West Texas fertilizer explosion

The West Texas Fertilizer explosion dramatically illustrates the need for proper storage and care for highly reactive chemicals. The proper storage of hazardous chemicals should be an essential component of any chemical management plan. There were no regulations or state fire codes or zoning rules that prohibited storage of ammonium... 

FIGURE 8.3.3.1 Aerial view of West Texas fertilizer site after explosion (U.S. Chemical Safety Board). 

On April 17, 2013, an ammonium nitrate explosion at the West Fertilizer Company storage and distribution facility in West, Texas, killed at least 15 people—the majority of whom were firefighters responding to a fire at the facility—and injured over 160 others. 

Scott Davis and Claudio Marsegan. Initial investigative facts in the West Fertilizer Explosion. Proceedings of the Mary Kay O Connor process safety center - 17th annual international symposium. College Station, Texas. Oct 2014. p. 411 32. 

West, Texas, USA, Fertilizer Distribution Plant, Explosion and Fire... 

Another whole area I left out was ammonium nitrate explosions. This hazard was one that we seemed to have learned about in the twentieth century, with major accidents at Oppau, Germany in 1923, and in Texas City in 1947. However, there have been at least two major ammonium nitrate explosions causing multiple fatalities in the twenty-first century the Toulouse AZF explosion (France, 2001) and the West explosion (Texas, 2013). We seem to keep forgetting about the hazardous nature of ammonium nitrate, perhaps because it is such a commonplace fertilizer. 

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