Massive Explosion in Waco, TX... Large Swath of region "Leveled"... Felt 65 Miles Away

People in Dallas thought the explosion, 65 miles to the west, was a small earthquake. And according to initial reports, cars were blown off highways miles away due to the intense shock wave produced by the explosion. It looks like a mini-nuke went off.

EDIT: The explosion registered 2.0 on the Richter Scale.








Texas fertilizer plant explodes 'just like the Oklahoma City bomb,' nursing home, school hit

(updated at 1 a.m.: West Mayor's comments and concerns of shifting winds with threat of toxins in the air.)

(updated at 12:10 a.m. following midnight press conference with D.L. Wilson of Dept. of Public Safety)

(Updated at 10:50 p.m. with death toll)
West, Texas, EMS Director Dr. George Smith said as many as 60 or 70 people died and hundreds injured Wednesday night when a fertilizer plant exploded in the small community near Waco, Texas, according to KWTX.

At midnight, D.L. Wilson of the Dept. of Public Safety said in a press conference "he could not confirm or deny that."

However, Wilson did confirm fatalities, but would would not give a number, saying "it could go up by the minute." He estimated the number of injured to be "over 100."

The explosion took place around 7:50 p.m.

The trooper said 50 to 75 houses were damaged, along with a an apartment complex.
Wilson said he walked through some of the devastated area.
"Just like Iraq," he said. "Just like the Murrah Building in Oklahoma City."
Officials will continue a door-to-door search throughout the night, and all injured have been moved from the area.


"We've got a lot of people who are hurt, and there's a lot of people, I'm sure, who aren't gonna be here tomorrow," West Mayor Tommy Muska told reporters. "We're gonna search for everybody. We're gonna make sure everybody's accounted for. That's the most important thing right now."

Muska, who is also a volunteer firefighter, said residents were urged to remain indoors because of the threat of new explosions or toxic leaks of ammonia from the plant's ruins.

South winds are expected to change directions and come in from the north as a front moves into the area in the early hours of Thursday, which could expand the evacuation zones.

Gayle Scarbrough, a spokeswoman for the Department of Public Safety in Waco, told television station KWTX that troopers have been transporting the injured to hospitals in their patrol cars. She said six helicopters were also en route.
Several firefighters were reported among those injured, according to the Dallas Morning News.

Glenn Robinson, CEO of Hillcrest Hospital, told CNN his facility has received roughly 60 patients as of 10 p.m., many seriously injured. He said several of the injuries have been "typical of blast injuries, orthopedic injuries and large wounds. There are a lot of lacerations and lot of cuts."

He said a triage has been set up on site.

A hotline (254-202-1100) has already been set up for those looking for loved ones.

Authorities, according to the Morning News, were asking residents to evacuate, and there were reports of "dozens of people injured, including residents of a nearby nursing home."

Crystal Anthony 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 … [West Middle School] that caught fire,” she told the Waco Tribune-Herald. “We’ve been moving patients out of the nursing home and taking them to the football field and gymnastics building.”

People as far away as 50 miles away reported feeling what seemed like an earthquake, according to reports.

“The fertilizer plant down here exploded,” Jason Shelton, a clerk at the Czech Best Western Hotel in West, told the Dallas paper. “It was a small fire and then water got sprayed the ammonia nitrate, and it exploded just like the Oklahoma City bomb.
“I live about a thousand feet from it and it blew my screen door off and my back windows,” Shelton said. “There’s houses leveled that were right next to it. We've got people injured and possibly dead.”

West firefighters had gone to the plant earlier in the evening after a fire rekindled, according to KWTX.


http://blog.al.com/wire/2013/04/texas_fertilizer_plant_explode.html



The timing of this happening now when the countries nerves are on edge......it's strange......

Some people are speculating that some kind of missile/projectile ultimately caused the explosion. To be honest, I kind of noticed something to the left of the screen in the first video, but this second video has the same angle and shows it more prominently, even has a "whooshing" sound too. My only problem with that theory is the lack of eye witness reports of such a thing. Still, the video shows just how powerful the explosion was.

Texas launches criminal probe into plant explosion

By Angela K. Brown

Associated Press

Posted: 05/10/2013 04:14:16 PM PDT

WACO, Texas - Texas law enforcement officials on Friday launched a criminal investigation into the massive fertilizer plant explosion that killed 14 people last month, after weeks of largely treating the blast as an industrial accident.

The announcement came the same day federal agents said they found bomb-making materials belonging to a paramedic who helped evacuate residents the night of the explosion. Bryce Reed was arrested early Friday on a charge of possessing a destructive device, but law enforcement officials said they had not linked the charge to the April 17 fire and blast at West Fertilizer Co.

"It is important to emphasize that at this point, no evidence has been uncovered to indicate any connection to the events surrounding the fire and subsequent explosion ... and the arrest of Bryce Reed by the ATF," the McLennan County Sheriff's Office said in a statement.

Texas Department of Public Safety said earlier Friday that the agency had instructed the Texas Rangers and the sheriff's department to conduct a criminal probe into the explosion. The agencies will join the State Fire Marshall's Office and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which have been leading the investigation and never ruled out that a crime may have been committed.

"This disaster has severely impacted the community of West, and we want to ensure that no stone goes unturned and that all the facts related to this incident are uncovered," DPS Director

Steven McCraw said.
McLennan County Sheriff Parnell McNamara said residents "must have confidence that this incident has been looked at from every angle and professionally handled - they deserve nothing less. "

The statement did not detail any further reasons for the criminal investigation and said no additional information would be released.

Reed, meanwhile, was in federal custody. A criminal complaint unsealed Friday afternoon said he was arrested after McLennan County deputies were called earlier this week to a home in Abbott, a town about five miles from West, and found bomb-making materials - including a galvanized metal pipe, canisters filled with fuses, a lighter, a digital scale and a variety of chemical powders.

"After further investigation, it was determined that the resident had unwittingly taken possession of the components from Reed on April 26," says the complaint signed by ATF special agent Douglas Kunze.

An ATF explosives specialist and a chemist examined the items and agreed the "combination of parts can be readily assembled into a destructive device," the complaint says.

Reed made an initial appearance in federal court in Waco on Friday, but did not enter a plea.

Officials have largely treated the West explosion as an industrial accident, though investigators still searching for the cause of a fire that preceded the blast have said they would treat the area as a crime scene until all possibilities were considered.

The State Fire Marshal's Office released a statement Friday saying it decided to continue pursuing a criminal probe because roughly 250 leads have developed and more than 400 people have been interviewed.

Authorities have focused on ammonium nitrate, a chemical commonly used as a fertilizer, but that also can be explosive in the right conditions, as the cause of the explosion.

Reed was one of several paramedics who helped evacuate residents from nearby apartments after the fire erupted and shortly before the explosion. He has spoken to The Associated Press extensively, and said he was devastated by the explosion, which he said killed one of his closest friends, Cyrus Reed. Bryce Reed eulogized the firefighter at his funeral; the two are not related.

Bryce Reed was working as a West paramedic the night of the explosion, but he was "let go" two days later, according to an email that a regional EMS group sent to the Texas Department of State Health Services. The email, obtained by the AP under Texas' open-records law, included no other details.

Bryce Reed's wife, Brittany Reed, declined to comment early Friday.

"I can't. No comment, no comment, no comment right now," she said before hanging up the phone.

Crystal LeDane, who lives down the street from Reed, said he was a good neighbor who had changed her flat tire and would sometimes give medical advice about her children's minor injuries.

"I've been thinking it's an accident, and I still believe that until there's more information," said LeDane, as neighbors stood outside Reed's red brick duplex.



Read more: http://www.sgvtribune.com/news/ci_23218615/texas-launches-criminal-probe-into-plant-explosion#ixzz2SwcSj3vp

Texas man held on pipe bomb charge denies role in fertilizer blast

By Lisa Maria Garza, Reuters
Posted: 05/10/2013 11:55:20 PM PDT


Bryce Reed, a paramedic in West, Texas, is shown in a McClennan County Sheriff's Office booking photo taken on May 10, 2013. (HANDOUT)
DALLAS — A paramedic accused of possessing pipe bomb components will plead not guilty to that charge and denies an involvement in causing the deadly explosion at a Texas fertilizer plant that he was among the first to respond to, his lawyer said on Saturday.

Bryce Reed, 31, appeared in federal court in Waco, Texas, on Friday to face one count of unlawfully possessing an unregistered destructive device.

Authorities said no evidence linked his arrest to the April 17 fertilizer plant disaster that killed 14 people and injured about 200 in the town of West - a point Reed's attorney echoed in his first comments about the charge.

"Let me be very clear, Mr. Reed had no involvement whatsoever in the explosion at the West, Texas fertilizer plant," his attorney, Jonathan Sibley, said in a statement.

"Mr. Reed was one of the first responders and lost friends, family, and neighbors in that disaster," Sibley said. "Mr. Reed is heartbroken for the friends he lost and remains resolute in his desire to assist in the rebuilding of his community."

Reed was a volunteer emergency medical technician who became one of the better-known faces of the tiny Texas town in the aftermath of the blast. He had told Reuters that he helped people evacuate the area when a fire broke out at the plant and went on to assist at the disaster scene after the

explosion until he learned a close friend was among the dead.
Federal prosecutors said in court papers released on Friday that authorities had found a section of pipe 3-1/2 inches (9 cm)long and 1-1/2 inches (4 cm) in diameter, end caps, fuses and explosive powder at a home in Abbott, Texas, this month. The resident of that home, whom they did not identify, told police the components came from Reed.

"Mr. Reed vigorously denies those allegations and will be entering a plea of not guilty during his court appearance Wednesday, May 15, 2013," his attorney said.

Sibley asked people not rush to judgment before all the facts of the case were known. Reed is being held without bail ahead of his next court hearing.

"Mr. Reed has been through significant hardship in the wake of the disaster in West and he has responded and served his community with honor and strength," he said. (Additional reporting and writing by Colleen Jenkins; Editing by Mohammad Zargham)



Read more: http://www.sbsun.com/breakingnews/ci_23223384/texas-man-held-pipe-bomb-charge-denies-role#ixzz2T7JAztPu