Rss@dailykos.com (hunter) · Wednesday, May 11, 2016, 4:33 pm
The West, Texas, fertilizer plant explosion that killed 15 people and wounded 200 others has been determined to have been the result of a fire that was deliberately set.
“This fire was a criminal act,” Robert Elder, the special agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), said at a news conference.
The ATF says that there have been no arrests, and have put up a $50,000 reward for information that could help identify the perpetrator(s).
Investigators aren't saying what evidence they found that led them to believe the fire was intentionally set, but the results were catastrophic. Threadbare Texas safety regulations meant the plant, which in its recent history had housed as much as 270 tons of explosive ammonium nitrate at one time, had few sprinklers, no fire barriers, and an inadequate safety plan. The plant was located next to a school, an apartment building, a nursing home, and other residences. Most of the fatalities were first responders who arrived at the scene to fight the initial fire but didn't know that chemicals at the plant posed an explosion risk.
An investigation concluded that the explosion itself "was preventable," and "resulted from the failure of a company to take the necessary steps to avert a preventable fire and explosion and from the inability of federal, state and local regulatory agencies to identify a serious hazard and correct it."http://feeds.dailykos.com/
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