City of West, Texas explosion

[frank n texas]

Fire, followed by massive explosion, took place last evening in the small Texas town called West, Texas at a fertilizer plant on the edge of town.

2 known dead thus far, 160 to area hospitals with lacerations and concussion type injuries.....Several firefighters on site are missing and feared dead..50 plus homes destroyed. 1200 evacuated from their homes in area of plant.

Shock waves felt as far away as 50 miles...Blast equal to a 2.1 on earthquake scale.

Fire still burning and another explosion is possible...

Same fertilizer chemicals involved as was used in Oklahoma city building explosion.

West, Texas sits between Austin, San Antonio, & Waco....Rural farming area...

Thoughts & prayers are with those affected...

[Brizio]

I just read the news...
My Though and prayers to all those people.

[letank]

Aaaaack, an accident!

[jdaniel83]

At the time of the explosion I was about 50 miles north of where it happened and I thought a small earthquake happened. Turns out I was feeling the reminance of the blast. Can't even imagine what it must have been like up close. My thoughts and prayers are with everyone down there.

[Mars]

Holy crap!

Did they find any of the firefighters?

[oakknoll]

Another tragedy this week..........

My thoughts and prayers are with the people of West, Texas and the surrounding area.

[weekend 4 wheelers]

seen some guys loading up waters and food at H.E.B. here in town. they took them out there to west TX. if my wife did not have surgery today i would have been right there with them. her surgery went fine by the way.

[Stuka]

Supposedly there had been complaints before of strong ammonia smells coming from the factory. But the inspectors said nothing this bad would ever happen if there was an accident.

By reading some reports of previous issues with this plant, it sounds like it was a time bomb waiting to happen. I have to wonder why the plant was inside the town limits like that though.

But very sad for the people that lost their lives, and the hundred plus that are badly injured.

[ProTouring442]

In our thoughts and prayers for sure.

As for the plant, the biggest issue will be what started the fire, and, assuming they are required to have some sort of suppression system, why didn't it work?

That fire would eventually set off any ammonium nitrate in the plant is a given, that the fire got started, and that it was not put out before it could set off the ammonium nitrate is a real issue.

[weekend 4 wheelers]

from what i read they where looked into around 2006 about the smell. they "fixed it". also the news was blaming the VFD for pushing the fire towards the ammonium nitrate that caused the blast. i don't know how true that might be. blaming the VFD to me is dumb. these guys have no real training and go out to fight fires in the community they love out of the goodness of their hearts. im not a fire fighter but i did help with the VFD in colorado in 2001 during the forest fire. i had no training.

[ScottsMojo]

Thoughts and prayers sent. I've got family in Waco, so this hits home for me and especially for them.

[Grand_Wag_85]

My thoughts and prayers are with those folks.

blaming the VFD to me is dumb. these guys have no real training and go out to fight fires in the community they love out of the goodness of their hearts. im not a fire fighter but i did help with the VFD in colorado in 2001 during the forest fire. i had no training.

Blaming the VFD is silly. If I had to guess those guys had no idea how the plant was laid out and there's a good chance the building(s) or area(s) with the A.N. wasn't well marked.

I can't speak for that VFD or every one out there but I've had the opportunity to be involved with several and the training was indeed very real.

[Mars]

My thoughts and prayers are with those folks.

blaming the VFD to me is dumb. these guys have no real training and go out to fight fires in the community they love out of the goodness of their hearts. im not a fire fighter but i did help with the VFD in colorado in 2001 during the forest fire. i had no training.

Blaming the VFD is silly. If I had to guess those guys had no idea how the plant was laid out and there's a good chance the building(s) or area(s) with the A.N. wasn't well marked.

I can't speak for that VFD or every one out there but I've had the opportunity to be involved with several and the training was indeed very real.

Yeah there's every indication those guys had no idea what they were walking into..

[bigun]

And now they have looting going on

[Mars]

I'm sure Texans know how to deal with looters so I wouldn't worry too much about it

[frank n texas]

Security being handled by State of Texas DPS.....No worries about looting...