West Fertilizer Company Explosion

On April 17, 2013, an ammonium nitrateexplosion occurred at the West

Fertilizer Company storage and distribution facility in West, Texas, eighteen miles
(29 km) north of Waco, while emergency services personnel were responding to a
arson fire at the facility. Fifteen people were killed, more than 160 were injured,
and more than 150 buildings were damaged or destroyed. Investigators confirmed
that ammonium nitrate was the material that exploded. On May 11, 2016,
the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives stated that the fire had
been deliberately set.

BACKGROUND
West Fertilizer Company had supplied chemicals to farmers since it was
founded in 1962. As of 2013 it was owned by Adair Grain, Inc. and employed nine
workers at the facility. Adair Grain, Inc. is wholly owned by Donald Adair and his
wife Wanda.
At the time of the incident, the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA) had last inspected the plant in 1985. According to records
obtained by the Associated Press, OSHA cited the plant for improper storage
of anhydrous ammonia and fined it $30. OSHA could have fined the company as
much as $1,000. OSHA also cited the plant for violations of respiratory protection
standards, but did not impose a fine. OSHA officials said the facility was not on
their "National Emphasis Plan" for inspections, because it was not a manufacturer,
had no record of a major accident, and the Environmental Protection Agency did
not consider it a major risk.
After a complaint in 2006 about an ammonia smell coming from the facility,
the Texas Commission on Environmental Qualityinvestigated and cited the
operator for not having a permit for two storage tanks that contained anhydrous
ammonia. A permit was issued once the operators brought the facility into accord
with agency regulations and recommendations. Also in 2006, the EPA fined the
owners $2,300 for problems that included not filing a risk management program
plan on time. In June 2012, the U.S. Department of Transportation's Pipeline and
Hazardous Materials Safety Administrationfurther fined the facility $5,250 for
violations regarding anhydrous ammonia storage.
According to an open records request by Reuters, the plant had a long
history of minor thefts, presumably by people wanting to use anhydrous ammonia
to make methamphetamine. The facility lacked burglar alarms, or even a fenced
perimeter. It installed a surveillance system in 2009 after law enforcement
recommended they do so.
In an emergency planning report filed with the EPA in 2011, company
officials said the ammonia storage tanks did not represent a significant fire or
explosion hazard. Indeed, the tanks were still intact following the nearby fire and
explosion.
According to its last filing with the EPA in late 2012, the company stated
that it stored 540,000 pounds (270 short tons; 240 t) of ammonium nitrate and
110,000 pounds (55 short tons; 50 t) of anhydrous ammonia on the site. A week
after the explosion, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano told Senate
investigators that the company did not appear to have disclosed its ammonium
nitrate stock to her department. Federal law requires that the Department of
Homeland Security (DHS) be notified whenever anyone has more than one ton of
ammonium nitrate on hand, or 400 pounds (180 kg) if the ammonium nitrate is
combined with combustible material.

FIRE AND EXPLOSION

The facility caught fire on Wednesday, April 17, 2013, and roughly 20
minutes after the fire was first reported to emergency dispatchers the site
exploded. At 7:50:38 p.m. CDT(00:50 UTC, April 18), as firefighters were
attempting to douse the flames, it exploded with the force of 7.5-10 tons of TNT.
The explosion created a 93 foot wide crater where the site of the fertilizer
plant had previously been, and resulted in 12 deaths and numerous injuries.
After weeks of investigation, the cause of the initial fire remained unknown;
authorities ruled out weather, natural causes, anhydrous ammonia, and ammonium
nitrate in a rail car as possible causes.
In May 2016, the ATF announced that they had determined the fire had been
deliberately set.

AFTERMATH
The massive explosion obliterated the West Fertilizer Company plant and
caused heavy damage and further destruction to surrounding areas. Numbers for
people dead or injured varied initially.

Damage
In addition to the obliterated plant, the damaged buildings included the
public West Middle School, which sits next to the facility. A neighboring 50-unit,
two-story apartment building was destroyed.
The blast damaged the nearby West Rest Haven nursing home, and many
residents were evacuated. Many of the nursing home residents received cuts from
flying glass, but emergency personnel on scene judged that most of these injuries
were not life-threatening.
On April 20, some residents who tried to return to their destroyed homes
were turned away, because leaking gas tanks were causing small fires.
According to the company's insurer, United States Fire Insurance
of Morristown, New Jersey, the facility was only covered by $1 million in liability
insurance. According to official estimates from both state and company officials,
this amount did not even begin to cover the cost of damages. Furthermore,
according to The Dallas Morning News, Texas law allows fertilizer storage
facilities to operate without any liability insurance at all, even when they store
hazardous materials.
Injuries and fatalitiesEdit
West Mayor Tommy Muska told the Waco Tribune-Herald that as of late
evening, April 17, six or seven volunteer firefighters from the city were
unaccounted for. West EMS Director Dr. George Smith, himself injured, said he
believed at least two emergency responders were killed.
"We do have confirmed fatalities," Texas Department of Public Safety
spokesman D.L. Wilson said at a midnight news conference on April 17. "We have
a tremendous amount of injuries ... over 100 injuries at this time." Wilson did not
confirm or deny an ku report that the number of deaths could be in the range of 60
to 70. He said the blast zone was "just like the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City,"
comparing its effects to the Oklahoma City bombing, and that "50 to 75" homes
and businesses were damaged.Sergeant William Patrick Swanton of the Waco
Police Department said the operation has gone into a "search-and-rescue mode",
aiming to find survivors and recover those who might be trapped in buildings. He
said at least 160 people had been injured, and the firefighters who were combating
the initial fire were still unaccounted for. Swanton quoted local environmental
officials and emergency personnel in saying there was no risk to the community
from the smoke fumes rising from the facility.

Over 100 people were reported injured in the blast, and were originally
transported to a makeshift triage set up at West High School's football field. It was
later moved to a community center due to its proximity to the still-burning facility.
Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center in Waco received over 40 injured for treatment.
Patients were also admitted to Waco's Providence Healthcare Network, Fort
Worth's John Peter Smith Health Network, Dallas's Parkland Memorial Hospital,
and Temple's Scott and White Memorial Hospital.
Authorities announced on April 19 that twelve bodies had been recovered,
sixty people were missing, and at least 200 had been injured.The twelve dead
included ten first responders as well as two civilians who had volunteered to fight
the fire.
The final confirmed death toll was fifteen fatalities, and approximately
160 to 200 people were injured.

INVESTIGATION

The state fire marshal department said that investigators interviewed

"almost 300 people," and followed 160 leads in their initial investigation.

In May 2013, the Texas Department of Public Safety instructed the Texas
Rangers and the McLennan Sheriff's Department to join the Texas Fire Marshall's
Office and the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, in the
criminal investigation into the explosion.
Investigators blamed stocks of ammonium nitrate fertilizer stored in a bin
inside a seed and fertilizer building on the property for the explosion but failed to
identify what started the actual fire that led to the explosion.
On April 22, 2014, the U.S. Chemical Safety and Hazard Investigation
Board released preliminary results of its investigation into the explosion. It found
that company officials failed to safely store the chemicals in its stockpile, and that
federal, state and local regulations about the handling of hazardous materials were
inadequate. In a statement released alongside the report, the board's chair,
Dr. Rafael Moure-Eraso, stated: "The fire and explosion at West Fertilizer was
preventable. It should never have occurred. It resulted from the failure of a company
to take the necessary steps to avert a preventable fire and explosion and from the
inability of federal, state and local regulatory agencies to identify a serious hazard
and correct it.” The CSB's yearlong investigation found that 1,351 facilities across
the country store ammonium nitrate, and that their many areas had no regulations
to keep such facilities away from populated areas. Moure-Eraso urged new and
revised regulations, stating "there is no substitute for an efficient regulatory system
that ensures that all companies are operating to the same high standards. We cannot
depend on voluntary compliance."
The ATF announced on May 11, 2016, that the fire that led to the explosion
was intentionally set. However, they declined to comment about any possible
suspects, though a reward of $50,000 for information leading to an arrest has been
offered. This finding was subsequently disputed by various other experts, who
noted that the ATF's finding was based primarily on their inability to find any other
cause for the initial fire. Some people complained that it delayed victims' lawsuits
against the fertilizer company, gave the defendants more legal ammunition, and
prompted the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to put a hold on new chemical
plant safety rules.
The Waco-McLennan County Public Health District in collaboration with
the Texas Department of State Health Services carried out and completed an
epidemiological study to describe the physical injuries related to the incident. The
report was issued in June 2014 and the study was later published as a scientific
manuscript in 2016.

Regulatory changes

One year later, in 2014, the Wall Street Journalreported that fertilizer
storage regulations in the U.S. were unchanged.
In 2015, the Texas Legislature passed House Bill 942 regulating storage and
inspection of ammonium nitrate and granting authority to the Texas Commission
on Environmental Quality and local fire marshals to effect and enforce such
regulation.

Lawsuit
At least seven lawsuits were filed against Adair Grain Inc., which owned
the West Fertilizer Company facility. On October 11, 2015, a day before jury
selection was to begin, parties reached a partial settlement in one case. Its terms
have not been disclosed. The settlement includes the families of the three civilians
killed in the fire and explosion. This is separate from the $118,300 in fines that
West Fertilizer was handed for violating several rules about the handling of
hazardous materials.
A trial for a second group of plaintiffs was expected to begin in late 2016.
In January 2018, it was reported that the city of West will receive $10.44
million in settlements with defendants in the litigation around the plant explosion,
the West City Council approved the settlement, which includes funds for damages
not covered by insurance or grants from state or federal agencies. The lawsuit that
the settlement pertains to, was filed on behalf of the city and claimed the defendants
were negligent in selling or distributing the ammonium nitratebased fertilizer, that
they failed to properly warn of the dangers associated with the handling and storage
of the product, and should have never sold the product to West Fertilizer.