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What’s in your backyard

Industrial operations are everywhere and we wanted to know what’s the scariest one in your jurisdiction

Whether you respond in an urban, suburban or rural district, one thing is fairly certain — you have some heavy or light industry. For civilians, they blend in with the landscape and are largely forgotten. For firefighters, they are what keeps us awake at night.

To get a snap shot of what our readers have looming in their backyards we asked: “What’s the scariest industrial site in your jurisdiction?”

Here’s a sample of what we got. And please, add your contributions to the list.

1.“We have a plant that produces dynamite and stores it in bunkers.” — Christopher Ryan Snedeker

2.“Claxton Cold Storage: 6,000-gallon ammonia tanks on the roof, more explosive gases and materials and it is directly across the street from our pre-k and elementary schools!” — Brendon J. Sapp

3.“Our kitchen when my wife is cooking.” — Keith Martin

4.“Anker Industries. Makes stuff for fire works and makes explosives. Worst thing is … a lot of it is water reactive.” — Larry Zamora

5.“Do I only have to pick one? We’re at the mouth of the Houston Ship Channel, if it’s anything to do with oil refining, we have it.” — Tim Rogers

6.“Lead mines and the battery plant.” — Quinton LeJeune

7.“Used to be Bradco Roof Supply, but then it burned down. So now it’s Voltix, never know what is burning there.” — Zach Larson

8.“Ethanol production plant, ag/fertilizer storage and nuclear plant in the next county.” — Michael Spellmeier

9.“Plenty of abandoned steel mills. Just as dangerous as if they were still running.” — John Slowikowski

10.“It’s not here yet, but they are building a bio lab here soon — biological weapons disposal and stuff.” — Steve Tofanelli

11.“Paper mill; lots of nasty chemicals to kill you quickly.” — Chris White

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