West Fertilizer Company explosion
explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas
On April 17, 2013, an ammonium nitrate explosion occurred at the West Fertilizer Company storage and distribution facility in West, Texas, United States (18 miles (29 km) north of Waco), while emergency services personnel were responding to a fire there. Fifteen people were killed, over 160 injured, and more than 150 buildings damaged or destroyed. Investigators confirmed that ammonium nitrate was the material that exploded. On May 11, 2016, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives stated that the fire was deliberately set. That finding has been disputed.
Background
West Fertilizer Company had supplied chemicals to farmers since its founding in 1962. As of 2013 it was owned by Adair Grain, Inc. and employed nine workers at the facility. Adair Grain, Inc. is wholly owned by Donald Adair and his wife Wanda.
The public source identifies “West Fertilizer Company explosion” as explosion at a fertilizer plant in West, Texas. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around West, Fertilizer and Company.
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The date and method of observation matter as much as the stated conclusion, especially where classification or consensus has changed. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jun 25, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q11333034. Authority coordinates are 31.816, -97.088. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2013, 2016 and 1962.
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This entry incorporates text from “West Fertilizer Company explosion” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.