2013 — April 17, Explosion, Adair Grain and West Fertilizer Co., West, TX — 15

–35-40  Glionna/Reston (LA Times). “West…mayor says 35 to 40 dead…explosion.” 4-18-2013.

—     15  Azfamily.com. “Phoenix ATF agents investigating fertilizer plant explosion…” 4-24-13.

—     15  Durso, Fred Jr. “In West’s Wake.” NFPA Journal, March/April 2014.

—     15  NPR. “Death Toll in West, Texas, Fertilizer Explosion Rises to 15.” 4-23-2013.

—     14  CBS. “Majority of deaths in West, Texas explosion were first responders.” 4-20-2013.

—   >14  Reuters. “Texas fertilizer company didn’t heed disclosure rules before blast.” 4-21-2013

–12-14  Chicago Tribune. “Investigators search for clues to cause of…explosion.” 4-19-2013.

—     12  CNN (Faith Karimi). “12 bodies recovered at Texas blast site.” 4-19-2013.

—     12  NYT (Clifford Krauss). “Toll Raised in Texas Explosion as Search…” 4-10-2013.

 

April 18:  “West, Texas — 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’…. 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….the explosion…occurred around 8 p.m…as firefighters battled a blaze at the site.”  (Glionna, John M. and Maeve Reston. “West, Texas, mayor says 35 to 40 dead in fertilizer plant explosion.” Los Angeles Times, 4-18-2013.)

 

April 19, Chicago Tribune/Reuters: “West, Texas (Reuters) — Investigators searched for clues on Friday to the cause of an explosion and inferno after an apparent industrial accident at a Texas fertilizer plant flattened sections of a small town and killed at least 12 people.  Authorities said there was no indication of foul play in the blast at West Fertilizer Co, which they said had not been inspected since 2006, was storing potentially combustible ammonium nitrate and was located in a residential area.

 

“A Texas state official said Friday that 12 people died in the blast and approximately two hundred were injured. Earlier, the town’s mayor said 14 had died….

 

“Everywhere in this town of 2,700 known for its Czech heritage, shocked residents mourned the loss of family and friends.

 

“Brian Uptmor, 37 said his brother disappeared after he went toward the fire on Wednesday night to try to save some horses at a pasture near the plant. William “Buck” Uptmor, 44, has not been found among the estimated 160 injured at area hospitals, he has not answered his cell phone and his truck has not moved from where he left it. ‘He is dead. We don’t know where his body is,’ said Uptmor, a former firefighter….

 

“West Fertilizer Co is a retail facility that blends fertilizer and sells anhydrous ammonia and other chemical products to local farmers. It stored 270 tons of “extremely hazardous” ammonium nitrate, according to a report filed by the company with the state government.  Anhydrous ammonia is used by farmers as fertilizer to boost soil nitrogen levels and improve crop production.

 

“The West plant is one of thousands of sites across rural America that store and sell hazardous materials such as chemicals and fertilizer for agricultural use, many within close range of residences and schools. The company is privately owned and has fewer than 10 employees….

 

“The federal Environmental Protection Agency fined the firm $2,300 in 2006 for failing to implement a risk management plan. The plant’s owner could not be reached for comment.

 

“While authorities stressed it was still to early to speculate on the precise cause of the blast, a forensic sciences expert said investigators probably would consider at least two scenarios.  John Goodpaster, assistant professor and director of forensic sciences at Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis, said anhydrous ammonia is stored in liquid form but forms a vapor when mixed with air that can be explosive. If you apply enough heat to a container of anhydrous ammonia, he said, ‘that container could become a bomb.’ A second possibility is that ammonium nitrate, which was stored at the facility, could have exploded, said Goodpaster. This was the cause of one of America’s worst ever industrial accidents in 1947, when ammonium nitrate detonated aboard a ship in a Texas City port, killing almost 600 people.[1]”  (Chicago Tribune (Carey Gillam and Corrie MacLaggan of Reuters) “Investigators search for clues to cause of Texas explosion.” 4-19-2013.)

 

April 19, CNN:  “Twelve bodies have been recovered in West, Texas, Sgt. Jason Reyes said Friday, two days after a fiery explosion ripped through the heart of the close-knit central Texas town. Reyes said 200 people have been injured and 50 homes have been destroyed.  ‘This is still being treated as a crime scene,’ he said.  Many questions remain about the fire and an explosion at a fertilizer plant Wednesday, which badly damaged a five-block area.  What caused the blast, so deafening its ground motion registered as an earthquake?…. It registered as a 2.1-magnitude earthquake on the U.S. Geological Survey website….

 

“Five West firefighters, one Dallas firefighter and four emergency responders were killed, the State Firemen’s and Fire Marshals’ Association of Texas said in a statement Thursday.[2]

 

“West is about 75 miles south of Dallas and about 20 miles north of Waco.”  (CNN (Faith Karimi). “12 bodies recovered at Texas blast site.” 4-19-2013.)

 

April 19, NYT: “West, Tex. – After spending the night sifting through the debris left by the devastating explosion at a fertilizer plant here, the authorities on Friday morning raised the number of dead to 12, most of them firefighters and other emergency responders who were the first to arrive at the scene….

 

“About 200 people were injured by the blast, which tore apart an entire section of West, a small city of roughly 2,800 residents 80 miles south of Dallas. By daybreak on Friday, rescue personnel had combed through 150 buildings, though there were 25 more to go. Fifty homes were completely destroyed, as well as three firetrucks and one ambulance, Sergeant Reyes said [Texas Dept. of Public Safety]

 

“….the explosion…destroyed a significant piece of a small town in the center of Texas, including a 50-unit apartment complex….

 

“Members of the West Volunteer Fire Department and those of other towns had responded to a fire that broke out at the plant about 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, and were fighting the blaze when the blast occurred about 7:50 p.m. ‘The explosion came very quickly,’ Sergeant Swanton said [Waco Police Dept.]. ‘They knew the threat. They knew the seriousness of the situation they were in. They immediately started moving to an evacuation process, absolutely doing the right thing to try and get people out of harm’s way.’

 

“Perry Calvin, 37, a married father of two with a third on the way, was one of the dead volunteer firefighters. He had been attending an emergency medical technician class in West on Wednesday evening when a firefighter in the class got a page about the fire at the fertilizer company, said his father, Phil Calvin. Perry Calvin and another man drove to area together and got there before the explosion. The other man was found dead Wednesday night….

 

“The response by federal officials echoed that of some of the country’s deadliest bombings, fires and acts of terrorism. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives sent a 20-member national response team of explosives specialists, chemists and other experts, as had been done after the Oklahoma City bombing and the attack on the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001. The Chemical Safety Board, the federal entity that investigates chemical disasters, said that it had sent an investigative team too.

 

“The plant, operated by the West Chemical and Fertilizer Company, which is owned by Adair Grain Inc., had only nine employees. It did not manufacture any products, but instead stored and sold agricultural chemicals and fertilizer to farmers. The company stored substantial amounts of anhydrous ammonia and ammonium nitrate, chemicals used as commercial fertilizers that can become explosive under proper conditions.

 

“Anhydrous ammonia is stored as a liquid in pressurized tanks. Farmers inject it into the soil, where it vaporizes into a colorless, corrosive gas. Ammonium nitrate is usually sold in granular form, and was used in the Oklahoma City bombing. A filing late last year with the Environmental Protection Agency stated that the company stored 540,000 pounds of ammonium nitrate on the site and 110,000 pounds of anhydrous ammonia.

 

“Records kept by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration show that the last time the agency inspected the plant was 28 years ago. In that inspection, dated Feb. 13, 1985, the agency found five “serious” violations, including ones involving improper storage and handling of anhydrous ammonia and improper respiratory protection for workers. The agency imposed a $30 penalty on the company.

 

“Last June, the company was fined $5,250 by the federal Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration for violations involving anhydrous ammonia. An investigator reported the violations after an inspection of the plant in September 2011, and the agency later determined that the company had corrected the violations.

 

“An OSHA spokesman said the plant was not included in its so-called National Emphasis Plan for inspections because it did not produce explosives and had no major prior accidents, and the E.P.A. did not rate it as a major risk.

 

“Zak Covar, the executive director of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, said the company had been in business since 1962 and was one of a number of small fertilizer companies across rural Texas. The company has “an average compliance history,” with one air-quality complaint registered. In that episode, on June 9, 2006, according to state records, residents complained to the commission about the “ammonia smell” that was “very bad last night.” That occurrence was investigated by the agency and resolved with the granting of two air permits to the company by the end of that year, Mr. Covar said.

 

“Because it was built in 1962, the facility was grandfathered in to state regulations, Mr. Covar said. The company was supposed to get reauthorized in 2004, but failed to do so. Mr. Covar would not speculate on the reason.

 

“The disaster began with a smaller fire at the plant, which sits off Interstate 35. Videos posted online showed a large fire, visible from hundreds of yards away, followed by a fireball that blasted high into the sky and set fires burning and smoldering….”  (New York Times (Clifford Krauss). “Toll Raised in Texas Explosion as Search Continues.” 4-10-2013.)

 

April 20, CBS:  “On Friday crews were still searching for survivors. Authorities said they’ve recovered 14 bodies, a majority of them volunteer firefighters and emergency medical workers.”

(CBS This Morning. “Majority of deaths in West, Texas explosion were first responders.” 4-20-2013.)

 

April 21, Reuters:  “New York (Reuters) — The fertilizer plant that exploded on Wednesday, obliterating part of a small Texas town and killing at least 14 people, had last year been storing 1,350 times the amount of ammonium nitrate that would normally trigger safety oversight by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS).  Yet a person familiar with DHS operations said the company that owns the plant, West Fertilizer, did not tell the agency about the potentially explosive fertilizer as it is required to do, leaving one of the principal regulators of ammonium nitrate – which can also be used in bomb making – unaware of any danger there.  Fertilizer plants and depots must report to the DHS when they hold 400 lb (180 kg) or more of the substance. Filings this year with the Texas Department of State Health Services, which weren’t shared with DHS, show the plant had 270 tons of it on hand last year.  A U.S. congressman and several safety experts called into question on Friday whether incomplete disclosure or regulatory gridlock may have contributed to the disaster.

 

“It seems this manufacturer was willfully off the grid,” Rep. Bennie Thompson, (D-MS), ranking member of the House Committee on Homeland Security, said in a statement. “This facility was known to have chemicals well above the threshold amount to be regulated under the Chemical Facility Anti-Terrorism Standards Act (CFATS), yet we understand that DHS did not even know the plant existed until it blew up.”

 

“Company officials did not return repeated calls seeking comment on its handling of chemicals and reporting practices. Late on Friday, plant owner Donald Adair released a general statement expressing sorrow over the incident but saying West Fertilizer would have little further comment while it cooperated with investigators to try to determine what happened….

 

“Failure to report significant volumes of hazardous chemicals at a site can lead the DHS to fine or shut down fertilizer operations, a person familiar with the agency’s monitoring regime said. Though the DHS has the authority to carry out spot inspections at facilities, it has a small budget for that and only a “small number” of field auditors, the person said.

 

“Firms are responsible for self reporting the volumes of ammonium nitrate and other volatile chemicals they hold to the DHS, which then helps measure plant risks and devise security and safety plans based on them.  Since the agency never received any so-called top-screen report from West Fertilizer, the facility was not regulated or monitored by the DHS under its CFAT standards, largely designed to prevent sabotage of sites and to keep chemicals from falling into criminal hands….

 

“The West Fertilizer facility was subject to other reporting, permitting and safety programs, spread across at least seven state and federal agencies, a patchwork of regulation that critics say makes it difficult to ensure thorough oversight.  An expert in chemical safety standards said the two major federal government programs that are supposed to ensure chemical safety in industry – led by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) – do not regulate the handling or storage of ammonium nitrate. That task falls largely to the DHS and the local and state agencies that oversee emergency planning and response.  More than 4,000 sites nationwide are subject to the DHS program.  “This shows that the enforcement routine has to be more robust, on local, state and federal levels,” said the expert, Sam Mannan, director of process safety center at Texas A&M University. “If information is not shared with agencies, which appears to have happened here, then the regulations won’t work.”

 

“Chemical safety experts and local officials suspect this week’s blast was caused when ammonium nitrate was set ablaze. Authorities suspect the disaster was an industrial accident, but haven’t ruled out other possibilities.  The fertilizer is considered safe when stored properly, but can explode at high temperatures and when it reacts with other substances.  “I strongly believe that if the proper safeguards were in place, as are at thousands of (DHS) CFATS-regulated plants across the country, the loss of life and destruction could have been far less extensive,” said Rep. Thompson….

 

“A Ryder truck packed with the substance mixed with fuel oil exploded to raze the Oklahoma federal building in 1995. Another liquid gas fertilizer kept on the West Fertilizer site, anhydrous ammonia, is subject to DHS reporting and can explode under extreme heat.

 

“Wednesday’s blast heightens concerns that regulations governing ammonium nitrate and other chemicals – present in at least 6,000 depots and plants in farming states across the country – are insufficient. The facilities serve farmers in rural areas that typically lack stringent land zoning controls, many of the facilities sit near residential areas.

 

“Apart from the DHS, the West Fertilizer site was subject to a hodgepodge of regulation by the EPA, OSHA, the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Texas Department of State Health Services, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality and the Office of the Texas State Chemist.

 

“But the material is exempt from some mainstays of U.S. chemicals safety programs. For instance, the EPA’s Risk Management Program (RMP) requires companies to submit plans describing their handling and storage of certain hazardous chemicals. Ammonium nitrate is not among the chemicals that must be reported.

 

“In its RMP filings, West Fertilizer reported on its storage of anhydrous ammonia and said that it did not expect a fire or explosion to affect the facility, even in a worst-case scenario. And it had not installed safeguards such as blast walls around the plant.

 

“A separate EPA program, known as Tier II, requires reporting of ammonium nitrate and other hazardous chemicals stored above certain quantities. Tier II reports are submitted to local fire departments and emergency planning and response groups to help them plan for and respond to chemical disasters. In Texas, the reports are collected by the Department of State Health Services. Over the last seven years, according to reports West Fertilizer filed, 2012 was the only time the company stored ammonium nitrate at the facility.  It reported having 270 tons on site.  “That’s just a god awful amount of ammonium nitrate,” said Bryan Haywood, the owner of a hazardous chemical consulting firm in Milford, Ohio. “If they were doing that, I would hope they would have gotten outside help.”

 

“In response to a request from Reuters, Haywood, who has been a safety engineer for 17 years, reviewed West Fertilizer’s Tier II sheets from the last six years. He said he found several items that should have triggered the attention of local emergency planning authorities – most notably the sudden appearance of a large amount of ammonium nitrate in 2012.  “As a former HAZMAT coordinator, that would have been a red flag for me,” said Haywood, referring to hazardous materials.”  (Reuters (Joshua Schneyer, Ryan McNeill and Janet Roberts). “Texas fertilizer company didn’t heed disclosure rules before blast.” 4-21-2013.)

 

April 23, NPR:  “The number of people who died in a fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas, last week now stands at 15, officials said Tuesday. Some earlier reports had indicated that 14 people had lost their lives. At least 200 more were injured.  In Waco, TV station KXXV says that officials believe they have found all the victims, quoting Mayor Pro Tem Steve Vanek saying “No more victims. Everything is searched,” in a news conference today.

 

“The latest death toll comes as investigators continue to study the catastrophe and the fire that preceded it. The explosion left a crater 93 feet wide and 10 feet deep, investigators said Tuesday….”  (NPR (Bill Chappell). “Death Toll in West, Texas, Fertilizer Explosion Rises to 15.” 4-23-2013.)

 

April 25: “Phoenix — Arizona ATF special agents are among the teams of investigators searching for answers in West, Texas. Four Phoenix-based agents were sent to the disaster zone as part of the National Response Team. “We’ll be on this scene processing for as long as it takes,” Special Agent Tom Mangan told 3TV by phone Wednesday.  Pictures from the scene show the severe impact of the blast, which left a diameter 10 feet deep and 93 feet across, according to investigators.  Mangan said the explosion scattered debris nearly 40 blocks. The cause of the deadly blast is still unknown….

 

“The death toll now stands at 15; the majority of those killed were first responders….”  (Azfamily.com (Natalie Brand). “Phoenix ATF agents investigating fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas,” 4-24-2013. Accessed 4-25-2013 at: http://www.azfamily.com/news/Phoenix-ATF-Agents-investigating-fertilizer-plant-explosion-in-West-Texas-204430591.html )

 

Sources

 

Azfamily.com (Natalie Brand). “Phoenix ATF agents investigating fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas,” 4-24-2013. Accessed 4-25-2013 at: http://www.azfamily.com/news/Phoenix-ATF-Agents-investigating-fertilizer-plant-explosion-in-West-Texas-204430591.html

 

CBS This Morning. “Majority of deaths in West, Texas explosion were first responders.” 4-20-2013. Accessed 4-20-2013: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-33816_162-57580564/majority-of-deaths-in-west-texas-explosion-were-first-responders/

 

Chicago Tribune (Carey Gillam and Corrie MacLaggan of Reuters) “Investigators search for clues to cause of Texas explosion.” 4-19-2013. Accessed 4-19-2013 at: http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/sns-rt-us-usa-explosion-texasbre93h02a-20130417,0,2849100.story

 

Durso, Fred Jr. “In West’s Wake.” NFPA Journal, March/April 2014. Accessed 3-4-2014 at: http://www.nfpa.org/newsandpublications/nfpa-journal/2014/march-april-2014/features/nfpa-400?order_src=C246

 

Glionna, John M. and Maeve Reston. “West, Texas, mayor says 35 to 40 dead in fertilizer plant explosion.” Los Angeles Times, 4-18-2013. Accessed 4-19-2013 at: http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-dead-west-texas-plant-explosion-20130418,0,3837625.story

 

New York Times (Clifford Krauss). “Toll Raised in Texas Explosion as Search Continues.” 4-10-2013. Accessed 4-19-2013: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/20/us/40-people-missing-after-texas-explosion.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

 

NPR (Bill Chappell). “Death Toll in West, Texas, Fertilizer Explosion Rises to 15.” 4-23-2013.  4-24-2013 at: http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/04/23/178678505/death-toll-in-west-texas-fertilizer-explosion-rises-to-15

 

Reuters (Joshua Schneyer, Ryan McNeill and Janet Roberts). “Texas fertilizer company didn’t heed disclosure rules before blast.” 4-21-2013. Accessed 4-22-2013 at: http://news.yahoo.com/texas-fertilizer-company-didnt-heed-disclosure-rules-blast-171654800–finance.html

 

 

[1] April 16, 1947 explosion aboard the Grandcamp, killing 552-581 people in a series of explosions and fires.

[2] Cites: State Firemen’s & Fire Marshals’ Association of Texas. “West TX Explosion,” April 19, 8 a.m. release.