Investigators seek cause of Texas blast that killed at least 14

By Corrie MacLaggan and Lisa Maria Garza

WEST, Texas (Reuters) - Investigators sifted through debris on Friday to determine the cause of a Texas fertilizer plant explosion that obliterated parts of a small town and killed at least 14 people, including volunteer firefighters who had raced to the scene in advance to douse a blaze.

There was no indication of foul play in the fire or the blast it triggered Wednesday night at West Fertilizer Co, a privately owned retail facility that was last inspected two years ago, authorities said.

The farm supply business, located at the edge of a residential area in West, a town about 80 miles south of Dallas, had notified a state agency that it stored potentially combustible ammonium nitrate on the site.

Mayor Tommy Muska told an afternoon news conference the confirmed death toll had risen to 14, based on the number of victims whose remains had been recovered from the vicinity of the blast. Authorities said 200 people were injured.

Texas U.S. Senator John Cornyn said the town's deputy fire marshal told him that 60 people remained unaccounted for two days after the explosion.

But he said that number was expected to drop as individuals turn up at area hospitals or with relatives and others, some of them outside of town.

"I would just take that (number) with a grain of caution," Cornyn said.

The confirmed dead included paramedics and volunteer firefighters who responded to an initial fire alarm, and likely were killed by the ensuing blast, which was so powerful it registered as a magnitude 2.1 earthquake.

It left a devastated landscape, reducing a 50-unit apartment complex to what one local official called "a skeleton standing up," destroying about 50 houses and heavily damaging a nursing home and schools. Dozens more homes were reported to have been damaged.

By Friday afternoon, officials said the ruins of nearly 175 homes and other buildings left badly damaged or destroyed had been searched and "cleared."

Authorities had said they were combing wrecked structures for people who might have been trapped.

But after touring the scene on Friday, Governor Rick Perry told reporters he had been advised that "the search and rescue phase is complete."

Asked whether that meant no more survivors were expected to be found, he said he did not know enough to comment.

The explosion was one of a series of events that put Americans on edge this week including the Boston marathon bombings and discovery of poisoned letter addressed to President Barack Obama and a Republican U.S. senator.

Authorities were still calling the blast site a crime scene though they said they strongly suspected an accident.

The death toll was huge for a town of about 2,800 residents, and everyone seemed to know someone who died or was presumed dead.

Brian Uptmor, 37 said his brother disappeared after he went toward the fire on Wednesday night to try to save horses in a pasture near the plant.

William "Buck" Uptmor, 44, has not been found among the injured at area hospitals, 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. "It'll probably hit me at the funeral."

Residents of the town known for its Czech heritage gathered at the Out West Bar and Grill in downtown West on Thursday night, where some of the first responders who died in the blast used to drink beer with them.

"Everyone's still shocked," said 48-year-old Kenny Chudej, who listed the names of several acquaintances who had died in the explosion. "We lost a lot of good friends. I don't think it has hit home yet. Having a drink or two helps level it out."

Mayor Muska has said four paramedics are among the dead, and that five volunteer firefighters are listed as missing and feared dead.

Volunteers and truckloads of donations were arriving from around the state, providing food, clothing and household items for people who lost their residences and possessions.

"It hit close to home. I'm still in shock," said 34-year-old Jami Staggs, who came from Waco, some 20 miles away, to help set up a site where residents could pick up donated items.

DANGEROUS MATERIALS

West Fertilizer Co 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.

Farmers use anhydrous ammonia as fertilizer to boost soil nitrogen levels and improve crop production.

The West plant is one of thousands of sites across rural America that stores and sells hazardous materials such as chemicals and fertilizer for agricultural use. Many are near residences and schools.

The plant was last inspected for safety in 2011, according to a Risk Management Plan filed with the federal Environmental Protection Agency.

The company, which has fewer than 10 employees, had provided no contingency plan to the EPA for a major explosion or fire at the site. It told the EPA in 2011 that a typical emergency scenario at the facility that holds anhydrous ammonia could result in a small release in gas form.

The EPA 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 too early to speculate on the 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 enough heat is applied to a container of anhydrous ammonia, he said, "that container could become a bomb."

A second possibility is that ammonium nitrate could have exploded, said Goodpaster. This was the cause of one of America's worst industrial accidents. In 1947 ammonium nitrate detonated aboard a ship in a Texas City port, killing nearly 600 people.

(Additional reporting by Carey Gillam, Nick Carey, Anna Driver, Josh Schneyer and Colleen Jenkins; Writing by Greg McCune and Steve Gorman; Editing by Xavier Briand)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/investigators-seek-cause-texas-blast-killed-least-14-003444891.html

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