hit.
One nearby resident described the blast as like "feeling a bomb inside your house." After her house shook violently, she looked out to see a huge plume of orange smoke that she couldn't see through.
Barb Gonzalez at first thought it was an earthquake, when her house was jolted by the blast. "This one felt like a 5.5 (magnitude) jolt, said the survivor of the 1994 Northridge quake. Her second thought was an explosion.
Bend Fire called in a special operations team to go through the rubble, which apparently buried at least one evacuated worker's car in debris.
People several blocks away said the explosion rattled their office windows.
http://www.ktvz.com/video/23773234/index.html
A very big chunk of the plant is gone,, having toured this plant before they suspended tours due to insurance company demands I can tell you the ballistics lab is basement level and the damage you see is ground level,, it appears at first glance the seconds store was hit,, the area where the actual bullet machines work was hit badly too if the view in the video jives with my memory.
http://www.ktvz.com/video/23773234/index.html