2 Years After Blast, Texas EMT Remembers Fertilizer Plant Explosion
April 16—WEST—The second anniversary of the deadly West fertilizer plant explosion won't be an easy one for Coil Conaway.
It will stir up unpleasant memories of the April 17, 2013 blast that he and his wife, April, survived—while others around them died. The Conaways, he's a paramedic and she's an emergency medical technician, were outside the fertilizer plant when it exploded, but were shielded by the driver's side door of their ambulance.
Friday is also the day of a friend's funeral. Kevin Walters, 52, an EMT who died Tuesday from cancer, who was one of the first people Conaway saw after the explosion.
Still in shock, Conaway had gone with other survivors to the West High School, which had been set up as a makeshift staging after the massive blast. Conaway had no idea that the force of the explosion had devastated the West Terrace Apartments, the West Rest Haven nursing home and damaged hundreds of homes.
"It's a little rough right now," Conaway said. "He's the guy I ran into after we took people to the high school who told me me about the rest of the town."
City officials are treating the second anniversary as a low-key affair. Instead of a major program with speeches, West will remember the 15 people who died with a candlelight vigil at St. Mary's Church of the Assumption and will include a moment of silence at 7:51 p.m., the time of the explosion.
A new playground, the idea of Parker Pustejovsky, son of one of the victim's, will be dedicated on Saturday.
"It's time to move on," said West Mayor Tommy Muska said.
Muska is planning to spend part of the weekend in Dallas, attending Saturday's screening of the documentary, The Day West Shook Texas , at the Texas Theatre in Oak Cliff, part of the Dallas International Film Festival.
Instead of focusing on the past, Muska said city officials are looking ahead to this summer when the new West Rest Haven nursing home that was destroyed in the blast will open.
"It's going to have all sorts of benefits," said Robert Payne, president of West Rest Haven Inc. board of directors, and an explosion survivor. "We'll be getting our residents back to West, help our tax base and be on the largest employers in the city."
On its way back
The town isn't fully recovered—Muska said there are still vacant lots and some homes being rebuilt—but he believes the city will financially recover by the third anniversary.
"We lost $20 million in appraised value after the explosion," Muska said. "We got back $8 million of that value last year and another $8 million this year. I think by this time next year we'll actually be ahead of where we were before the explosion."
Muska views the playground and nursing home as benchmarks that West is on its way to recovery. One other key issue will be when the city's streets and utilities that were heavily damaged are repaired in about a year.
Last October, the West school district broke ground on a combined high school and middle school campus after the previous schools had to be demolished. The new campus is expected to be completed some time in 2016.
Funding for the school has come from a variety of sources.
In February 2014, the Federal Emergency Management Agency awarded the West school district two public assistance grants totaling $20.8 million. And in March, West schools received $10.3 million from the Texas Education Agency's Foundation School Program. The school district has also received money from its insurance carrier after a lengthy dispute.
Classes have been held in portable buildings since the explosion.
Lawsuits still active
The number of lawsuits since the explosion occurred have multiplied to about 200 plaintiffs, according to the Waco Tribune Herald.
Those involved in lawsuits include families of those killed and injured along with the city of West, West Rest Haven nursing home and West Terrace Apartments.
Many have sued Adair Chemical Co., the local owners of West Fertilizer Co. Also named as defendants are El Dorado Chemical Co., CF Industries, Thermaclime Inc. and International Chemical Co. These companies either manufactured or sold fertilizer to West Fertilizer, according to the Tribune Herald.
As a response, Adair Grain has filed a counterclaim against the four fertilizer producers and sellers, meaning Adair Grain is both a plaintiff and a defendant.
Waco attorney Steve Harrison, who represents many of the plaintiffs, couldn't be reached for comment since he has been in day-long depositions related to the lawsuits.
Donated money dispersed
All of the $3.6 million donated to West Long Term Recovery fund has been distributed to residents. Many of the items that were collected have either been distributed to residents or donated to the Salvation Army, Muska said.
"The vast majority was spent on residential construction," said Suzanne Hack, executive director of West Long-Term Recovery in an email. "We did not use the $3.6 million to help businesses. As such, there are rental properties that remain unrepaired."
While the money has been dispersed, not every new home has been completed.
"I currently have 17 construction projects left," Hawk said. "Each of these projects is in a different phase of construction. One of these will be inspected next week."
The explosion damaged or destroyed 300 homes. A total of 120 home were demolished.
So far, 295 building permits have been issued and there are now 82 new homes and 123 remodels. Another 81 permits were issued to rebuild sheds, carports, fences and other items.
Kenneth Maler, 79, and his wife, Leona, 89, are two residents near the blast site who have rebuilt. They were in their new home before the one-year anniversary and have watched as the neighborhood has slowly built back up with newer, larger homes.
"It's just been different totally different," Maler said. "We got some nice houses coming up that make mine look like a shack."
The Malers plan to attend the candlelight vigil, the playground dedication and an outdoor service Sunday morning that is being held by the First Baptist Church of West. Following the blast, the Baptist church couldn't hold services at its sanctuary in the storm-damaged north part of town so it staged an outdoor service. It has now become a tradition.
"We're Catholic but we're not going to miss it," Maler said. "It's been pretty tough. We lost a lot of good people. I knew them all."
Even though all of the money donated has been spent, Muska knows the mental health issues for many residents may linger. A grief support group is scheduled to hold its next meeting on April 23 at the Catholic Church.
"We will have counseling available for as long as we need it," Muska said. "That is one of the things we learned from the Oklahoma City bombing is first-responders were asking for help 10 years after the event."
'We knew it was bad'
For Conaway, the memories of two years ago are still fresh.
When he pulled up the fertilizer site about 15 minutes before the explosion, it didn't look good.
"We knew it was bad," Conaway said. "You could feel the heat of the fire when we pulled up."
The only thing that saved Conaway was a faulty hand-held radio.
It wasn't working so he was using the ambulance's radio when the explosion occurred. He was standing by the driver's side door facing the fire while his wife was turned away from the plant. When the explosion occurred, the Conaways were knocked to the ground with debris all around them.
"I think the ambulance played a big part in it," Conaway said. "The ambulance was totaled. The doors were blown in. The air bags were deployed. the glass was shattered. We couldn't open any of the doors to get to our supplies. We had to climb through the window to get to stuff. We were just standing in the right place at the wrong time. That's what basically saved us."
Neither were seriously injured but Conaway said he has some hearing loss and some shoulder issues.
Before the blast, the Conaways, who have been living near Riesel on the other side of McLennan County, were planning to move back to West. They have since purchased land outside of town.
The West graduate began working for the ambulance service when he was 17 and was still a student at West High School. The tight-knit group of first responders has become part of his life.
"It's tough every day, especially when you get closer to the anniversary but you have to keep pushing forward," Conaway said. "Life has to go on. We have to honor the guys we did lose by insuring that everything continues on. It's something we deal with as a family. None of us are really related here but we're all a big family."
Copyright 2015 - Fort Worth Star-Telegram
