Fertilizer Plant Explosion Just North Of Waco 200 Injured, 40 Critically 75 Houses Damaged [2jlZ4N5T BI]

02:25 that they've been trying to evacuate most of the town of West. Have you heard about that or just kind of the initial area around that blast site? My understanding, but it was the initial area around that fertilizer plant that they were really worried about. Of course there's a huge problem right now with traffic gridlock in the area I-35 is shut down and I know that our crews responding to this scene have had some trouble getting in but huge logistical nightmare trying attend all the injured right now. Scott Gordon on the phone for us, thank you for that information Scott here's what you're looking at once again this is a live picture from chopper five from the community of West this is the football field that was being used as a triage area now being evacuated and as the chopper shot pulls out here you can see the huge number of police and firefighters and emergency responders that have come to help

03:18 of this community, about 70 miles south of DFW. Yeah that's right and Governor Rick Perry obviously he is following this. He just released this statement right here regarding the incident in West Texas. He said quote we are monitoring developments and gathering information as details continue to emerge about this incident We have also mobilized state resources to help local authorities Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of west and first responders on that scene. I've also heard reports on Twitter, social media things like that obviously the Red Cross is responding taking a live look at chopper five right now shot right there that appears to be what building some trees on fire and you see some flashing lights but there's so many structures on fire like Scott mentioned eight what a six block radius around this glass devastated in this town field though is

04:08 the scene of the first explosion. They're worried about a second explosion and that's why they were trying to get everybody out of there as quickly as they can." pulling him back to make sure he is safe. We want to make sure our crews are safe as we're bringing you this information and I've been on the phone with hospitals all night so if you have loved ones that live in the town of West, maybe relatives family friends right now all surrounding hospitals are all hands on deck for fire still raging in west guys do we have? The still shots earlier of the initial explosion those air absolutely extraordinary. All right here's a live picture from chopper five flames

04:52 still raging in the community of West. And this is what we've seen over and over tonight as they try to cope with this situation, but as I was mentioning the initial photographs that we got on social media of this explosion were incredible a giant mushroom cloud rising over West here's a fire obviously these are some of the first images when this explosion happened but This is the image here that most struck me. You can see the power, the scale of this explosion. This happened once again just before 8 o'clock tonight look at this rising over the sonic there in the town of West it is just incredible and that image was seen from miles around as you take a live look at chopper 5

05:37 the impact that's going on right now. But on the phone live with us, we have Steve Chaney and you're from the Tarrant County Horticultural Center I believe Steve and your kind of an expert like it said this happened at a fertilizer plant so what can you tell us about those types of plants? And how volatile they are when something like this happens Fischer, which is a very good company. They're doing a lot of research on the volatile of any of the fertilizers, all of them having nitrogen have some volatility. But when you mix ammonia and nitrates together that's when you get to really bad stuff. That is what they use. Yeah it is frightening to draw this parallel but this sounds to me like the same kinds of ingredients that were in that powerful Oklahoma City bomb

06:29 Is that correct? Yes, and it's a wonderful fertilizer but it is very explosive. I don't know if they were making that or blending it there but anytime you use nitrogen it's volatile gas And Steve, are you... I mean we've been talking about just how powerful this was. People as far away as Arlington, Waxahachie thought this felt like an earthquake Are you surprised at the images your seeing? Or just kind of explain to our viewers who aren't familiar with this How powerful is it? How volatile it is and how much can explode

07:05 Well, I mean it is you know when you look at the Oklahoma City bombing that was all in the back of a Ryder truck with several things of diesel fuel. So it doesn't take very much at all we as a kid growing up on a farm We mixed ammonium nitrate and diesel in a coke bottle put a lid on it and blew stumps out of the ground You know so if it's a very volatile and it doesn't take very much at all So when you get into a manufacturing plant that's making hundreds and hundreds of pounds, you can really have a huge explosion. Steve Cheney thank you so much we appreciate your helping us understand the situation here let's go now to NBC5 Ben Russell he is on the ground in West. Ben what's the update?

07:56 Well, I can tell you at this point Brian the fires continue to burn in the area perhaps a few hundred yards away from From the initial point of the blast what we're looking at is what we believe to be either barns or other outbuildin I cannot confirm yet at judging on the fencing th appear to be a home to t distance farther away. Th is raging as well. This ar It is one where they are still working to try to control the situation. Again, I had shown you before what i thought was the roof of a building instead I believe it to be part of a silo perhaps a grain silo or so in the distance but also want to show you this This is something on the ground I can't quite place this perhaps someone else could This looks to be part of some kind of machinery and I couldn't lift this if I tried And to give you some perspective again

08:49 This is what I could not lift and way off in the distance, far beyond the point where you see the first emergency lights. Where do you see this second set of emergency lights perhaps that is the source of a blast that just speaks very much to just how strong the situation is again we've been very impressed and obviously saddened to see damage like this what we're looking at here part of again what I thought was a roof but now appears to be part of a grain or perhaps some other kind of silo lying on top of a truck. This is this silo that we believe is the source of all this aluminum that's lying out throughout this area and as we pan to the left and show you farther off in the distance there are more fires that are burning now, We can see the emergency personnel in this area there's perhaps other vehicles that have been damaged by some of debris. This is still very much an active scene at this point uh...

09:41 and the mannerisms of the firefighters that we've seen has been very calm. Again, this is what we were talking about as far as a silo here. We can see on the ground perhaps what was inside it some kind of a grain or something along those lines. Again, this is still very much developing situation but you can see the devastation right? Ben we understand that is a very dangerous situation we're going to ask you to reposition so we're gonna let you go please get to a safe location and will check back with you a little bit later in our coverage yeah that's right and right now we have Anita Foster on the phone with The Red Cross I believe so Anita what can you tell us about getting your crews in there to try help these folks right now in West Texas

10:19 Well, obviously I think your viewers can see the challenges that are being experienced by the people in this community. Just a tough situation we're going to do everything that we could do as a nation and make sure they're okay so right now our number one objective is meeting with emergency management right now to identify shelter locations were working hand with the teams down in Austin. This is, you know tonight going to be important that we find a place for people to go but this is going to be days and days on end as people need help so we're just gonna do everything that we possibly can for tonight and into the coming

11:02 I think that as we're trying to make our way to the area, we're experiencing what a lot of other people are and that's at I-35 is pretty much shut down. And it's going to be a little while before services can get up and running but we're here, we're on our way from both sides of the state to make sure these families that are really experiencing a horrible day get as much help as they need.