{"id":26789,"date":"2013-04-22T06:30:15","date_gmt":"2013-04-22T11:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/?p=26789"},"modified":"2013-11-15T13:53:43","modified_gmt":"2013-11-15T19:53:43","slug":"after-west-fertilizer-explosion-concerns-over-safety-regulation-and-zoning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/texas\/2013\/04\/22\/after-west-fertilizer-explosion-concerns-over-safety-regulation-and-zoning\/","title":{"rendered":"After West Fertilizer Explosion, Concerns Over Safety, Regulation and Zoning"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photo by Ron Jenkins\/Fort Worth Star-Telegram\/MCT<\/p>

A flag is flown at half staff in West, Texas, near the scene of the fertilizer plant that exploded Wednesday night in in the town of 2,8000 on Thursday, April 18, 2013.<\/p><\/div>\n

It will take time to determine the exact cause of the fire and explosion<\/a> at the fertilizer plant in West, Texas. The disaster has cost at least 14 lives, caused 200 injuries and has destroyed at least 50 homes. The blast was so strong that it blew out windows for miles, and even registered as an earthquake<\/a>. First responders said the aftermath looked like “a war zone<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

Yet even at this early stage of the investigation, there are signs that not all was right with the plant, like the fact that it had as much as 270 tons of ammonium nitrate<\/a>\u00a0(which can be explosive<\/a>) at the site, but no sprinklers or fire barriers<\/a>. It\u2019s also brought up questions about regulation in Texas, and whether homes and schools should be so close to industry. (State fire officials have said that there are\u00a0no signs of criminal activity<\/a>\u00a0so far\u00a0in the West explosion.)<\/p>\n\n

‘Everybody Plays Over There’<\/h4>\n

For residents in this small community<\/a> of 2,800\u00a0known for its Czech heritage,<\/a> the West Fertilizer plant had been a mostly decent neighbor. After all, the West Intermediate School<\/a> was right next to it<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody plays over there,” resident Deborah Waters tells StateImpact Texas. “That track that is right beside the intermediate school, normally at that time of day, there are 20 to 30 people walking the track.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Photo by REUTERS \/POOL\/LANDOV<\/p>

Texas Department of Public Safety Sergeant Jason Reyes walks past the site of an apartment complex destroyed by the deadly fertilizer plant explosion in West.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cI think most people didn\u2019t even think about it being there, for the most part,” Waters says.<\/p>\n

But there were times when they thought about it – like when they could smell ammonia coming from the plant.<\/p>\n

“There were times when I was growing up as a kid that there would be ammonia smells,” says\u00a0Loretta Volcik, who has lived in West her whole life. She works at Baylor University, where she\u2019s also getting her degree.\u00a0“You know, you\u2019d be playing outside, and your eyes would start watering. And it was like, \u2018Uh oh, fertilizer plant! Time to go in!\u201d<\/p>\n

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