(Daily Mail)  Heartbreaking daylight images have revealed the extent of the devastation inflicted on the small community of West, Texas when a fertilizer plant exploded on Wednesday night, killing as many as 15 people – including three or four volunteer firefighters – and injuring hundreds more.

The blast, which was felt 50 miles away and registered as a magnitude 2.1 earthquake, destroyed as many as 75 homes and buildings, leveled an apartment complex, forced a nursing home to evacuate its residents and blanketed the area in a cloud of toxic fumes.

The missing volunteer firefighters were attending a blaze at the plant at 7.50pm local time when it suddenly exploded into a fireball – thought to be caused by dangerous anhydrous ammonia igniting in the heat of the fire. Some witnesses likened the explosion and damage to that of an atomic bomb.

As many as 179 people have been treated for injuries in hospitals, but Sergeant W. Patrick Swanton from Waco’s police department warned that he expects the total number of deaths and injuries to rise as emergency teams conduct a proper search.

Today, as the dust settles on the small community of 2,800 people, photographs reveal decimated homes, debris-strewn roads and a massive charred crater where the West Fertilizer Co. once stood. Search and rescue teams are now searching the buildings for victims.

Devastation: Firefighters conduct search and rescue of an apartment destroyed by an explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, which could have killed 15

Tragic: As many as 75 businesses and homes in West are believed to have been destroyed by the massive blast around 8pm on Wednesday

Hunt: Search and rescue teams are now going door to door to check for people who could have been injured in the massive explosion

Wasteland: The remains of a fertilizer plant sits destroyed after the explosion on Thursday morning. Authorities do not yet know what caused the blaze.

The explosion shook the ground in the town located about 20 miles north of Waco, and around 1,300 residents have now been evacuated.

The tragedy raised fears of another U.S. terror attack just days after the Boston bombs that killed three people, and comes ahead of the 20th anniversary of the Waco siege, but Mr Swanton said the blast was more likely to be a terrible industrial accident.

‘They are still getting injured folks out and they are evacuating people from their homes,’ Mr Swanton said in a press conference this morning. ‘At this point, we don’t know a number that have been killed. … I think we will see those fatalities increase as we get toward the morning.’

scene on Wednesday night. Officials said they were treating it as a crime scene.

‘We are not indicating that it is a crime, but we don’t know,’ Swanton said. ‘What that means to us is that until we know that it is an industrial accident, we will work it as a crime scene. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives is conducting the main investigation.’

He said there is not believed to be any hazard from smoke or air particles, and firefighters believe they have the blaze in the plant under control.

Aftermath: The remains of the the West Fertilizer Co. plant smolder in the rain on Thursday after a massive explosion on Wednesday night – which could have killed as many as 15

Blast zone: The West Fertilizer Co. is close to a school, nursing home and many residences, and up to 75 are believed to have been destroyed

Location: The town of West, which has around 2,800 residents and just three ambulances, was ‘overwhelmed’ by the explosion, residents said

Smoke cloud: A resident in West tweeted these pictures, adding: ‘Mushroom cloud from my front yard in West right after the explosion. Pretty intense situation’

Explosion: Up to 15 people are feared dead including five volunteer firefighters after a giant explosion at a fertiliser plant wreaked devastation in the town of West, Texas, leaving hundreds with horrific injuries

As scant details emerged about the explosion, the owner of the plant, Donald Adair, said he was as shocked as everyone else about the explosion. He told CBS11 that he was sitting at home when he learned of the fire and then ‘things just blew up’.

The plant, which Adair has owned for around seven years, had been closed for around three hours at the time of the explosion, and none of the 12 employees were there at the time, he said.

Speaking to the Star-Telegram, his son, 53-year-old Gary Adair, said he heard the massive explosion as he was working on the family farm.

‘It felt like an extra loud sonic boom out in the country,’ the younger Adair said. ‘I hadn’t heard a sonic boom since I was a kid. About 30 seconds later, it dawned on me what it was.’

He said his father is too distraught to talk and that neither of them understand what caused the initial fire as machinery is never left on. When his father went to the site after the explosion, he was forced back by emergency crews.

‘Everybody in town basically knows everybody,’ Adair said, his words soon dissolving into sobs. ‘It’s really rough. It’s a tragedy.’

ABC News reported that 179 people were hospitalized with at least 24 in critical condition, nine of whom are burn victims sent to Parkland Hospital in Dallas. At least 38 people are in serious condition in total, ABC reported.

Chaos: The explosion occurred at 7.50pm on Wednesday while volunteer firefighters were responding to a fire at the plant

Overwhelming: The explosion was so large that it registered as a magnitude 2.1 earthquake and caused whole streets to ‘jump’, residents said

Distraught: A firefighter stands on a rail line and surveys the remains of a fertilizer plant destroyed by the explosion, which injured as many as 179

Damage: Maria Galvin cleans up broken glass in the front of her business, after the windows were blown out by the explosion on Wednesday night

Broken: On Thursday morning, firefighter conducts a search and rescue of an apartment complex which was destroyed by the blast

TOXIC AND FLAMMABLE: ANHYDROUS AMMONIA

The West Fertilizer facility suffered an anhydrous ammonia explosion, which is ammonia in its liquid or gas state. Anhydrous ammonia is classified as toxic and dangerous for the environment – and is extremely flammable and is capable of forming highly explosive mixtures.

If Ammonia is exposed to iodine, Nitrogen triiodide is formed – which is described as a high explosive – capable of exploding out to six miles out.

The explosion affected other parts of the fertilizer plant too – which could have accelerated the mixing of toxic materials. Anhydrous ammonia is transported as a liquid at temperatures below -28°F.

In the event of a large spill it can form a toxic vapor cloud that is heavier than air until its temperature increases.

It is corrosive to copper, silver, aluminum, zinc and alloys. It reacts with body moisture, so it may burn body tissue – skin, eyes, mouth, throat, lungs and stomach – on contact, if inhaled or swallowed.

Victims are likely to have suffered ‘blast injuries’ including punctured lungs, eardrums, irritated eyes and possibly wounds caused by flying shrapnel and debris. A number of people are also suffering from ‘respiratory distress due to chemical inhalation’, head injuries and bone fractures.

Glenn Robinson, CEO of Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center, where as many as 101 blast victims have been taken, called it a ‘very, very unfortunate situation’. Patients have lacerations, orthopedic and burn injuries, he said.

‘The injuries that we are seeing are very serious,’ he said. ‘There are a number of patients that will be going to surgery.’

He added that 10 or 12 people taken to the hospital are in critical condition, with five in intensive care. Several are undergoing surgery and more than 38 are seriously injured, but there have been no fatalities.

In addition, Providence Healthcare Network in Waco has treated 65 patients, 12 of whom have have broken bones, burns and head injuries. One patient is in critical condition, ABC News reported.

West Mayor Tommy Muska said: ‘We’ve got a lot of people who are hurt, and there’s a lot of people, I’m sure, who aren’t gonna be here tomorrow. We’re gonna search for everybody. We’re gonna make sure everybody’s accounted for. That’s the most important thing right now.’

One resident, Dr. George Smith, explained that the devastation was ‘overwhelming’ for the small town, which has just three ambulances.

Emergency treatment: Victims from the West fertilizer plant explosion are wheeled into Hillcrest Baptist Medical Hospital in Waco, Texas

Makeshift treatment: Injured people being treated on the flood-lit the high school football field turned into a staging area after the blast

Desperate: School buses were used to ferry residents away from the scene of the explosion. Sergeant W. Patrick Swanton from Waco¿s police department said at least 160 people have been treated for injuries at local hospitals

The toll of devastation included 50 to 75 houses, an apartment complex with about 50 units that one state police officer said was reduced to ‘a skeleton,’ a middle school and the West Rest Haven Nursing Home, from which first-responders evacuated 133 patients, some in wheelchairs

A member of the city council, Al Vanek, said the area was ‘totally decimated’, while McLennan County Sheriff Parnell McNamara commented: ‘It looks like a war zone with all the debris.’

Dr. Smith, said that the explosion was like an ‘atomic bomb.’

‘Just fire everywhere,’ Sammy Chavez, who witnessed the explosion, told NBC. ‘Bodies on the ground, bloody bodies, people in panic. Firemen, fire trucks, police cars filled the town.’

The toll of devastation included 50 to 75 houses, an apartment complex with about 50 units that one state police officer said was reduced to ‘a skeleton,’ a middle school and the West Rest Haven Nursing Home, from which first-responders evacuated 133 patients, some in wheelchairs.

Mayor Muska said rescuers are now carrying out house-by-house search and rescue in the area around the plants.

Texas Department of Public Safety D.L. Wilson said the damage was comparable to the destruction caused by the 1995 bomb blast that destroyed the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.

Rescue efforts have been hampered due to hazardous chemicals in the air following the explosion. First responders were seen wearing respirators to protect themselves.

Blast: According to eyewitnesses firefighters were attending the blaze when there was a sudden explosion – three firefighters are dead according to authorities

Blaze: The blast ripped through West Fertilizer at 7.50pm and fires continue to burn at the scene

Search: The missing volunteer firefighters and a policeman were attending a blaze at the plant at about 7:50pm local time last night it suddenly exploded into a fireball – it thought to be caused by anhydrous ammonia igniting in the heat of the fire

Terrifying: A fire blazes in a home near to the plant – some people are thought still to be trapped in buildings and a number of firefighters are reported missing.

More…

• ‘Daddy, please get out of here:’ Chilling footage captured by a father and his child who witnessed the West, Texas explosion
• Toxic cloud threatens thousands: ENTIRE town faces evacuation over ammonium nitrate suffocation risk
• Patients with horrific burns treated on football field as hospitals are flooded with victims caught in blast
• ‘The whole street is gone’: Survivor tells how roof collapsed on his head then he clawed his way to safety after giant fertilizer plant blaze.

Read More of this article

Categories: news

Tags: explosion, Texas