I'm fairly certain the volatile nature of the fire was part of the equation. Some of the tanks were leaking, and the fear was that the chemical could ignite inside the tanks and explode, scattering the contents far and wide, versus them opening them up and keeping water on it. There wasn't time for them to bring comparably-sized tankers and siphon the uncombusted chemicals, if that were even an option.
You want to blow it up on your terms as a firefighter once it’s determined that you simply can not get enough water on the tanks to cool them. Instead of an explosion also killing a bunch of firefighters, you have an explosion with everyone a safe distance away then get back into the fray.
I'm fairly certain the volatile nature of the fire was part of the equation. Some of the tanks were leaking, and the fear was that the chemical could ignite inside the tanks and explode, scattering the contents far and wide, versus them opening them up and keeping water on it. There wasn't time for them to bring comparably-sized tankers and siphon the uncombusted chemicals, if that were even an option.
If they were afraid of it possibly exploding, why did they blow it up?
You want to blow it up on your terms as a firefighter once it’s determined that you simply can not get enough water on the tanks to cool them. Instead of an explosion also killing a bunch of firefighters, you have an explosion with everyone a safe distance away then get back into the fray.
It wasn't blown up -- they just ignited the remaining tanks.