You may recall that three years ago, firemen were trying to put out a blaze at the West Fertilizer Company plant in West, Texas when ammonium nitrate stored at the plant exploded. The blast killed 15 people, injured 200, and reduced several homes and businesses to rubble. On Wednesday, federal officials announced that the fire that sparked the explosion was an act of arson.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives announced the results of their three-year investigation into the explosion at a press conference in the small town north of Waco. Watch an excerpt here.
Robert Elder, special agent in charge at the ATF’s Houston office, said that officials had combed every possible cause of the explosion, which had the force of 20,000 pounds of TNT and triggered a 2.1 magnitude earthquake. Elder said that in the ATF’s view, the fire was “incendiary” in nature–meaning that it was arson. Therefore, Elder said, this explosion was “a criminal act.”
Elder said that he and his team had reviewed every possible cause of the fire, and “the only hypothesis that could not be eliminated is incendiary.” He cautioned, however, that officials don’t have a suspect yet, and “it’s too early to speculate on murder charges.” However, with the official determination that this was arson, one of two things happened–either this was either a prank gone horribly wrong, or this was an act of domestic terrorism.
It was already apparent long before today that this explosion was a criminal act. The plant was only insured for $1 million–nowhere near enough to cover the damages. Company officials lied to the EPA about the fire risk at the plant, didn’t tell Homeland Security that there was ammonium nitrate stored there, and didn’t have basic fire safety equipment on hand. Additionally, the ammonium nitrate pellets that sparked the blast were stored in wooden bins in a wooden warehouse with no sprinkler system.
This tragedy also stood as a searing indictment of the “regulation bad, regulation bad” mentality. At the time, Texas had no statewide fire code. McLennan County, home to both West and Waco, didn’t have a county fire code. That’s pretty unnerving, considering that Baylor University is located in Waco. As a result, the first responders who arrived at the scene were more or less in the dark. Ten of the people who died were first responders. Additionally, West didn’t have zoning at the time–which is why it was possible to build a school, an apartment complex, houses, and a nursing home next door to a fertilizer plant. All of them were either destroyed or badly damaged.
Fortunately, Texas seems to have gotten the hint. In 2015, the legislature passed a comprehensive fertilizer safety bill. It requires ammonium nitrate dealers to keep their stocks at least 30 feet from flammable materials, and subjects them to inspections from the local fire marshal.
Elder believes that the ATF is “on the right track” to getting justice for the victims. He’s partially right. We’ll only be on the right track if measures are taken at the state, federal, and local levels to ensure that there isn’t a next time for a catastrophe like this one.
