Waco Tribune 17 April 2013
ORIGINAL STORY: Several firefighters and dozens of others were injured in a fertilizer plant explosion in West shortly before 8 p.m. Wednesday night.
Multiple buildings caught fire, including West Intermediate School, 1212 N. Reagan St., after the explosion at West Fertilizer Co., 1471 Jerry Mashek Drive, and a dispatcher calling for ambulances said “we do have a lot of injured here.”
Some of the buildings that caught fire were near the 1300 block of North Reagan Street, and a dispatcher said people were trapped in a nearby apartment building.
West Mayor Tommy Muska said shortly after 11 p.m. that six or seven firefighters were in the plant at the time of the explosion and they are not accounted for.
The firefighters were trying to put out a fire at the plant when the explosion occurred, said West Mayor Pro-tem Steve Vanek, who was on his way to help when the blast took place. Officials said anhydrous ammonia and other components at the plant contributed to the explosion once the fire started.
Just after 9 p.m., Vanek was talking to personnel near the scene, visibly upset with his head in his hands, bent over at the waist. One of the people speaking with Vanek said “he lost a lot of his buddies out there.”
West Police Sgt. Michael Irving said he could not confirm the number of injuries or if anyone was killed.
Around 10:30 p.m., Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center CEO Glenn Robinson reported that the hospital had treated 61 patients and had no fatalities. Patients were also taken to other area hospitals.
Shortly after the incident, officials shut down access to the plant at the intersection of North Reagan and Ronda streets and could be seen evacuating people from homes near the facility.
Bill Bohannan, who was visiting his parents at their house in West, near the plant, witnessed the explosion and said it was a devastating blast.
“I said, ‘This thing is going to blow’ . . . and I told my mom and dad to get in the car,” Bohannan said. “I was standing next to my car with my fiancee, waiting for my parents to come out and (the plant) exploded. It knocked us into the car . . . Every house within about four blocks is blown apart.”
A stream of emergency vehicles, including ambulances, sheriff’s deputies, and other emergency vehicles, poured into the town shortly after the explosion. A Hill County sheriff’s deputy who was directing traffic said the explosion shook the windows of his home in Whitney.
Crystal Anthony, who serves on the West Independent School District board of trustees, said she and her daughter were “knocked back” by the blast as they stood blocks away from the plant.
“A nearby nursing home is really bad, there’s an apartment complex and the school (West Intermediate School) that caught fire,” she said. “We’ve been moving patients out of the nursing home and taking them to the football field and gymnastics building on Davis Street.”
Denise Day, a nurse at the West Rest Haven Nursing Home, 300 Haven St., said she had arrived at her home 23 miles from West when she heard the explosion. At first, Day said, she and her husband thought it was thunder.
But after turning on an emergency scanner, they quickly learned what had happened and she returned to help evacuate about 50 to 100 of the nursing home’s 140 residents.
Triage center
Many of those evacuated from the home could be seen sitting in wheelchairs near the end of the high school’s football field with cuts on their heads from flying glass after the explosion. About 15 to 20 ambulances were parked on the football field at about 9:45 p.m.
Cody Harris, a Ross volunteer firefighter who helped evacuate the nursing home, said he saw many injured people, but none of the injuries appeared life-threatening.
Around the same time, police officers and sheriff’s deputies continued to comb the area, trying to evacuate residents within a 1-mile perimeter and looking for people injured in their homes.
Christy Kolacek was eating with her family about three blocks away in downtown West shortly before the incident. She said they saw smoke at the plant and realized it was a fertilizer plant and knew it could blow.
Driving away from the plant in the moments preceding the explosion, Kolacek said they could feel the pressure building in their ears.
Upon returning home, about three blocks from West High School at 1008 Jerry Mashek Drive, Kolacek said they found all the windows blown out of their house.
Kolacek’s husband said the roof of the high school had collapsed.
Some of those wounded in the blast were taken to Hillcrest, where a tent was set up outside to treat the patients that may have come in contact with chemicals.
One woman was severely burned on her face, and about a dozen nurses and doctors were standing outside to meet the patients as they arrived in a variety of vehicles.
Emergency room
Hillcrest’s emergency room was packed with family members who arrived at the hospital waiting for loved ones.
Late Wednesday, state Rep. Kyle Kacal, R-College Station, released a statement expressing sympathy for those impacted.
“While little is still known at this time regarding details of this horrific incident, we must continue to keep all those impacted in our thoughts and prayers,” Kacal said. “As we continue to gather details on this tragic event, I have full confidence in our first responders and stand ready to assist in any way possible.”
Staff writers Kirsten Crow, Tommy Witherspoon, Lowell M. Brown, Sandra Sanchez and chief photographer Rod Aydelotte contributed to this report.
ORIGINAL STORY: Several firefighters and dozens of others were injured in a fertilizer plant explosion in West shortly before 8 p.m. Wednesday night.
Multiple buildings caught fire, including West Intermediate School, 1212 N. Reagan St., after the explosion at West Fertilizer Co., 1471 Jerry Mashek Drive, and a dispatcher calling for ambulances said “we do have a lot of injured here.”
Some of the buildings that caught fire were near the 1300 block of North Reagan Street, and a dispatcher said people were trapped in a nearby apartment building.
West Mayor Tommy Muska said shortly after 11 p.m. that six or seven firefighters were in the plant at the time of the explosion and they are not accounted for.
The firefighters were trying to put out a fire at the plant when the explosion occurred, said West Mayor Pro-tem Steve Vanek, who was on his way to help when the blast took place. Officials said anhydrous ammonia and other components at the plant contributed to the explosion once the fire started.
Just after 9 p.m., Vanek was talking to personnel near the scene, visibly upset with his head in his hands, bent over at the waist. One of the people speaking with Vanek said “he lost a lot of his buddies out there.”
West Police Sgt. Michael Irving said he could not confirm the number of injuries or if anyone was killed.
Around 10:30 p.m., Hillcrest Baptist Medical Center CEO Glenn Robinson reported that the hospital had treated 61 patients and had no fatalities. Patients were also taken to other area hospitals.
Shortly after the incident, officials shut down access to the plant at the intersection of North Reagan and Ronda streets and could be seen evacuating people from homes near the facility.
Bill Bohannan, who was visiting his parents at their house in West, near the plant, witnessed the explosion and said it was a devastating blast.
“I said, ‘This thing is going to blow’ . . . and I told my mom and dad to get in the car,” Bohannan said. “I was standing next to my car with my fiancee, waiting for my parents to come out and (the plant) exploded. It knocked us into the car . . . Every house within about four blocks is blown apart.”
A stream of emergency vehicles, including ambulances, sheriff’s deputies, and other emergency vehicles, poured into the town shortly after the explosion. A Hill County sheriff’s deputy who was directing traffic said the explosion shook the windows of his home in Whitney.
Crystal Anthony, who serves on the West Independent School District board of trustees, said she and her daughter were “knocked back” by the blast as they stood blocks away from the plant.
“A nearby nursing home is really bad, there’s an apartment complex and the school (West Intermediate School) that caught fire,” she said. “We’ve been moving patients out of the nursing home and taking them to the football field and gymnastics building on Davis Street.”
Denise Day, a nurse at the West Rest Haven Nursing Home, 300 Haven St., said she had arrived at her home 23 miles from West when she heard the explosion. At first, Day said, she and her husband thought it was thunder.
But after turning on an emergency scanner, they quickly learned what had happened and she returned to help evacuate about 50 to 100 of the nursing home’s 140 residents.
Triage center
Many of those evacuated from the home could be seen sitting in wheelchairs near the end of the high school’s football field with cuts on their heads from flying glass after the explosion. About 15 to 20 ambulances were parked on the football field at about 9:45 p.m.
Cody Harris, a Ross volunteer firefighter who helped evacuate the nursing home, said he saw many injured people, but none of the injuries appeared life-threatening.
Around the same time, police officers and sheriff’s deputies continued to comb the area, trying to evacuate residents within a 1-mile perimeter and looking for people injured in their homes.
Christy Kolacek was eating with her family about three blocks away in downtown West shortly before the incident. She said they saw smoke at the plant and realized it was a fertilizer plant and knew it could blow.
Driving away from the plant in the moments preceding the explosion, Kolacek said they could feel the pressure building in their ears.
Upon returning home, about three blocks from West High School at 1008 Jerry Mashek Drive, Kolacek said they found all the windows blown out of their house.
Kolacek’s husband said the roof of the high school had collapsed.
Some of those wounded in the blast were taken to Hillcrest, where a tent was set up outside to treat the patients that may have come in contact with chemicals.
One woman was severely burned on her face, and about a dozen nurses and doctors were standing outside to meet the patients as they arrived in a variety of vehicles.
Emergency room
Hillcrest’s emergency room was packed with family members who arrived at the hospital waiting for loved ones.
Late Wednesday, state Rep. Kyle Kacal, R-College Station, released a statement expressing sympathy for those impacted.
“While little is still known at this time regarding details of this horrific incident, we must continue to keep all those impacted in our thoughts and prayers,” Kacal said. “As we continue to gather details on this tragic event, I have full confidence in our first responders and stand ready to assist in any way possible.”
Staff writers Kirsten Crow, Tommy Witherspoon, Lowell M. Brown, Sandra Sanchez and chief photographer Rod Aydelotte contributed to this report.
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