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On the evening of August 4, 2020, a huge blast shattered the Beirut city. About 2.5 kilometres away, in the city’s port, a powerful explosion had sent a huge orange fireball into the sky, followed by a massive shock wave that damaged buildings, overturned cars and shook the ground across the Lebanese capital. The blast is one of the largest accidental ammonium nitrate explosions ever recorded — so powerful that it was heard more than 200 kilometres away in Cyprus, across the Mediterranean. It was a sheer moment of great fear and grief.

Figure 1 – Source- https://media.nature.com/lw800/magazine-assets

Figure 2 – Image Source – https://images.indianexpress.com/2020/08/Lebanon-759-1.jpg

According to the Lebanese authorities the explosion, which killed around 250 people, injured more than 5,000 and left an estimated 300,000 people homeless. The explosion was caused by 2,750 tonnes of ammonium nitrate, a chemical compound commonly used as an agricultural fertilizer. The sheer amount of ammonium nitrate involved is “nuts, insane, huge”, says Andrea Sella, a chemist at University College London.

This highly inflammable chemical had been stored for almost 6 years at a port warehouse, ever since it was confiscated from a cargo ship in 2014. On the top of that, it was allegedly stockpiled without comprehensive and state-of-the-art fire safety measures and systems. Though an investigation is underway into what exactly triggered the outburst with early reports suggesting that it was probably a nearby fire.

The explosion produces an area of high pressure that travels faster than the speed of sound. However, in this case it sent the shock-waves across the stratum of Lebanon’s social, economic and political life. The Western Asian country in the recent past has already been crippled by serious economic woes at the centre of which has been a currency crisis.

With the destruction of Beirut’s port and the country’s main grain silo — which was close to the warehouse storing the ammonium nitrate — the consequences of the blast eventually culminated into an economic, political and health crisis. This has caused large-scale closure of businesses and soaring prices of basic commodities resulting in social unrest.

Aarush Fire Systems recommends that the storage facilities that are stockpiling such humongous volume of ammonium nitrate must be equipped with an automatic sprinkler system. These sprinkler systems should be of the approved type and installed in accordance with the given standards. Only aqueous sprinkler systems designed, built, and installed in accordance with fire safety standards should be used. Appropriate fire control devices such as hose or fire extinguishers shall be provided throughout the warehouse and in the loading and unloading areas. Water supplies and fire hydrants must be available in accordance with recognized scientific practices.