Texas Fertilizer Plant Explosion Sends 120 to Hospitals, Levels Homes, Businesses

Fiery explosions at a Texas fertilizer plant in a small town north of Waco sent about 120 people to hospitals and apparently destroyed dozens of homes and businesses.

Area hospitals reported treating slightly more than 120 people injured by the West, Texas, blasts.

Texas Department of Public Safety spokesman Gail Scarborough had earlier put the number of injured near the plant even higher -- 200 people, 40 of them critically.

Another official with the Texas Department of Public Safety said there were deaths, though he did not immediately know how many. ABC News has not confirmed any deaths.

Besides the injuries, 75 to 100 houses and business were completely destroyed in and around the plant, Scarborough said.

"It's total chaos," West City Councilwoman Cheryl Marak said, according to ABC News Radio. "There's ambulances and fire trucks and police cars from everywhere."

An official with Hill Regional Hospital in Hillsboro, Texas, reported the facility treated 66 patients, 38 with serious injuries.

Baptist Hillcrest Medical Center in Waco had treated 29 wounded, said the center's CEO, Brett Esrock, and was expecting 20 more.

"They are coming in ambulances cars, vans, pretty much anything," Esrock said.

Most of Baptist Hillcrest's patients had minor-to-moderate injuries such as cuts, abrasions, broken bones and respiratory distress -- though there was at least one critical injury, Esrock said.

Marak told ABC News affiliate WFAA that the blast killed her pets and heavily damaged the local middle school.

"I was watching the flames and then it was just like a huge, huge explosion and two houses, I mean, it demolished both of those," Marak said, according to ABC News Radio. "I think everything around us is pretty much just gone."

Keith Williams, a local resident, said his house also was completely destroyed, according to ABC News Radio.

"All the ceilings are out," Williams said. "The windows are out. The brick's knocked off the house. My big garage out back is half blowed in."

He also saw "people with all their houses tore up across the street from me, on each side of me."

The West Fertilizer Plant exploded around 8 p.m. local time, and there were subsequent explosions around 10 p.m., WFAA reported. The cause of the explosions was unconfirmed, but a dispatcher was heard warning crews to move away from chemicals in unexploded tanks.

Firefighters initially went to the scene of a structure fire at the plant.

"They are still on scene, assessing the scene, treating the injuries, taking injured to the hospitals," Dani Moore, a spokeswoman for State Highway Patrol told ABC News Radio.

At least 10 buildings in the town of West were on fire, including a school located next to the plant, WFAA reported initially.

The town of West has a population of about 2,800.

A massive explosion ripped through a fertilizer plant in the town of West, Texas, Wednesday night in Waco Texas

A picture of the flames, Last reported its still burning bright.

A massive explosion ripped through a fertilizer plant in the town of West, Texas, Wednesday night, sending scores of injured to area hospitals, sparking fires and triggering evacuations.

WHAT'S NEW

-- "It was like a nuclear bomb went off," West Mayor Tommy Muska said.

-- Some 10 to 15 buildings have been "totally demolished" and "probably 50 homes (were) heavily damaged," said George Smith, community emergency medical services director.

-- The fertilizer plant was near an apartment complex and a nursing home, authorities said.

-- Some people might be trapped in collapsed buildings, Smith said.

-- "I expect there's going to be many fatalities and many more injured people," he added.

-- State troopers in gas masks set up roadblocks, waving away cars coming off the highway

PREVIOUSLY REPORTED

The blast

-- A massive explosion hit the West fertilizer plant some 18 miles north of Waco, Texas.

-- At least two emergency medical personnel are dead, said EMS Director Smith.

-- Hillcrest Hospital in Waco was told to anticipate 100 injured people.

-- More than 60 patients were received Wednesday night, hospital CEO Glenn Robinson said, with victims suffering from "blast injuries, orthopedic injuries (and) a lot of lacerations. While some of the injuries are minor, others are "quite serious."

-- A number of nearby residents were being evacuated because of the possibility of another explosion, officials said.

-- Chrystal Anthony said she saw the flames engulf a nursing home and an apartment complex.

The response

-- A field triage station was set up on a football field near the plant, Robinson said.

-- At least six helicopters were flying out the injured, Robinson said. Others were being transported by ambulance, and some were getting to the hospital by car, he added.

-- Aircraft flying below 3,000 feet were banned from going within a 3-mile radius of West, Texas, the Federal Aviation Administration said.

-- Hazardous material teams were being rushed to the scene, an emergency management official said.

-- Texas Gov. Rick Perry was working to get resources into the area, his spokesman said.

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