Urbanisation

GCSE Bitesize: The Burgess and Hoyt model West Fertilizer Company explosion On April 17, 2013, an ammonium nitrate explosion occurred at the West Fertilizer Company storage and distribution facility in West, Texas, eighteen miles (29 km) north of Waco while emergency services personnel were responding to a fire at the facility.[6] Fifteen people were killed, more than 160 were injured, and more than 150 buildings were damaged or destroyed. Investigators have confirmed that ammonium nitrate was the material that exploded, but the cause of the initial fire is as yet unknown.[7] Background[edit] West Fertilizer Company has supplied chemicals to farmers since it was founded in 1962; as of 2013[update] it is owned by Adair Grain, Inc. and employed nine workers at the facility[8][9] The plant was last inspected by Occupational Safety and Health Administration in 1985. Map of West, Texas According to an open records request by Reuters, the plant had a long history of minor thefts, presumably by people wanting to use anhydrous ammonia to make methamphetamine. Damage[edit]

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