Some Texas blast residents to return home

After days of waiting, the first group of people who fled their homes when a fertiliser plant exploded in a blinding fireball are to be allowed to return.

The news came after a nervous day where officials told residents of West, near Waco in Texas, that leaking gas tanks were causing small fires near the blast site, stopping authorities from lifting blockades. But officials emphasised that the fires were contained, and said the town was safe.

“It is safe, safe and safe,” city council member Steve Vanek told a news conference.

He said that a group of residents in a small area would be able to go home later in the day, but gave no indication about when all evacuated residents could return. Those being let back in would be subject to an evening curfew, and were warned to stay in their homes.

Evacuated residents have waited anxiously to return and assess what remains to roughly 80 damaged homes after the blast at West Fertiliser Co on Wednesday night which killed 14 people and injured 200 others.

Many are hoping to find key documents such as insurance papers and family records to help with recovery. Others simply hope to reclaim any belongings that might be buried under splintered homes.

At the hotel where evacuees gathered, Bryce Reed, a paramedic and spokesman for the town of West, told residents that small tanks were leaking and had triggered small fires. But he said they were small and were contained, and did not cause further injuries.

“The whole place is still on fire, smouldering, all that kind of stuff. It could spark up,” he said. But, he cautioned, “there isn’t really enough structure left to light up and burn”.

Mr Reed described dozens of portable, white tanks at the site which are typically filled with anhydrous ammonia from larger storage tanks for when farmers request them. The tanks get weak when they are exposed to fire and bleed, he said.

The tanks are attached to ploughs pulled by tractors and feed streams of the chemical into the ground as the plough passes to fertilise. Mr Reed said they resemble large, horizontal propane tanks, and told residents to imagine a very big hot water heater.

“You’re safe where you’re at,” he told the residents. “Otherwise I’d be dragging you out of here myself.”

One of the residents listening, Gene Anderson, 64, said Mr Reed’s comments helped avoid panic: “He just nipped it in the bud like it should be.”

But closer to the site, things were far more tense. Ron Price, a 53-year-old construction worker, said he approached the police barricade to check on his son’s home, which was damaged in the explosion.

Mr Price said he drove his truck up to the roadblock and was trying to get in when state troopers “came flying down the road” from half a block away and told everyone to get back because there was another chance of an explosion. People in their backyards outside the barricade were also told to get back, he said.

“It was pretty scary – everybody just jumped and took off running,” he said. “They jumped in their cars and we all started heading back.”

Dorothy Sulak, who lost her home and her job in the explosion, was among those hoping she could get back in.

She worked as a secretary at the plant. She fled so fast she only had time to leave with the clothes on her back. There is a hole in her roof now, and her medicine, cash and even her glasses are somewhere in the rubble.

“Yes, it’s just stuff. But it’s my stuff,” said the 71-year-old who used reading glasses to see for three days, but finally got a lift to nearby Waco to get fitted for new prescription frames.

Ms Sulak said she had been told that her home in North Reagan Street was so close to the blast site that she may not be able to return until at least Monday.