West, Texas, mayor says 35 to 40 dead in fertilizer plant explosion

Los Angeles Times ^ | April 18, 2013 | John M. Glionna and Maeve Reston

[Zakeet]

The mayor of this city said 35 to 40 people are believed to be dead in a massive fertilizer plant explosion “because they are unaccounted for and still missing.”

“We are out there searching the rubble, looking in each and every house. We are trying to locate each and every citizen,” Mayor Tommy Muska said in a telephone interview with The Times.

Muska said he arrived at the count of 35 to 40 dead because all other residents and first-responders in the area have been identified. Among those who were missing and believed dead, he said, were as many as six firefighters and four emergency medical technicians.

The explosion occurred Wednesday night, damaging or destroying buildings within a half-mile radius.

State public safety officials declined to say how many have died in the accident, and confirmed only that there were fatalities.

Rescue workers and federal investigators continued to face a “volatile situation” at the site, they said.

“The area where the incident occurred is highly populated, it is a neighborhood, it is devastated, it is still a very volatile situation,” said Matt Cawthon, chief deputy of the McLennan County Sheriff’s Department.

[Zakeet]

There are also more than 160 people injured.

[GeronL]

The estimates of dead keep changing, it was 60-70 last night and 5-15 this morning.

[tomkat]

             

[BipolarBob]

I would rather live next to a nuclear plant than a fertilizer plant or grain silo. Just saying.

[George from New England]

I hope LEO have considered ...

A theft of fertilizer in anticipation of OK bombing anniversary, and the explosion and fires to cover up the theft and make any attempt to assess inventory useless since no one knows how much burnt since the event.

[Responsibility2nd]

I read they built and opened this plant before they were even licensed and approved for it.

Paraphrasing one of the comments I read at an earlier story: Who builds a damn fertilizer plant yards away from a school and a nursing home?

[Alberta's Child]

Better question would be: Who approves a damn fertilizer plant yards away from a school and nursing home?

[MissTed]

I thought I read where the fertilizer plant has been there for 60’ish years?? Maybe it was out in the boonies when it was first built??

[luckystarmom]

I wouldbe sellingmyhouse if one was built by me.

[MEG33]

http://www.kxan.com/dpp/news/texas/dallas-fire-rescue-captain-dies-in-west

Face of a hero..First confirmed, named death

[PLD]

Miss Ted,

You are right the plant has been their since the early sixties..

[MEG33]

The fertilizer plant was there first.

[GeronL]

bump

[bgill]

Good grief, the plant has been there for decades. Before so many rules and regulations. Probably long before the town expanded out there and built the school and nursing home. The only problem they’ve had with the regs was a few years ago and they fixed that problem. Blame the town for growing why don’t you. Blame the people for building a town along a major highway and railroad. Oh no, they built their schools right by the RR tracks!!! What if a kid wandered onto them! Oh no, there’s a major highway running right by people’s houses!!! Have you bothered looking at a map to see the layout of the town? There’s open fields behind it and it’s about the last building in town. It’s a little nothing spot in the road that grew up between I-35 and the railroad in the 1800s with farm land all around. There is absolutely nothing there for tourists to stop for except their annual single weekend Westfest celebration and to grab some kolaches.

[MEG33]

I discounted the 60 to 70 as iffy last night...The new number from the Mayor is based on missing..No one else is saying. It may take days and days to get a true number.
I hope and pray the number is lower than the Mayor’s number.

[GeronL]

Me too

[manc]

shame most of the media can’t really cover this issue and would rather focus on Boston but then again TX is the south and a republican state where a small town was destroyed, boston is a liberal yuppie city in the north so in their mind it’s far more important

[Grams A]

If people from other areas traveled through many parts of Texas they would see many small towns just like West, Texas. There is a set of railroad tracks and everything else just sort of sprung up around them. When most of these towns were occupied and being built, there were no rules which is probably one of the reasons why the people built there.

There is also a set of relatively busy railroad tracks running through Houston, part of which is very close to River Oaks and the Galleria. Pricey homes and upscale businesses. After you live there a while you don’t even notice the sound of the trains and they have all co-existed for a very long time.

[Responsibility2nd]

This is the link I read. I didn't click it or read it.

FYI

Documents obtained by the Dallas Morning News indicate that regulators didn't issue a permit for the facility until after it was already in use, and that they were well aware of its proximity to homes and a school. Columnist Tod Robberson writes that the incident should be a wake-up call to cities to zone dangerous businesses more carefully. "Someone needs to be called to account," he writes.

[deport]

This plant isn't even located within the city limits of West, Tx. I suspect it was built long before the town spread outward toward it. If you look at a map of the town it is about 1 1/2 miles long by 1/2 mile wide running parallel to I-35. Get the IH frontage for taxing.