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Kaboom - Fertilizer Plant Explosion - Bolty - 04-18-2013 Source article As the sun rose Thursday over West, Texas, the scope of the small town's devastation came into fuller view: a gruesome, bloody scene, homes flattened to rubble, and scores of firefighters battling a raging blaze. The massive, deadly blast at a fertilizer plant Wednesday night forced the evacuation of about half the town of about 2,800 people and left officials asking key questions: Was it a crime or an accident? How could it have happened? "Nothing at this point indicates we have had criminal activity, but we are not ruling that out," said Sgt. William Patrick Swanton of the nearby Waco Police Department. A more immediate question is how high the death toll will rise. It could be between five and 15, Swanton said. Dr. George Smith, the city's emergency management system director, said it could spike to 60 or 70. "We have two EMS personnel that are dead for sure, and there may be three firefighters that are dead," Smith said. "There are a lot of people that will not be here tomorrow," Mayor Tommy Muska warned late Wednesday. ------------------------------ There's a reason why the FBI investigate anyone attempting to purchase large amounts of fertilizer ever since 9/11. This is it. I have a close family member who oversees day-to-day operations at an oil distributor, and a few years back they were involved with the FBI when they were contacted by what seemed to be shady individuals who wanted to buy a large quantity of chemicals. Never found out what happened with that, sort of how like when you report someone to Blizzard for cheating and they say "we'll take of it." RE: Kaboom - Fertilizer Plant Explosion - Kevin - 04-18-2013 They have been closely following fertilizer and component purchases since well before 9/11. I know after the Oklahoma City bombings in 95 regulations were stepped up again and they were stepped some after the first failed world trade center bombings in 93, at least according to some of my relatives who deal with things like that. As to this explosion, you can find older articles about this plant where people were complaining about overly strong smells. To me that makes me jump to leaks or process negligence that finally went wrong. The sugar plant explosion in 08 was a similar deal. I understand why people would jump to the thoughts of it being a planned attack, and that should certainly be investigated, but I really doubt that is what happened here. RE: Kaboom - Fertilizer Plant Explosion - shoju - 04-18-2013 I'm watching the video of the fire, and I'm thinking "Wow. That's bad." And then... HOLY SHITBALLS OF EXPLODING MONSTOSITY. My heart sank. That's a depressing sight. RE: Kaboom - Fertilizer Plant Explosion - Kevin - 04-18-2013 Another angle of video if you haven't seen it. Same type of deal as the other one. RE: Kaboom - Fertilizer Plant Explosion - Bun-Bun - 04-19-2013 This is quite saddening. I've driven through West hundreds of times. It's a nice place, a typical Central Texas sort of town. RE: Kaboom - Fertilizer Plant Explosion - kandrathe - 04-24-2013 It reminded me of another Texas fertilizer disaster -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_City_Disaster