WEST, Texas – Monday marked the 10-year anniversary of the West Fertilizer Company explosion that left 15 people dead and hundreds more injured.
The explosion occurred after a fire started inside the plant on April 17, 2013. The fire spread to another room containing 30 tons of ammonium nitrate, which detonated at 7:51 p.m.
The blast registered as a 2.1 magnitude earthquake and destroyed two schools, multiple homes and cars. It left a crater nearly 100 feet wide and 10 feet deep and killed 10 firefighters, two first responders and three civilians.
The disaster rocked the small north-central Texas town of West, which had a population of just 2,800 at the time.
In 2016, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives called the fire “a criminal act” and said it was intentionally set. The agency announced a reward of up to $50,000 for information leading to the arrest of the person or persons responsible for the fire, but no arrests have ever been made.
Anyone with information is asked to contact Waco Crime Stoppers at 254-753-HELP (4357).
The U.S. Chemical Safety Board called the West Fertilizer Plant explosion one of the most destructive explosions it has ever investigated.
You can watch a video about USCSB’s investigation at the bottom of this article.
The plant was built in 1961 in open fields. There were no zoning rules in place and as the city grew, properties were developed closer and closer to the facility — including schools, apartments and a nursing home.
There are no federal or state requirements regulating the siting of chemical facilities near residential areas, schools or hospitals.
The CSB also recommended that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration add fertilizer-grade ammonium nitrate to its list of highly hazardous chemicals and that the Environmental Protection Agency add the chemical to its list of regulated substances.
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