Texas Town Receives $10.44 Million in Plant Explosion Lawsuit Settlement

In 2013, a Central Texas town was devastated by a fertilizer plant explosion that killed 15 people, many of them emergency personnel. The town has finally reached a settlement of its lawsuit for damages caused by the blast.

The city council in the town of West has accepted $10.44 million dollars to settle its claims against the defendants, which include makers and suppliers of ammonium nitrate, the explosive fertilizer involved in the blast.

The fire and explosion back in 2013 at the West Fertilizer Co., north of Waco, killed 12 emergency responders and three members of the public.

Hospitals treated more than 260 of those injured, and the blast completely destroyed the fertilizer facility and more than 500 homes. The explosion itself caused a crater 93 feet wide and 12 feet deep.

Manufacturer CF Industries will pay $6.4 million, supplier El Dorado Chemical will pay $3.9 million and Adair Grain, the company that owned the fertilizer plant, will pay $143,000.

In a statement Wednesday, Mayor Tommy Muska said he was pleased with the settlement.

Settlements had been reached previously with families of victims and West Rest Haven, a nursing home badly damaged by the blast. Those settlements were confidential.